Using a strategy perfected over two generations of Saturday-morning kids’ TV, last summer’s ad campaign for Whiskas Homestyle Favorites bypassed cat owners and shot the message straight at the cats. As Enough (Fall 1999) points out, the TV ads use rustling leaves, mouse talk, and “whirring imagery” to lure cats to its product pitch. Never mind that most cats have no discretionary income; a feline focus group revealed that 60 percent responded to the ad. A slightly higher percentage pounced on a jiggling piece of yarn.
