At first glance, it almost looks like yet another ad for the top-selling U.S. laundry detergent. The box is fluorescent orange and yellow. The background recalls the bull's-eye image of Procter & Gamble's Tide.  But this "detergent" is labeled "Died," and the blonde with false eyelashes holding the box is a drag queen, not a housewife.

"Some big bright packages contain dirty little secrets," the copy reads. "Procter & Gamble poisons animals in tests not required by law.  Call for a free list of cruelty-free product companies." A sad-faced dog looks out from behind the glass door of a washing machine.

The drag queen, named Lady Bunny, and her box of "Died" detergent are scheduled to appear Friday in two papers in P&G's hometown of Cincinnati -- CityBeat and Everybody's News -- courtesy of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or Peta. Come December, the campaign is scheduled to include magazines such as Spin, Detour, the Advocate and Out. A billboard is also going up in New York City's Greenwich Village.

Peta spokesman Dan Matthews says the group is spending about $25,000 to run the ads, but is getting discounts from media companies that will make that money go further.

P&G spokeswoman Mindy Patton called the ads "disappointing and misleading." She says P&G conducts "a minimal amount of animal tests, when that's the only way we can prove our products are safe for people."

The campaign opens a nasty new frontier in the consumer-boycott battles. In the past, boycotts have targeted corporate entities, not the brands consumers know best. Now, taking a page out of the marketers' playbook, Peta is thinking and acting more like the companies it criticizes, aping corporate America's own marketing tricks in its pointed parodies.

"We have to reach the consumer," says Peta President Ingrid Newkirk. "We want to incorporate our message into their jingles. Whenever anyone hears or sees Tide, we want them to think of our ads." The "Died" campaign is the latest in a series of increasingly strident attacks launched by Peta against P&G. A "Died" race car has been cruising the Nascar circuit since the spring, showing up at the same auto tracks as P&G's Tide sports car.

In August, two Peta activists passed out door-hangers in a Cincinnati suburb parodying P&G's famous "Mr. Clean" cleanser as "Mr. Mean." Superimposed on the musclebound body of Mr. Clean was a photo of P&G Chief Executive John Pepper -- complete with shaved head, white T-shirt and gold earring. "John Pepper clean up your act," scolded the bottle's mock packaging.

Meanwhile, Peta isn't backing away from the stunts that put it on the map. In February, a Peta activist hit Mr. Pepper in the face with a tofu pie at an awards ceremony. The activists who handed out the Mr. Mean flyers also visited Mr. Pepper's home. Local police cited the pair for distributing leaflets in a residential neighborhood without a permit. In both cases, P&G declined to press charges.

P&G spokeswoman Ms. Patton says: "We really felt we needed to keep our eye focused on developing new methods that would help us eventually eliminate animal testing, vs. focusing
on a publicity stunt."

Some experts say there isn't much else P&G can do. Mocking "Tide" as "Died," or negatively depicting "Mr. Clean" as "Mr. Mean" both raise questions about "trademark dilution by tarnishment," says Linda Goldstein, a partner at Hall Dickler Kent Friedman & Wood, a New York law firm specializing in advertising issues, and "in my opinion they would cross the line"
if executed by a rival. But "because this is being done by an animal-rights group, there's a natural inclination on the part of the courts to afford First Amendment protection."

P&G continues to test some products on animals, but says it wants to eliminate the practice eventually, though it hasn't set a timetable. Since 1984, P&G says it has reduced animal testing by more than 80%, and has spent more than $90 million to pursue alternative methods of testing product safety. Other companies, including Gillette, Avon and L'Oreal, already have discontinued animal tests.

P&G has offered to meet with Peta representatives over the years to discuss their differences. But Ms. Newkirk says the group spurned the invitations because it didn't want to meet with "public relations, lawyers and middle management that don't have any authority" to change policy. Peta ratcheted up the volume last year after secretly taping treatment of animals in a lab used by P&G. After viewing Peta's tape, P&G immediately suspended its work at the lab and launched its own investigation. P&G concluded there was indeed "inappropriate conduct by the lab technicians that did not show appropriate respect and dignity for the animals," according to Ms. Patton.

In September, Ms. Newkirk fired off a letter to Durk Jager, P&G's president, who is scheduled to succeed Mr. Pepper as CEO in January, requesting a sit-down. P&G's director of product safety, Larry Games, called her back last week and agreed to schedule a meeting. Ms. Patton says the two are "still coordinating
calendars."