NEWS

Ad adventures: banner planes, boats and newspapers

MIKE BERGER
DELMARVANOW CORRESPONDENT
Mike Berger

We’ve reached that time of year when newspapers, magazine supplements and direct mail circulars begin to bulk up as the amount of advertising increases.

In addition, there’s the re-appearance of those “shoppers,” not of the human kind that purchase merchandise, but rather those free local newspapers that consist primarily of ads for such merchandise.

Responsibility for most of this added advertising muscularity lies with the need to hire seasonal workers and to bring entertainment and dining opportunities to the attention of regional visitors.

I must admit to a certain degree of fascination with the restaurant jobs that are being advertised. There sure seems to be an enormous need for “line cooks,” not surprising given our Culinary Coast designation, and so I’m giving some thought to applying for one of those positions to supplement my retirement income.

I’m not sure I understand exactly what that job entails, but I would imagine it involves standing in a line, with people both in front and in back of you, while you perform some cooking task. It sounds challenging, but I would certainly be willing to give it a try. After all, I’ve mastered standing in line for movies, restaurants and buses, how different can cooking be?

Alternately, I could apply for a “front of house” position. Given that summer weather is on the way, jobs performed in the great outdoors seem particularly attractive. I’m sure I could learn whatever I need to know to productively stand out in front of the restaurant. Even if the salary were meagre, the fringe benefit of having the opportunity to tan like a bronze Adonis would make it worthwhile.

But this column shouldn’t just be about me and my fascination with ads.  Let’s transition to topics that undoubtedly are on your mind; for instance, what non- traditional forms of advertising are available in the region?

Beach communities have long been fertile ground for airplane banner messaging. Who hasn’t been tanning him- or herself on the coastal sands when suddenly there seems to be a total eclipse of the sun, only to discover that it’s an aircraft pulling a banner behind it?  A banner that displays Bill’s marriage proposal to Susan.

A local entrepreneurial pilot has taken banner messaging in another direction, introducing nighttime aerial advertising. The underside of his Cessna aircraft is equipped with a grid of 252 lights, which, thanks to an on-board computer, can electronically display an advertising message.

While the plane flies at a height sufficient to avoid ground obstacles, it is low enough and its message bright enough to distract couples who have remained on the beach after dark, watching the local submarine races.

Predating the nighttime Skyhawk by some three decades, and reflecting the more basic technology of the time, is the so-called Ad Boat, a water-borne form of non-traditional advertising. It’s a 25-foot vessel, outfitted with a large, hand-operated, sign board. It zips along the coast between Bethany Beach and Rehoboth in a mere 20 minutes, just long enough for bathers to read its commercial message.

And then, upon reaching its destination, the Ad Boat turns around, because boats as a general rule do not run well backwards.  As it does so, presto, it reveals the other side of its sign board, which features a different advertising message. A message that has been surreptitiously created by a teenage boat hand, whose handiwork has been shielded from those on shore by the sign itself. It’s like magic, even though it’s only a sleight of hand.

One, of course, could preview the forthcoming ads by being on the open ocean, as opposed to the beach, side of the boat, but where’s the fun in that?  And then, how would you know what was displayed on the beach side?

With these additional forms of advertising in the sky and on the ocean joining the more traditional roadside signs and billboards, we run the risk of being assaulted by commercial messages wherever we look.  Thank goodness for the United States Marines, whose hymn promises that they will fight our battles “in the air, on land and sea.”

Mike Berger is a freelance writer and retired university administrator with a home in Lewes.  Contact him at edadvice@comcast.net.