• by Anya Khait , April 2, 2001

By Anya Khait

This year's April Fools' joke may have consumers hurling motorcycle helmets, bottles of Merlot and other miscellaneous objects at their TV screens today in attempts to kill a fake cockroach crawling across their sets. Building on the amazing response from "fooled" consumers during last year's "Fake Out" advertising campaign, Orkin Exterminating Company will release two new ad spots today, once again featuring the "live roach." Last year, 15- and 30-second spots featured a cockroach crawling across the screen that, according to viewers, looked real enough to result in broken TV sets by those throwing anything they could get their hands on to kill the virtual pest.

Orkin's new Fake Out ads include two 15-second spots; one ad features childhood-star Gary Coleman masquerading as the star of a new Fall television series, and the second ad poses as a perfume commercial advertising a new fragrance. In the first spot, unsuspecting viewers will be drawn to their television sets as Gary Coleman portrays Timmy Townsend private investigator, in what seems to be the newest network television drama, in which Gary is said to be "lookin' for clues and bustin' some moves." Moments later, viewers learn the only person making any busts on that show is the infamous Orkin Man, when he apprehends a large cockroach crawling across the screen. The second spot contains all of the elegance and pristine ambience of a perfume commercial until the star cockroach makes his surprise entrance and is once again exterminated by the Orkin Man.

Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Orkin has long been an innovator in advertising. The company's Fake Out ads are the latest example of Orkin's leading edge advertising strategy. Capitalizing on the "borrowed interest" trend, a technique that attracts a product's target audience and then grabs the viewer's attention with an unusual twist, Orkin's ad campaign has received unbelievable response nationwide.

"The original Fake Out commercials produced a response from consumers unlike any Orkin had ever seen, so we decided to recreate the campaign and add another twist. The new commercials one-up the previous Fake Out ads with the celebrity tie-in of Gary Coleman to grab the viewer's full attention and then spring the infamous crawling cockroach on them," said Steve Danuser, vice president of Marketing. "We are excited to see if we can outdo the success of last year's campaign and generate even greater viewer response."

Last year's Fake Out fabric softener ad had viewers throwing motorcycle helmets at TV screens and then calling Orkin to tell them about it. Wanting to hear more, Orkin held a call for entries in the "Orkin Got Me" Contest, where viewers had the opportunity to write in their story and win a new Phillips 32-inch color television. The response was overwhelming and Orkin declared a winner among 3,000 entries.

This year Orkin will host the 2nd "Orkin Got Me" contest, encouraging consumers to tell how the commercial faked them out. Orkin will hold a random drawing of all entrants in the campaign, and award the winner with a new television set.

Anya Khait may be reached at Anya@mediapost.com