Meow Marketing?

Black cats were harnessed to advertise the new first-person shooter game, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin in London last week. To double-up on the cheese factor, the game was launched on Friday the 13th.

Worst of all, the ad execs called it "Cat-vertising."

The idea of using cats for nefarious advertisements has been around for a while. In 1892, Australian magician Carl Hertz took out newspaper announcements stating that he needed 1,000 cats. Anyone delivering a cat to Hertz’s theater got cash or a free ticket to his show.

After receiving hundreds of cats, Hertz fastened paper collars to them that read, “See Carl Hertz at the Opera House.”

Then the magician released all of the cats in downtown Sydney. Eep!