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F.E.A.R. 2 To Be Advertised On Cats In London 73

Posted by samzenpus from the commercial-catastrophe dept.
arcticstoat writes "Warner Bros has revealed that it plans to advertise its forthcoming shooter, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, via a clowder of black cats roaming the streets of London on the game's launch day on Friday 13th. Branded a 'cat-vertising campaign', the scheme will see the specially trained black moggies sporting F.E.A.R. 2 cat clothing. The idea, according to Warner Bros, is that the creepy kitties will 'capture the attention of superstitious passers-by,' as Friday 13th is famous for its supposed bad luck and a black cat crossing your path was listed at number 5 in a recent survey of Britain's superstitions and signs of bad luck."

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F.E.A.R. 2 To Be Advertised On Cats In London More

F.E.A.R. 2 To Be Advertised On Cats In London

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  • Why didn't they... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ThisIsAnonymous ( 1146121 ) on Thursday February 12, 2009 @04:53PM (#26834393)
    Hire a bunch of creepy little girls?
  • They should also put up a bunch of ladders that people have to walk under and then sneak into people's houses and break their mirrors.

    • And then kill them with a chainsaw and use their blood to write "666" on the walls.

      That would definitely freak out superstitious people.

  • You learn something new every day (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Locke2005 ( 849178 ) on Thursday February 12, 2009 @04:57PM (#26834475)
    Yes, a group of adult cats is actually called a "clowder". I'd never heard the term before!

    If these black cats are anything like the cats I've known, they are going to spend the whole day hiding in a hole somewhere desperately trying to claw these "cat clothes" off of their backs -- in other words, I don't think this campaign will be too successful because nobody is actually going to see these black cats! I've also added "cat dresser" to the list of jobs I'm glad I don't have. Sure, that feline is just going to stand their quietly whilst you strap this on their back...

    • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Clowder. Rhymes with chowder. Coincidence?

    • I'd not heard the word
      before either... but then,
      neither have I seen cats
      group together (apart
      from at the feeding bowl).

      P.S. When is Slashdot
      going to fix the flipping
      comment box?

      • P.S. When is Slashdot
        going to fix the flipping
        comment box?

        When are you going to stop posting in plain text and hitting return at the end of each line? Maybe you should come into the 1990s and get a web browser with word wrap in textareas.

        • He's refering to a
          problem with the idle
          stylesheet which
          causes the textbox
          area to be only as wide
          as these lines.

          Of course, ignoring this and typing normally works and results in expected behaviour, but it's yet another thing that is wrong with idle. I usually solve this by avoiding this section, but in this case I wanted to see if there are any opinions on the game itself.

          • And for some reason it doesn't happen with me here, using Vista Ultimate32 bits, Firefox 3.06
            So the people who have this problem should check elsewhere for the cause of the problem I think.

            • Ubuntu+Firefox:FAIL
              Ubuntu+Konqueror:FAIL
              Vista+IE:FAIL
              Vista+Firefox:FAIL
              Mint+Firefox:FAIL
              XPPro+Firefox:FAIL
              XPPro+IE:FAIL

              camperdave login:FAIL
              other account login:FAIL
              no login:FAIL

              I have tried different browsers on different machines with different usernames. Other people report the same issue. Every other Slashdot theme works. The problem is on Slashdot's end.

              • Heh sorry if I sounded glib about it, most people who have some sort of problem don't do anything to check, you obviously did.
                Weird problem though.
                One question, what is Mint?

                • One question, what is Mint?

                  Linux Mint [linuxmint.com] is a variant of Ubuntu, but with integrated media codecs, custom desktop and menus, and several unique configuration tools. It has a cleaner, more logical menu layout, and generally a crisper feel. Mind you, I could do without the custom Google page.
        • When are you going to stop posting in plain text and hitting return at the end of each line? Maybe you should come into the 1990s and get a web browser with word wrap in textareas.

          I post in "HTML Formatted" and I put <br>s in to demonstrate how broken the frelling textarea box is on the Idle section. It's not me that needs to come into the 1990's. It's the Sha gua who wrote the style sheet for Idle. It may be pants, but it doesn't have to be lederhosen.

  • Black Cats (Score:4, Informative)

    by JustNiz ( 692889 ) on Thursday February 12, 2009 @05:07PM (#26834667)

    It seems to be a regional thing as to whether a black cat crossing your path is good or bad luck.

    Where I'm from in the UK (Dorset coast) its considered very good luck.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by lz2pt ( 1210056 )

      It seems to be a regional thing as to whether a black cat crossing your path is good or bad luck.

      Where I'm from in the UK (Dorset coast) its considered very good luck.

      where I am in Scotland, black cats are considered to be lucky (in general, not just crossing your path) as well.

      I always assumed the unlucky black cat thing to be a mainly american variation of the superstition, as that's where I've mainly heard this one from, though ISTR reading in a book on superstitions many years ago that some central/eastern european countries have this slant on it as well.

      wrt the article, a case here maybe of the WB publicity drones and suits forgetting which country they're in ?

      • It seems to be a regional thing as to whether a black cat crossing your path is good or bad luck.

        Where I'm from in the UK (Dorset coast) its considered very good luck.

        where I am in Scotland, black cats are considered to be lucky (in general, not just crossing your path) as well.

        I always assumed the unlucky black cat thing to be a mainly american variation of the superstition, as that's where I've mainly heard this one from, though ISTR reading in a book on superstitions many years ago that some central/eastern european countries have this slant on it as well.

        wrt the article, a case here maybe of the WB publicity drones and suits forgetting which country they're in ?

        Yes, it all stems from the Salem witch trials where old women were tortured into "confessing" how they consorted with Satan. They came up with a bunch of fantastic shit, one piece of which was their "familiars", some kind of small animal, always black, usually a cat, who helped the witch accomplish her evil deeds.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by KlomDark ( 6370 )

      I've had a black cat since 1994. When I got it, I lived in a trailer house in the middle of Nebraska.

      Now I live in several multi-million dollar mansions scattered across the world and have three jets and a NASCAR racecar.

      For a living, I act sad about the "recession" (Oh haha, if you only knew...) and tell people how bad things are for me.

      Then I cruise out on my hyperdrive helicopter and back to my home planet.

      Silly rabbit, civilizations are not for humans.

    • Unless you trip on it. I doubt it's considered to be good luck then......

  • Before you say how silly this PR is, consider that it's made it to frontpage of slashdot (yeah, yeah, idle I know, but it still counts)...

  • Won't they ever learn? (Score:5, Funny)

    by RabidMoose ( 746680 ) on Thursday February 12, 2009 @05:18PM (#26834865) Homepage
    There is no such thing as a trained cat.

    It's a law of nature that if you want a cat to do something, it will do anything else.
    • Sea world [seaworldad...epark.info] begs to differ.

      • The parent said :

        if you want a cat to do something, it will do anything else

        All that the Seaworld trainers has to do, is really deeply want that the cat remain still and sleep.

    • Re:Won't they ever learn? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by spun ( 1352 ) <[moc.oohay] [ta] [yranoituloverevol]> on Thursday February 12, 2009 @05:48PM (#26835439) Journal

      I saw a Russian fellow with some very well trained cats at the state fair a couple years back. His cats would walk tightropes, ride around on dogs, balance on balls, jump through flaming hoops, and tons of other crazy stunts. Most impressive animal show I've ever seen.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HTH NE1 ( 675604 )

      Well, you can get a cat to do something for the immediate reward of food. Most humans don't have the patience to train a cat to accept delayed gratification.

      They should use cats that have learned to tolerate walking on leashes. The cats will still determine where they want to go, but their handlers can still restrain them from going too far and keep them in the public eye. (My cat gets excited whenever he sees me reach for his leash; he knows it's the only way he gets to walk outside for an extended period.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Abreu ( 173023 )

        Also, certain breeds of cats tend to be more receptive to training.

        We once had a siamese (one of those heavyset, muscular siamese, not the thin, "evil cat" types) that could fetch keys and walk in a leash

    • I actually don't believe that. Some cats are receptive to training. Some cats can be toilet trained, trained to use a leash, jump through hoops. I think the younger the cat is the more of a chance you have to train them with treats to do these things, but it depends on the personality of the cat. I didn't know in Scotland that black cats were considered lucky, I have had two all black cats so far and they make really nice pets. They love to hunt and leave their carnage on your back steps or patios, at
      • Our family has always trained our pet cats. Strays or kittens, they learn to sit, fetch, jump, come when called, stay off furniture, and so on. And usually for nothing more than praise and being pet. Not sure what the secret is or we'd try to bottle it.

    • There is no such thing as a trained cat.

      Are you sure about that? [youtube.com]

  • A word on impact (Score:5, Funny)

    by Captain Spam ( 66120 ) on Thursday February 12, 2009 @05:19PM (#26834869) Homepage

    Unfortunately, if I were to see one of these cats outside when the ad campaign is live, the entire spooky/creepy effect would be lost on me and I'd assume many others like me, as I'd immediately associate cats with messages on them with "o hai! u can haz feer 2?"

    • Re: (Score:1, Redundant)

      by Dreen ( 1349993 )

      Im replying because I marked parent overrated. Sorry Im new to moderating. Parent is not overrated, I slipped my cursor. AFAIU this post will remove a mistake? Man, we should have an undo button.

      Anyway, sorry parent.

  • Without getting in massive trouble from animal rights advocacy groups? Announcing that you are releasing a bunch of cats into an area crowded with cars, feral cats, dogs, and mean people just seems like a lawsuit waiting to happening.

  • will they be walking the cats on leashes, or will they be peeling them off the street with a spatula at the end of the day?
  • One of my little fuzzy sociopaths would fit the role perfectly. One dose of catnip and she goes off like an overcharged food mixer! Are they hiring?

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