posted on Dec, 20 2008 @ 11:53 PM
The Purpose is Part of a Marketing Plan
Back in the mid-1990's an ad. agency had the idea to associate contrails with consumer products.
The thinking was this:
Air traffic was increasing rapidly - more contrails.
Aircraft were being re-powered with quieter, more efficient high by-pass engines - contrails at higher temperature, greater altitude range.
A marketing campaign for a product or brand includes sky scenes with contrails; seeing contrails reminds potential purchaser of the product or brand;
increased chance purchaser will choose that product or brand.
A few advertisers took up the idea.
The agency suggested to airlines to request routes and altitudes where their aircraft would make contrails. The occurrence of contrails increased
markedly. Success.
However, in the late 1990's, access to he Internet was really taking off, and a few people who had noticed the increasing occurrence of contrails and
started asking questions. These times were fraught with political shenanigans and popular dissatisfaction with authority in general. People were
becoming suspicious of governments, especially in America. Conspiracy theories were rife. The inevitable happened and the "chemtrail" conspiracy
gained a small but dedicated following. All kinds of purposes were suspected, and speculation raged.
Disaster for the ad. agency and its small number of clients buying into the contrail plan.
Then the ad. agency had another brilliant idea. Viral advertising. (With the rise in the use of the Internet, this marketing ploy was going really
well.) Hooking into the paranoia being generated by the chemtrail conspiracy idea and its fanatical (by now) following, a new type of advertiser
appeared who were prepared to link their product with contrails (="chemtrails"). The aim of this strategy with this was to gain exposure. A
chemtrail proponent would see an advertisement for a car, perfume, cellphone network, whatever, and pass it around the message boards and blogs with
growing indignation and horror. That didn't matter; it was the exposure that was important.
This worked brilliantly.
Aware of the "chemtrail" controversy, people bought the products associated with contrails because they were good products, and the added bonus was
so that they could say to any one who questioned the wisdom of the choice, "Don't you know when you're being wound up? Pu-leez; chemtrails?
Phffft!"
Film makers, especially of cartoons even used contrail imagery in their work. The aim here was also to wind-up the chemtrailers, and give their
debunker opponents a bit of a laugh, as well as everyone else who knew what the deal with contrails actually was.
So, that's where we are today. "Chemtrails" started as a marketing tool; it went bad after a rew years, but viral advertising saved the day.
Fits the science, aviation developments, social climate, marketing developments.