Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Alien AD-diction


We don't condone smoking here on the blog, and, in fact, we don't even condone the word condone, because if you drop the "e" we're instantly reminded of Dr. Edward Condon of Colorado University UFO project infamy.

Just a little UFO nostalgia today. I've wanted to put this cartoon up for some time, but have been frustrated in a few attempts to find out just where to get permission, or to determine whether I actually need permission to post this oldie.

Anyway, this cigarette cartoon appeared widely in magazines and other forms of print media during the fall of 1976, effectively capitalizing on extensive public UFO interest. Adding to this would be lots of pre-release buzz about the movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," and the first "Star Wars" motion picture would soon captivate the U.S. Flying saucers proved popular with cartoonists and advertisers during this time, and while frivolous depictions certainly contributed nothing to serious UFO research, ad agencies obviously realized that "saucers sell."