Log In | Register
There can be no doubt that beer advertising has often been markedly different from most other marketing tactics. In a fiercely competitive market some companies have often flaunted "good taste" and "quality" while others have created hilarious ads that have almost nothing to do their product. (remember the super bowl and Wazaaaaap?) More often than not the challenge is simply getting the brand name out there and into the public's memory. But one particular company may have topped all previous attempts.
Rolling Rock, produce of Rolling Rock Pale Ale has announced their intentions to advertise on the moon. While it may sound farcical, they've been pushing a comical television commercial campaign to bring public awareness to the historic event. Nighttime on March 21st, it has been announced, is their first official attempt.
The schematics of space advertising are simple. Find a suitably large heavenly body (the moon) and beam a powerful laser at it displaying the company's logo. While theoretically possible, astronomy experts disagree as to whether Rolling Rock could pull off such a stunt.
There are two main problems with their plan: for one, the laser would have to be incredibly powerful just to reach the moon and reflect back visible light. Such lasers do exist, but are they commercially available? Whats more is that Rolling Rock apparently expects their logo to fill up the moon. Shining a concentrated dot on the moon is one thing, but spreading out the logo over half of the entire surface and expecting to see it is sheer ludicrous.
And to add another nail in this moonvertising coffin, they've scheduled to do it at the worst possible time--during a full moon. Our brilliant sun shines out and illuminates the moon quite well at night. So much that, when positioned directly behind the earth, the "full" moon becomes the brightest object in the night sky, able to cast shadows on objects on earth. Rolling Rock essentially needs a laser brighter than the sun to outshine the light that's already there.
Their best bet would have been to shoot the laser at a "new" or dark moon. The dark canvas would be much more likely to show the light. But this would be more difficult, because new moons often appear in tandem with the sun. So in a nutshell, don't be so quick to believe the hype.
At the very best, in all unlikelihood, you might be able to see a very pale green reflection of the Rolling Rock logo. More likely than not, you won't see anything at all. But all this mere talk about "moonvertising" has some questioning whether or not its ethical to advertise on the moon. Now I know you're thinking, 'What? an ethical argument about the moon? Now I've heard of everything." Seriously though, consider the implications.
I can't deny that advertising on the moon is impossible, and some day in the future we could see a form of it. But the moon is on display for all the world to see, who's to dictate WHAT is advertised or even said? Imagine having a romantic evening with your date while the moon is obscured by an ad for preparation-H. A beam of light could be directed from anywhere, political messages, racial slurs, idiotic advertisements...the only thing stopping someone from plastering messages on the moon is someone with a more powerful laser.
And perhaps most importantly, any kind of fantastic laser-light display (of advertising) simply detracts from the natural beauty of our closest neighbor in space. But how many of us, can say that the dazzling night moon is something we even pay attention to anymore? In much the same way as the invention of the light bulb--while not necessarily a bad thing--has destroyed our view of the night sky, moonvertising may be first step in our destruction of the natural beauty of space.
moonvertising.com
