Roach Fake Out - Gross Nugget Archive on ElfmanWorld

Roach Fake Out!

Earlier this year, a commercial aired that seemed to be selling fabric softener--images of soft, fluffy towels filled the screen for a good five seconds. Suddenly, a huge cockroach appears on the screen--in fact, it appears to be a real, live cockroach, in the viewer's own living room, scuttling across the surface of the TV's picture tube. Of course, it was only a digital effect, a part of the commercial--which was actually for Orkin Pest Control, the insect exterminators.

Unfortunately, the roach was a little too life-like for at least a few viewers: one woman threw a motorcycle helmet at her screen. One man heaved a shoe. At least two viewers actually broke their TV sets trying to kill the fake roach!

(On a personal note: My wife saw the ad one night--I heard her scream in the living room. She too thought, for a second, that the roach was real. I came running, but was too late, and I didn't get to see the digital critter for myself. Were any of you lucky enough to see the infamous roach? Let me know!)

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