Foretelling a different kind of fortune?

Diners at local Chinese restaurants will get a taste of a new form of advertising when they crack open their fortune cookies next month.

Ads promoting a contest for a new reality TV show will be hiding on the backs of the fortunes inside the desserts.

It’s a unique alternative to the bombarding ad messages that consumers face, said Mark Hughes, founder of Buzzmarketing, the 8-month-old marketing company in Media, Pa., that is pushing the medium.

“People are getting a little more daring, and the tide is beginning to turn” away from traditional advertising, Mr. Hughes said.

He has signed Showtime to promote its new series “Dead Like Me” on the back of fortunes in New York later this month. And he is negotiating with entertainment studios MGM and Buena Vista to promote film and DVD releases.

Mr. Hughes has secured exclusive rights with five fortune-cookie manufacturers to advertise in 7 million of their cookies nationwide each week. Those cookies are distributed to about 5,000 Chinese restaurants, or about 25 percent of the Chinese restaurants in the country.

Mr. Hughes has the rights to 6 million cookies per month in the Washington-Baltimore area. The cookies are distributed to about 575 Chinese restaurants locally.

Washington’s first sample will be a promotion for “Hollywood Pitch N’ Win,” a contest that invites reality TV show enthusiasts to write their own ideas for a reality-based show.

The contest is a promotion to get the word out about TVBuzz.com, a new Web site dedicated to reality-based TV shows. The site and the contest will start July Fourth weekend, said Jeff Greenfield, vice president of 1st Approach, TVBuzz.com’s parent company.

The ads will run in several markets, including Washington, during the eight-week contest. The company was planning to use cable TV to advertise but decided against it.

“We were afraid of getting shoved in with all the other messages,” Mr. Greenfield said.

And getting lost in the mix is exactly what companies, particularly those with small marketing budgets, are afraid of.

“The biggest problem is not the capability of delivering a sound message,” Mr. Hughes said. “The problem is capturing people’s attention.”

By comparison, a television ad is among 128 shown during an evening of prime time, according to Buzzmarketing.

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