SlashGear this morning directs our attention to a press release issued late Friday by ad agency Publicis's Dallas office, which has found a rather ingenious way to garner attention for a billboard -- by filling the thing with "thousands of live cockroaches." You read that right. It's for Terminex, a Publicis client, and installation's scheduled to start at 1 this afternoon near Dallas Area Rapid Transit's Mockingird Station. The release promises:
The transit billboard will feature thousands of live cockroaches fashioned into the word 'E. coli,' one of the 33 infectious diseases pests can carry into homes. The ad will provide commuters with a highly unique and visual reminder, pests are more than a nuisance, bugs can spread dangerous diseases.The thing's supposed to be done around 6 p.m. Or: right around dinner. "I wonder how they will remove the dead roaches after the display is over," writes SlashGear's Shane McGlaun. "I would hate to have that job." Molly Mann with Publicis tells Unfair Park they won't actually be up there long enough to die: "We have a professional cockroach wrangler who will put them into the billboard and then take them out and return them to his farm," she says. Mann says the billboard will only be up "for a few hours" and will only be visible from Mockingbird Station.
DART spokesman Mark Ball says the transit agency only found out about the billboard this morning, and that it's looking into it -- specifically, whether it's on DART property.
Update at 12:40 p.m.: Mark Ball checks back: "DART staff confirmed this morning that the photo shoot planned from 1-6 p.m. today is not occurring on our property and will not involve our agency. It's actually taking place in front of the Angelika Theatre on private property and has nothing to do with us."
