Striking Cats’ Fancy?

Los Angeles-based Kal Kan this week will air a TV commercial for Whiskas cat food aimed not at the pet owner but at the cat. The 45-second ad, to be broadcast on ABC, CBS and NBC starting Thursday, will be prefaced by a 15-second teaser instructing owners to try to lure kitty near the TV set. The ad, which was created by London-based M&C; Saatchi and initially ran in Britain, was adapted for the U.S. market by D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles of St. Louis. It opens with a cat’s-eye view of the sky obscured by low-hanging leafy branches, and shifts quickly to images of mice, birds and fish, accompanied by high-pitched sounds such as birds chirping. The company said tests conducted by Britain’s Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition with more than 200 cats indicated that about 60% of the felines had some response to the ad. It does not affect dogs, Kal Kan said.