Atmospheric Advertising

The planes are back in the air, but there’s still a volcanic cloud up there. The RAF found ash in the engines of two of its Tornados this week. Jules Verne - writing in 1889 - predicted that by 2889 the clouds would carry advertisements: they’d be writing on the clouds. A thousand projectors would achieve this ‘atmospheric advertising’ by constantly displaying on the clouds, mammoth adverts and news stories. I can see tomorrow’s headline (cloud-line?) now: ‘Volcanic ash causes Tornado crash’.

This is not a hairdryer

Magritte was a great painter of clouds (in light skies, dawning on dark days), and there’s ‘an advertising-quality’ about much of Magritte’s art; indeed, Magritte’s imagery - from Homepride flour to The Prudential Building Society - must have visually influenced more adverts than any other artist I can think of. But let’s stick with things that smoke; consider things with wings; let time fly. 

 This is not a pipe

This is not a clock

This is a wing-mirror

This is not a mirror