Raid (insecticide)

Raid (insecticide)

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Raid (insecticide)

A frame from a US animated TV commercial for Raid Outdoor Ant Spikes

Raid is the brand name of a line of insecticides produced by SC Johnson, first launched in 1956.

The initial active ingredient was the first synthetic pyrethroid, allethrin. Raid derivatives aimed at particular invertebrate species can contain other active agents such as the more toxic cyfluthrin, another synthetic pyrethroid.

"Raid Kills Bugs Dead" slogan

The product's advertising tagline, "Raid Kills Bugs Dead," was created by the advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding. The phrase itself is often attributed to the poet Lew Welch, who worked for the agency at the time.^[1]

A frame from a Finnish TV commercial for Raid.

The line was first used in commerce in 1966 and was trademarked in 1986. Legendary animation director Tex Avery was the producer of the first "Kills Bugs Dead" commercials. Artist Don Pegler developed the bug characters used in the US and continued animating them for forty years.

The slogan has been part of a successful, long-running advertising campaign. Conjuring up images of an Eliot Ness-style raid on an illegal bar during Prohibition, the television spots have featured the cartoon bugs plotting some silly scheme like invading a kitchen, only to be foiled by the magical appearance of the product which swiftly dispatched the bugs to various giddily horrible deaths. The bugs would scream, "RAAAIIIID!" and then a huge cartoon-style explosion would occur.

Similar campaigns have been run in other countries, either by dubbing the US cartoons or by producing local versions.