Shades of 'Alien' in Jack Link's ads

You might call this an Alien moment.

Imagine using a vastly toned-down, knock-off of one of the scariest moments in the history of film to sell, well, beef jerky.

That's, essentially, what Jack Link's Beef Jerky is attempting to do with a who'd-a-thunk-it ad campaign that debuts June 2. Anyone who's seen the 1979 science fiction classic, Alien, will vividly remember the scene when a nasty, super-spooky-looking alien creature, comes ripping-out of the stomach -- head first -- of one of the space ship's crew members.

Fast forward to 2014. There's no spaceship here. But in three, sure-to-go-viral advertisements, folks with seriously-growling stomachs surprise viewers when wild animal heads -- an eagle, wolf and puma -- come ripping right out of their tummies. The campaign is dubbed "Hangry Moments" -- when your hunger is so debilitating that you're angry.

USA TODAY got an sneak-peek at the three ads. No, they're not at all gory like in Alien. And the animals tend to tame down once fed Jack Link's jerky. But there is certainly an Alien-ness feel to the whole set-up.

The ads:

An eagle pops out of the gurgling stomach of a female passenger on a delayed airplane.A wolf's head emerges from the stomach of a guy whose tummy grumbles during a business meeting.A puma's head pushes out of the stomach of a hungry college student while he is taking an exam.

In each case, a bite of Jack Link's Jerky quells the hunger and nudges the critters back where they came from. Realistic as the animal heads look, they're actually puppets.

"We're fully aware of Aliens, but we were very deliberate about not making the ads seem gross," says Kevin Papacek, director of marketing at Jack Link's. The notion of an angry, animal's head popping out of a gurgling stomach "is something anyone can relate to when their stomach growls."

One of the "Hangry Moments" series

The ad agency wanted no blood or guts flying around. "In a 30-second ad, you can sidestep the larger medical diagram of where this animal comes from," explains Marty Senn, executive creative director at the agency that created the campaign, Carmichael Lynch.

No, there are no plans for future ad knock-offs of Jaws, Psycho or The Exorcist.

Even then, with the long-time Jack Link's slogan, 'Feed your wild side,' says Papacek, "we feel like the possibilities are endless."

One of the "Hangry Moments" series.