Space advertising

Attempts

The 1993 "Space Billboard" by the American company Space Marketing Inc. was a proposal for a 1 km2 illuminated billboard that would be launched into a low orbit and be visible from Earth. The advertisement would be roughly the same apparent size and brightness as the moon and was to be made from sheets of mylar. It was estimated that it would be impacted by space debris around 10,000 times; this and the inability to attract adequate funding prevented the project from progressing.

The first commercial filmed in space was a milk commercial by the Israeli company Tnuva, which was filmed aboard the space station Mir in 1997.

In an unusual form of fast food advertising, two Pizza Hut marketing ploys have involved spaceflight. In 2001 they were the first to deliver pizzas to outer space when their vacuum-sealed food arrived at the International Space Station, just a year after signing a deal to have a 30-foot (9 m) Pizza Hut logo placed on the side of the unmanned Proton rocket that launched ISS Zvezda. [6] Kodak then paid to have their logo and a slogan placed onto a material that was to be tested for durability in space on the outside of Mir.

Legislation

In 1993, faced with the Space Billboard project, U.S. Congressman Ed Markey introduced a bill that banned all U.S. advertising in space. This was amended by Section 70102 of title 49 of the United States Code to only cover obtrusive advertising, thus allowing sponsorship deals where the logo is placed on the rocket or an astronaut's clothing. Since May 2005 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been in charge of enforcing this law.

Russia is the other leading space flight country, and has accepted advertising on many of their missions (see Attempts above).

Criticism

Before the legislation was introduced there was a public outcry to reports of space advertising plans. The problems caused for astronomy due to light pollution, obstructed vision, and radio noise were quickly cited. The inability to easily avoid the advertisements was another great concern, with them being in sight whenever you are outside – all other forms of advertising can be turned off or removed somewhat easily. As large billboards would be visible for large distances it would also be impossible to make them visible to only one country.

Popular culture

Large billboards in space have been featured in several science fiction books, films and television series, most notably the animated series Futurama. They are usually shown as satire of commercialisation.

In Fredric Brown's 1945 short story, "Pi in the Sky," an inventor rearranges the apparent positions of the stars to form an advertising slogan.

The Red Dwarf novel "Red Dwarf" features an advertising campaign whereby a ship is sent on a mission by The Coca Cola Company to cause 128 stars to go supernova in order to visibly spell the words "Coke Adds Life!" across the sky on earth. The message is intended to last five weeks, and be visible even in daylight.

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