I talk about the possible future implications of sky advertising using drones.

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Post author By Charlie November 18, 2022
The Possible Implications of Sky Advertising
theweeklyrambler.com/the-possible-implications-of-sky-advertising/
A little while ago something rather spectacular took place over New York City. Millions of
people if they looked up would – for a time – have been able to see a giant advertisement
in the sky for the popular mobile game Candy Crush – one of those tile-matching video
games that swamp the app stores. I do remember the time when this game first became
popular and dozens of people I knew were playing it and often announcing that they were
on level 300 odd or level 500 odd and so on. I played it myself for a bit but soon got tired
of it as it is not my sort of game.
Anyway – back to the advertisement in the sky. How did they achieve this seemingly
futuristic feat? Using drones with colourful lights of course to create a light show. Light
shows are something I am a big fan of because 1. more and more events are choosing to
have light shows instead of loud fireworks and 2. that’s great news for pets, wild animals
and people who can experience sensory overload such as many with Autism.
But with the advent of light shows and drones it was only going to be a matter of time
before we found other ways to commercialize and capitalize off them. Advertisements are
widely seen as a bothersome thing but at the same time many of us recognise that it’s a
necessary nuisance as long as its efficiently and correctly regulated through the many
mediums you can do advertisements through – television – websites – billboards –

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posters – online videos – livestreams – public transport – bus stops – and more recently
we’ve seen advertisement being introduced more and more to streaming services as well,
such as with Netflix’s cheaper ad tier.
I mean this very website itself has advertisements and has done for a while now via
Google Adsense although I am yet to reach the threshold of being able to withdraw from
it. It serves as a medium for many creators to be able to turn a hobby into a full-time job if
they’re lucky enough, or at least it is often the first step in that direction among other ways
of making money.
But with the advent of sky advertisement such as with the Candy Crush ad over New York
City – could we be on the cusp of more widely seeing such advertisements in our skies
more and more as we move forward? Perhaps even to the point where no matter where
we are there is a good chance of seeing a sky advertisement? Could it get to the point
where it becomes a nuisance, and we begin losing our nice clear skies? Maybe.
To me it sounds a bit like something from a dystopian world but also something to not be
completely discounted. There are laws and regulations in place for using drones – but this
is more aimed towards safety and security. Sky advertisement is something that does not
have regulation because it’s not something we’ve really seen until now – apart perhaps
from the occasional blimp or a small plane flying with a streamer advertisement off its tail.
But I would not say those versions of ‘sky advertisement’ are as interesting as colourful
lights that can move and change in ways that can create almost limitless and fantastic
patterns in the sky.
It’s mesmerizing and much more attractive to the eye. So, I can see it being far more
effective and I don’t see any reasons why advertisers and companies would not
eventually become quite interested in pulling such stunts to advertise their services and
products in this new, amazing and eye-catching manner, that would be exposed to
millions of people and which could be done day or night – although night would look
better.
Sure, it may be expensive but advertisement in general is expensive anyway and
companies already drop millions and millions on it each year. So, I can easily see money
not being an issue if there is profit.
So, we should probably start talking regulations and laws in advance just to be on the
safe side and ready for this potential new avenue of advertisement. Perhaps limiting it to
certain days of the month – more safety regulations to prevent accidents from what could
be a greater increase in drone usage for advertisement – research into how light shows
still may affect wildlife and the environment, such as migratory birds – maybe even
limiting it to places that already suffer light pollution to the point where stars are not visible
anyway.
Is it something we’d want at all? Perhaps the avenues of advertisement that already exist
are plenty enough and we should not let it extend to our skies – perhaps a ban is in order
or at least regulation that makes sky advertisement an extremely rare thing. Or it could

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just be limited to organised light shows or other events where advertisers make
agreements with organisers and officials to insert light show ads amongst and between
the actual light shows or perhaps over an open-air stadium during a football game?
All I know is that if I went out into the country somewhere, got out a telescope for what
should be a nice relaxing night of stargazing, and get interrupted by a big, massive
Mcdonald’s 99p cheeseburger lighting up the sky, I’ll probably be pretty peeved.
This is all just food for thought. Who knows what the future holds. Perhaps nothing will
ever come of this. Have a good weekend.
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