I think I just threw up a little bit…
The lovely creature to the left is a Madagascar hissing cockroach. The image you see is at 2/3rds scale; the damn things are actually 3-inches in length, can run at speeds of up to three miles per hour and, true to their name, will drown out your screams with a hissing noise while chasing you around your house (and, being faster than you are, they will catch you).
They are also to be, according to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article, the featured snack at an upcoming Six Flags promotion. And, yes, I said snack.
It seems the Dallas-area park is buying out the supply of grotesquely large, mutant cockroaches from regional pet stores and will offer up their nature’s bounty to the public during the first weekend of its annual Halloween festival.
Those who successfully down a live cockroach will be given a “Flash Pass,” allowing the holder to skip to the front of any line at the park’s various rides. Additionally, they may wish to consider allowing the pass holders to skip to the head of the line at bathrooms as well.
The cockroaches, which taste “just like chicken,” albeit creepy-crawly, hissing chicken, “were chosen because they are considered a delicacy in many Asian and African cultures.” Huzzah. Education and culture sharing has reached a new high-water mark in Dallas. Next up, receive a free enema at all public libraries when signing up for a library card.
Overheard at the promotion: “Dude. That is so not what I thought when I read they were passing out free roaches.”
Email Article Sunday, September 17th, 2006 at 04:41pm Mack Simpson
Filed under: Ad Jungle, Ad Nauseam, Monkey Town | add this post to del.icio.us
Technorati Tags: Advertising, Promotions, Six Flags, Cockroach
7 Comments Add your own
1. Magno | September 17th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
Now you know this is just what we in the Northeast would expect from Six Flags over Texas. Um, gross…. Why - why other than their feeble brand will be in the news for a week, would they do this? Where are the Peta people (or do they not do bugs?) Ick. Ick. Ick.
2. David Burn | September 18th, 2006 at 8:01 am
Twisted, but it may work as a promotion. The spectacle alone…
Thanks for the gross out!
3. makethelogobigger | September 18th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
Man, if you go on that snake coaster after eating that, sure gonna look worse on the way up than it did on the way down.
;-p
4. olivier blanchard | September 21st, 2006 at 8:44 pm
“Free colonic with every tenth Big Mac meal purchase” is the promo I’ve really been waiting to see.
5. Magno | September 25th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
From BOSTON.COM 9-25-06//AP
PETA upset at Six Flags roach contest
GURNEE, Ill. –People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants Six Flags Great America to scrap its Halloween-themed cockroach-eating promotion.
A spokeswoman for the animal rights organization says the contest at the amusement park’s FrightFest is “gratuitously cruel.”
The park in Gurnee, Ill., is joining other Six Flags parks in offering unlimited line-jumping privileges to anyone who eats a live Madagascar hissing cockroach. The bugs are up to three inches long.
The contest begins next month.
Amusement park officials are defending their menu choice. Great America spokesman Jim Taylor says the bugs are nutritious, high in protein and fat free.
© Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
6. Mack Simpson | September 25th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
HA! Thanks!
7. Anonymous | February 7th, 2008 at 5:02 am
ha
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed