# Legal:? Advertising on/with clouds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2016, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155 "2016-11-16T13:17:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/1 "2016-11-16T13:17:08Z")
See query. Projecting at night on a good cumulus cloud bank, say. Or using my cloud gathering beam (patent pending) to corral them and make pictures and text. (I had a dream that I went to look at the Supermoon and an ad was running on it, and “…there oughta be a law…”) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/2 "2016-11-16T14:04:07Z")
I can see that shining a really bright light onto clouds could be dangerous to passing aircraft, and I don’t doubt the FAA has some rules about that. But otherwise, I doubt it’s illegal to do something that there’s no known way of doing. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/3 "2016-11-16T15:11:55Z")
I guess you could do it with a laser, but they are operated under strict rules. Most of them concentrate on any members of the public that might be affected, but passing aircraft are also catered for: > [@](#): > > OPEN AIR LASER > LIGHT SHOWS AND > FAA REQUIREMENTS > Even though the chances are > small that an aircraft passenger > or pilot would be injured by a > laser beam from an outdoors > light show, the possibility of > harm does exist. Therefore, the > Federal Aviation Administration > must be notified before any > open air laser light shows > operate. > FAA will not object if the > output power of the laser beam > is less than or equal to one half > watt (that is, the laser is Class I, > II, or Ill). As long as aircraft fly > no closer than the required > 1,000 feet over congested areas > or over an outdoor assembly of > people, there should be little > risk from a laser beam of this > power. If the show is adjacent > to an airport, however, the FAA > may object because of the > possible risk to aircraft landing > and taking off. > FAA will not object to open > air shows with Class IV laser > beam powers between one-half > and 12 watts if the laser manufacturerloperator > informs FAA > of the location, time and laser > output sufficiently in advance > of the show and if FAA can > restrict the air traffic in the > area. > In most cases, FAA will object > if the laser beam power is > greater than 12 watts. A laser of > this power is rarely needed for > an effective light show and > could require extensive restrictions > on air traffic. > > [http://www.fda.gov/downloads/medicaldevices/deviceregulationandguidance/guidancedocuments/ucm119257.pdf](http://www.fda.gov/downloads/medicaldevices/deviceregulationandguidance/guidancedocuments/ucm119257.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/4 "2016-11-16T15:16:40Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Or using my cloud gathering beam (patent pending) to corral them and make pictures and text. How is this different from making your own clouds in the shape of the text you want, which is apparently legal [since it happens all the time.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skywriting) ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/5 "2016-11-16T16:21:14Z")
Done that. E. S Turner’s The Shocking History of Advertising mentioned it long ago, though I don’t want to check > **[The shocking history of advertising! : Turner, E. S. (Ernest Sackville),...](https://archive.org/details/shockinghistoryo00turn)** > > Cover title The old boy does mention it in a letter to the Press in 2002: [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3573352/Plastering-adverts-over-the-White-Cliffs-of-Dover.html](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3573352/Plastering-adverts-over-the-White-Cliffs-of-Dover.html) \*But the real buzz was in outdoor advertising. By the 1890s, the sign “Bill Stickers Will Be Prosecuted” was everywhere, and everywhere defied. Far worse were the giant billboards that disfigured much of the habitable world. Chief offenders were the great pill-makers, Thomas Holloway and Thomas Beecham. Holloway had advertised on the Great Pyramid (where Thackeray once unfurled a Punch banner) and Beecham was concentrating on promoting his wares (“Worth a guinea a box”) on the sails of yachts. \* _The White Cliffs of Dover were not spared. Huge posters advertising breakfast oats were hoisted there and wherever mariners made landfall. The walls of Arctic fjords, the faces of the Alps, the rocks of Nevada - all were harnessed to commerce. This was the graffiti of an age that knew nothing of modern graffiti. The sky itself was now at risk. Advertising on the clouds was tried in Chicago in 1893, but sky-writing, sky-shouting and similar fancies had to wait for the 1920s._ It’s a bad world. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/6 "2016-11-16T17:37:20Z")
Harry Grindell Matthews invented a [working sky projector](https://www.quora.com/Is-it-going-to-work-in-real-life-if-you-flash-a-real-batsignal-into-the-sky) in 1931. It apparently was legal back then. Here’s [another article from 1933](https://watchismo.blogspot.com/2007/10/cloud-clock-of-grindell-death-ray.html)about it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/7 "2016-11-16T17:50:03Z")
It would get in the way of the Bat-Signal. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/8 "2016-11-16T18:08:55Z")
In Heinlein’s novella, The Man Who Sold The Moon, 7-Up and Coca-Cola (under very slightly obscured names) were bidding on the rights to put an advertisement on the face of the Moon, to be seen from Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/9 "2016-11-16T20:05:05Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > In Heinlein’s novella, The Man Who Sold The Moon, 7-Up and Coca-Cola (under very slightly obscured names) were bidding on the rights to put an advertisement on the face of the Moon, to be seen from Earth. And Chairface started to write his name across the face of the Moon, before the Tick stopped him. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/10 "2016-11-16T20:23:10Z")
Oh, I just remembered: In Arthur C. Clarke’s short story _Watch This Space_, a team member tweaks a scientific experiment, involving the release of sodium gas, by putting a template in the release mechanism. This modification doesn’t affect the experiment in any way; the gas is released and analyzed normally. But, when the gas cloud emerges from behind the shadow of the Moon, it is illuminated by the Sun, and flashes the Coca-Cola logo to the entire visible hemisphere of the Earth. Not sure why Coke is the target of both Clarke’s and Heinlein’s '50s-era stories. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/11 "2016-11-16T21:14:52Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Not sure why Coke is the target of both Clarke’s and Heinlein’s '50s-era stories. Coke was the most famous international brand on Earth. It marketed its logo everywhere, on every surface. Nobody marketed like Coca-Cola. Whole books have been written about its ubiquitous marketing. If any company were to put its name on the moon, it would be by default Coke. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-advertising-on-with-clouds/772155/12 "2016-11-17T00:15:38Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Done that. E. S Turner’s The Shocking History of Advertising mentioned it long ago, though I don’t want to check > > [The shocking history of advertising! : Turner, E. S. (Ernest Sackville), 1909-2006 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/shockinghistoryo00turn) > The old boy does mention it in a letter to the Press in 2002: > > [Plastering adverts over the White Cliffs of Dover](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3573352/Plastering-adverts-over-the-White-Cliffs-of-Dover.html) > \*But the real buzz was in outdoor advertising. By the 1890s, the sign “Bill Stickers Will Be Prosecuted” was everywhere, and everywhere defied. Far worse were the giant billboards that disfigured much of the habitable world. Chief offenders were the great pill-makers, Thomas Holloway and Thomas Beecham. Holloway had advertised on the Great Pyramid (where Thackeray once unfurled a Punch banner) and Beecham was concentrating on promoting his wares (“Worth a guinea a box”) on the sails of yachts. > \* > _The White Cliffs of Dover were not spared. Huge posters advertising breakfast oats were hoisted there and wherever mariners made landfall. The walls of Arctic fjords, the faces of the Alps, the rocks of Nevada - all were harnessed to commerce. This was the graffiti of an age that knew nothing of modern graffiti. The sky itself was now at risk. Advertising on the clouds was tried in Chicago in 1893, but sky-writing, sky-shouting and similar fancies had to wait for the 1920s._ > It’s a bad world. What in the world is sky-shouting? or similar fancies? Maybe we can revive it, whatever it is.