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Roach-vertising
Status: Strange (but real) marketing campaign
You see a large cockroach on your floor. If you don't scream and run the other way, you might try to kill it. But it won't squash like a normal roach. So you pick it up, and then you see the advertisement printed on the bottom of it: "See how easy it is to get into your house? D.D. Drin. Insect Elimination."This scenario may happen to you, because fake slogan-bearing roaches are apparently being slipped beneath people's doors as part of a marketing campaign designed by Master Comunicacao, a Brazilian ad agency (as reported by AdArena). I don't know why the ad is in English if the agency is Brazilian.
Ironically enough, given this campaign, in the advertising industry consumers themselves are sometimes referred to as roaches. Thus 'roach baiting' refers to the practice of hiring cool-looking people to hang out in public and visibly use a product. The cool-looking person is supposed to serve as a trendsetter who influences roaches (i.e. the consumers) to follow his or her lead.
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
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Boy, you just GOTTA love an industry that refers to its customers as "roaches." Smell the respect!
Posted by Cranky Media Guy on Mon Jul 10, 2006 at 11:59 PM
Actually that joke works better as "Smell the condescension!"
Posted by Cranky Media Guy on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 12:00 AM
Right, there is no way in the world that I would pick up a roach, even if it refused to squish 
Posted by Nettie in Perth, Western Australia on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 02:47 AM
Wouldn't it be illegal to put roaches in someone's house and then offer them exterminating services? Not like you could deny it if your ad is on a roach. . . .
Posted by JoeDaJuggler in St. Louis, MO on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 05:58 AM
Consumers aren't the customers for a marketing company. They are the marks, and calling them roaches is dead-on for their attitude. Their customers are the ones paying them - the companies whose stuff they are advertisting.
Posted by Terry Austin in Surf City USA on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 07:36 AM
I want one of those roaches 
Posted by oppiejoe in Michigan - USA on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 08:43 AM
Considering they are using a Madagascarian hissing cockroach, this is not your garden variety critter. They are actually very clean and make great pets. You can find them in most specialty pet shops for between $8-10. Just remember, these guys can get to be about 3" (8cm)and will live 3-5 years. They are great fun though and really good for messing with the neighbors.
Posted by Lounge Lizard in El Paso, Tx on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 09:06 AM
I was under the impression they were fake roaches. Rubber roaches look surprisingly lifelike.
Posted by Razela in San Diego, CA on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 01:36 PM
"... they are using a Madagascarian hissing cockroach ... these guys can get to be about 3" (8cm)and will live 3-5 years."
Three inches? They'd be considered dwarves here in Dallas. Remind me to tell you what my cat dragged in the other day ...
Posted by Big Gary in Deep Ellum, Texas on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 03:41 PM
Three inches? They'd be considered dwarves here in Dallas. Remind me to tell you what my cat dragged in the other day ...
Nevertheless, if anybody slips a fake roach into my home AND is dumb enough to leave their name or address on it, I'll press charges for breaking and entering.
Posted by Big Gary in Deep Ellum, Texas on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 03:44 PM
Are you sure this isn't a joke?
The idea that there are any houses in Brazil (or anywhere in the tropics) that aren't already full of insects strikes me as fairly ridiculous.
Posted by Big Gary in Plano, Texas on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 03:46 PM
The idea that there are any houses in Brazil (or anywhere in the tropics) that aren't already full of insects strikes me as fairly ridiculous.
rawr rawr avertising is evil rawr.
Sorry, I just feel better when I say that.
Posted by Citizen Premier in spite of public outcry on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 06:09 PM
Sorry, I just feel better when I say that.
And I am thinking of getting some madagascar roaches. They'd make good friends for my giant millipedes, probably, and if not it would probably be fun to watch my centipede eat one.
Posted by Citizen Premier in spite of public outcry on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 06:18 PM
I wouldn't even stamp on a roach, let alone pick it up. I'd be coating it with half a can of flyspray until it was white with the stuff!
Posted by Smerk in to mischief on Tue Jul 11, 2006 at 08:01 PM
It wouldn't be the first time roaches were used in a gimmick. In Tucson we had a $100,000 roach contest. A radio station released 100 roaches with a "marker" on them and supposedly if you found one it was worth one hundred grand. People only ever won money in the secondary contest... largest roach.
Posted by pjsiqhh in Tucson, Az on Wed Jul 12, 2006 at 01:09 AM
Isn't this exactly the same thing as the people who slip fake hands into your purse that tell you how easy it is to be pick-pocketed?
Posted by Dracul on Wed Jul 12, 2006 at 07:38 AM
I should start a kevlar vest company, then go around shooting people as advertisements. 
Posted by Charybdis in Hell on Wed Jul 12, 2006 at 07:54 AM
I think it would have been much more effective (if real) if they would have used these guys instead...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Giant_isopod.jpg
Posted by TWM in US kinda on Wed Jul 12, 2006 at 11:00 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Giant_isopod.jpg
Oooooh, yeah, TWM, now you're talkin'.
Posted by Big Gary in The Gulf Coast on Wed Jul 12, 2006 at 02:33 PM
Hey Big Gary.. why don't u come down here to check the giant insects that live in our houses??
How can I still be amazed by all the ignorance in the world...
Posted by Chuck in the tropics on Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 09:43 AM
How can I still be amazed by all the ignorance in the world...
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