Plots to kill the bunny: murder's afoot in new Chiat/Day Energizer spots By Kathy Tyre

VENICE, CALIF.--In a "hare"-raising development, a series of plots are in the works to kill the Energizer Bunny. But don't low

The upcoming commercials, currently in production, sources said, are Energizer’s most direct jab to date at the competition. But Eveready also takes a poke at itself–reflecting in its latest work the murderous thoughts of people both inside and outside the ad business who believe the bunny’s been busting into commercials now for far too long.
In this newest series of big-budget, special-effects-laden ads in C/D’s $20-million campaign, an evil killer hired by Energizer’s unnamed competitor hunts the bunny down. The spots, directed by the late Jim Henson’s partner Frank Oz, focus on “Company X,” which is losing all of its money to Energizer and “its stupid pink bunny.” In the first spot, Company X’s chairman of the board, portrayed by wacky comedian/actor Rip Torn, recruits an evil scientist to help him determine how best to eliminate the stubby-tailed trouble maker. Successive spots in the series reveal that the scientist recruits some big-name villains to help him kill the bunny: King Kong, Dracula and the Wicked Witch of the West, to name a few.
Sources speculate that the bunny may get knocked off at some point in the campaign. But true to fashion, they expect it would rise from the depths later . . . and keep going and going and going . . .
Executives at Eveready and Chiat/Day declined comment.
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)