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Marketers look to the heavens to honor the first moon walk

The New York Times, 6/10/09

Abstract:

How high the moon? For marketers and media companies, the sky seems to be the limit as they prepare a cosmic — and commercial — commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon.

The anniversary, to be observed on July 20, is the subject of advertising campaigns, books, DVDs, tribute merchandise, events and film festivals, along with enough trinkets to stuff a space capsule. The goal of all that basking in reflected moon glow is to remind the public how good it felt when the arrival of Apollo 11 on the moon — and the walks on the lunar surface by the astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin — fulfilled a promise made eight years earlier by President John F. Kennedy.

The recent economic hard times may be playing a part in amplifying the hoopla. After the first moon landing, it became commonplace for people to ask, “If they can land a man on the moon, why can’t they figure out how to fix (insert type of problem)?” The subtext of the celebration is to suggest that some of the can-do spirit — and, perhaps, a few glasses of Tang, the breakfast drink of the astronauts — could go a long way toward helping solve the current difficulties.

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