OK, so the blurbflies from Jeff Noon’s novel Nymphomation were little flying critters that sang or chanted their advertising copy at you, but this is the first time I’ve seen anything along the lines of using actual insects as an advertising medium, even if via the surreal yet lo-fidelity marketing method of gluing tiny banners to the tushies of everyday houseflies:
Top marks for slightly gross innovation, if nothing else. Knowing the way the marketing business grabs trends and runs with them until they become ubiquitous to the point of infuriating banality, animal-based advertising will probably be massive by next summer and deader than last season’s butterflies by early 2011. So I’m going to grab the opportunity while it’s still fresh; if anyone needs me, I’ll be wandering the Canadian hinterlands, stencilling the Futurismic logo onto climate-refugee polar bears with photo-reactive spraypaint. [hat-tip to Geoff ‘BLDGBLOG’ Manaugh]
Am I the only one who finds it odd that all the people in the video appear pleasantly amused that a large insect has landed on them? Ok, so it has a little note attached. But wouldn’t you be more likely to perceive the fly’s motion first and thus respond in the customary (and negative) manner? In the video, not one person tries to bat the fly away! No one appears to be in the least bit annoyed or concerned by it. How realistic is that? Conclusion: The people in the video were coached in how to respond. Regular people simply don’t like insects buzzing around them, landing on them, etc.
Quite possible; the end result is the same, though, in that a marketing company has successfully marketed itself by playing the novelty card. 🙂
I have to say that the first two posts today both thrill and scare me. If we can “read” minds, how far are we from “wiring” minds?
In addition, how long will it take to miniaturize the mind reading technology to the point where it could be mounted in one of these houseflies? Or, even “better” how about mounting the technology into fly size guided robots?
You could fly through crowds figuring out who are the potential criminals.
“Minority Report” anyone?
Isn’t it fascinating how Philip K. Dick keeps coming up these days?