This has made me giggle every time I’ve seen it for the last … SIX years. That’s how long it’s been since I worked at the trade magazine in Chicago where this was in a trade publication the magazine received. That’s how funny this ad is.

If you can’t read the text under the photo, this is what it says:

That’s right, you can reach 55,000 software developers with your advertising message and get a free cat to boot. We’re talking genuine felines with shots, spayed, declawed–the whole nine yards.

Just call 800-GET-A-CAT and we’ll ship immediately. Just let us know how to ship

______UPS
______UPS Blue Label
______Overnight
______Bulk Mail

Advertise today. (415) 397-1881. We’re standing by ready to punch holes in boxes.

Now, issues of declawing aside (my pos
ition: I’m against it. I think it’s cruel.), I just LOVE this ad! Especially the half-cat shooting into the air.

Aha, I googled it and found this:

The 800-number is phony.

And when you call Carl at the 415-number also listed in the ad, he tells you he really doesn’t have cats to give away.

The only giveaway is his pet cat Kazoo. In the ad, Kazoo is pictured twice, once sitting on top of a pedestal, and a second time, from the neck down, with a Federal Express and Special Delivery tag pasted on his stomach.

“It’s just a joke,” Landau says from his San Francisco office. “I wanted to get rid of my cat. That’s all.”

Sad, poor kitty–he really did want to get rid of the cat. But a most hilarious ad. Memorable, too.