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Banner ads on flies

A company at a German trade show tied tiny banner ads to flies as a promotional stunt. This video footage is weee-eird.

The banners, measuring just a few centimetres across, seem to be causing the beleaguered flies a bit of piloting trouble. The weight keeps the flies at a lower altitude and forces them to rest more often, which is a stroke of genius on the part of the marketing creatives: the flies end up at about eye level, and whenever a fly is forced to land and recover, the banner is clearly visible. What’s more, the zig-zagging of the fly naturally attracts the attention because of its rapid movement.

One marketing creative’s stroke of genius is another person’s animal cruelty.