Raid is the brand name of a line of

insecticide Insecticides are pesticides used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. The major use of insecticides is in agriculture, but they are also used in home and garden settings, i ...

products produced by S. C. Johnson & Son, first launched in 1956. The initial active ingredient was allethrin, the first synthetic

pyrethroid A pyrethroid is an organic compound similar to the natural pyrethrins, which are produced by the flowers of pyrethrums (''Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium'' and ''Chrysanthemum coccineum, C. coccineum''). Pyrethroids are used as commercial and hou ...

. Raid derivatives aimed at particular invertebrate species can contain other active agents such as the more toxic cyfluthrin which is also a

. As of 2019 Raid Ant & Roach Killer contains pyrethroids, imiprothrin, and cypermethrin; other products contain tetramethrin and prallethrin as active ingredients. Raid Flying Insect Killer, a spray, uses piperonyl butoxide and D- phenothrin. The brand was sold as Ridsect for Malaysian market.

"Raid Kills Bugs Dead" slogan

The product's original advertising tagline from its introduction in 1956 until 2016, "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. The line was first used in commerce in 1966 and was trademarked in 1986. Noted

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

director

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (; February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of America ...

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. Pegler "codified the look, feel and animation" of the weird insects that run in fear of Raid, according to Steve Schildwachter, executive vice-president at Draftfcb. The slogan had been part of a successful, long-running

advertising campaign An advertising campaign or marketing campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ide ...

. Conjuring up images of an

Eliot Ness Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957) was an American Bureau of Prohibition, Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone while enforcing Prohibition in the United States, Prohibition in Chicago. He was leader of a team ...

-style raid on an illegal bar during

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

, the

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

spots featured various anthropomorphic

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

bugs (such as mosquitos,

flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...

cockroaches Cockroaches (or roaches) are insects belonging to the Order (biology), order Blattodea (Blattaria). About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known Pest (organism), pests. Modern cockro ...

ants Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

, spiders (even though spiders technically are not bugs), etc.) plotting some silly scheme like invading a kitchen, or sometimes doing something like in a crime scene, or hanging out in some places, only to be attacked by the magical appearance of the product which swiftly dispatched the bugs to various giddily horrible deaths. The bugs would scream the brand's name ("RAAAIIIID!!??"), and then a huge cartoon-style explosion would occur, presumably precipitating their demise. The bugs' voices were provided by Avery, Mel Blanc, Paul Frees, Larry Moran, Frank Welker, Tim Dadabo and Paul Hancock. Similar campaigns have been run in other countries, either by

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

the US cartoons or by producing local versions, including those for Baygon, another S.C. Johnson brand of insecticides.

Illicit use

In recent years, reports of the use of heavy duty bug sprays as an illicit drug have gained notoriety. Although products such as Raid are relatively safe to humans (when used as intended), the act of huffing, smoking, snorting, vaping, plugging, drinking and/or injecting Raid or other bug sprays can cause irreversible neurological damage, or even death. In July 2019, it was announced that three people had died in West Virginia after overdosing on an unidentified wasp spray. Authorities have warned of a growing trend of ingesting bug spray in the southern United States, supposedly as a substitute for methamphetamine. Possible symptoms of ingesting bug poison include, but are not limited to: erratic behavior, nausea, headache, sore throat, extreme inflammation, redness of the hands and feet, auditory hallucinations, convulsions, coma, and death.

Competition

Raid's main competitors in the insecticide market are Black Flag, Hot Shot, Mortein and Baygon (also sister brand).

Notes

References

External links