Futurism.com reports on the latest threat to our collective sanity:
A Russian company called StartRocket says it’s going to launch a cluster of cubesats into space that will act as an “orbital billboard,” projecting enormous advertisements into the night sky like artificial constellations. And its first client, it says, will be PepsiCo — which will use the system to promote a “campaign against stereotypes and unjustified prejudices against gamers” on behalf of an energy drink called Adrenaline Rush.
Yeah, the project sounds like an elaborate prank. But Russian PepsiCo spokesperson Olga Mangova confirmed to Futurism that the collaboration is real.
“We believe in StartRocket potential,” she wrote in an email. “Orbital billboards are the revolution on the market of communications. That’s why on behalf of Adrenaline Rush — PepsiCo Russia energy non-alcoholic drink, which is brand innovator, and supports everything new, and non-standard — we agreed on this partnership.”
Now it appears that PepsiCo is merely exploring options. But if this, or a related, project is pushed along, it seems to me that sending the lawyers out on an accusation of despoiling the commons – that is, our shared sky – should be a good strategy going forward.
But I have to say, this is a nihilistic statement:
“We are ruled by brands and events,” project leader Vlad Sitnikov told Futurism at the time. “The Super Bowl, Coca Cola, Brexit, the Olympics, Mercedes, FIFA, Supreme and the Mexican wall. The economy is the blood system of society. Entertainment and advertising are at its heart.”
No, not really. We have free will, and so long as we don’t permit ourselves to be mislead by advertising and entertainment, we can live more satisfying lives than if we follow along in the wake of what marketing execs want us to do.
The drive to consume is what drives them.
