“Big Apple” query and Ask Jeeves search engine (1999)

The search engine Ask Jeeves (Ask.com) advertised in November 1999 by putting stickers on fruit. A person picking up an apple, for example, was encouraged to go to Ask Jeeves and ask, “Why is New York called the Big Apple?”
 
Unfortunately, in 1999, the most popular answer to the “Why is New York called the Big Apple?” query was a website that contained the infamous “Big Apple whore hoax.”
   
 
Wikipedia: Ask.com
Ask.com (known originally as Ask Jeeves) is an internet-based business with a question answering format initiated during 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California.

The original software was implemented by Gary Chevsky, from his own design. Warthen, Chevsky, Justin Grant, and others built the early AskJeeves.com website based on that core program. In 2006, the “Jeeves” name was discontinued and they emphasized use of the search engine, which had its own algorithm. In late 2010, with insurmountable competition from more popular search engines like Google, the company outsourced its web search technology and revived its function as a question and answer site.
   
Marketing Sherpa
May 18, 2000
Yea/Nay: No Monkeying Around at Ask.com
Who says bananas are just a good source of potassium? For
the savvy marketers at Ask Jeeves and DOLE, they seem to be
a pretty sweet marketing ploy. Instead of the usual
Chiquita Banana stickers, some bananas are now sporting
little “Ask Jeeves” stickers all over them. Each includes
banana-related questions such as “How do I make banana
cream pie?” or “Where do bananas grow?” The campaign, a
joint effort between Ask Jeeves and Dole (a definite Yea!),
has labeled 100 million banana bunches with stickers
featuring Jeeves, the world’s first Internet butler, the
Ask.com URL, and questions related to bananas.

The fruit label campaign launched last November when Ask
Jeeves partnered with the Fruit Label Company and
California Apple Commission to label 15 million apples with
such as “Why is New York called the Big Apple?”
 
Google Groups: alt.test.testing
xyzxyzxyz
Moon Doggie
Jul 4, 2002, 12:03:43 PM
Jeeves, What Is A Search Engine Today?
The answer is service. Ask Jeeves, with
personality to
spare, wants to help create better web
experiences.
 
By Jennifer Saba
Staff Writer, Marketing Computers
June 2000 issue
(...)
The unusual offline branding didn’t stop
there. Ask Jeeves also decided to try the Chiquita banana
way of marketing, putting stickers on fruit.
They tested 15 million apples and blew out later to 60
million oranges. The questions on stickers
next to Jeeves matched the media: “Why is New York
called the Big Apple?” Hellier, meanwhile,
made sure that Jeeves would have the answers (i.e.
links).