In a new campaign that specialty channel Slice hopes will yield fruitful results, a multimedia rollout of print, TV and online ads featuring oranges and peaches attired in skimpy bikinis has been launched to promote the new seasons of Real Housewives’ Orange County and Atlanta editions.

Hoping to titillate the 18-to-49 female target demographic, the in-house-created campaign launched Jan. 4 and runs through the month, coinciding with the Jan. 9 premiere of Orange County‘s fifth season and Atlanta‘s second on Slice. Focusing on the Toronto market, the campaign involves print, online, radio and TV and OOH.

The OOH ads, spanning TTC platforms, gym change rooms and wild postings, include eye-popping posters featuring provocatively dressed fruit. Complementing them will be on-air programming guide ads in Western Canada, 10-second radio tags, an online presence on AOL.com, Perez Hilton.com and TMZ.com and a print buy in Toronto’s Metro commuter paper.

Solange Bernard, Canwest’s director of marketing strategy, lifestyle channels, tells MiC the sassy nature of the campaign – and the absence of Housewives celebrities in the ads – is a first for the show’s promotion.

‘In the past, we’ve conducted campaigns that focused on the faces of the women featured in Real Housewives,’ says Bernard. ‘When our creative came up with this promotion in early December, we thought it was a little risky and provocative, but that it was also fresh and fun for something we’re launching in the dead of winter. We wanted to do something that would stand out and grab people’s attention in a humorous way.’

According to Bernard, the Real Housewives franchises are among Slice’s top-five rated shows – a measure of the TV reality series’ true, ahem, appeal.