UFOs: Real True Hoaxes of Advertising

Sell it with Saucers! Within days of the coming of the saucers in 1947, the UFO topic was exploited by promoters to get attention for their products. See our earlier piece, Discs in the Sky: Flying Saucer Commercialism  for some of the first products and pitches. The 1950s was when the practice hit its peak, and even the military of US and UK were hoaxing saucers in order to advertise their message.

May 1950: The Northern California National Air Guard used the flying saucer picture below to attract new recruits.

July 1950: The military captured a Martian invader in Alameda, California, but it was just a publicity stunt for Jaycee variety show "Life in a Swiss Cheese Factory."  

Future Magazine, July 1950

August 1952: There was another hoaxed flying saucer by the military, this time an advertising stunt recruiting drive for the US Navy Reserve.

While in a slightly different category, 1952 also saw the debut of the saucer that advertised itself, the coin-operated Flying Saucer ride from Meteor Machine Corp.

Aug. 1953: In Phoenix, Arizona, the Jack Stewart Studebaker auto dealership featured a flying saucer in its window display to attract customers.

Forbes magazine, Aug. 1, 1953

Dec. 1952: The Long Beach, California Air Show featured a mock saucer, since everyone knew they were the future of flying.

Independent (Long Beach, CA) Dec. 15, 1952 

July 1955: The United Kingdom got into the saucer show business. The Royal Air Force Maintenance Command built this one for their annual White City Tattoo.

RAF‘s “Flying Saucer” London: – ready for an armed forces show are specially-dressed “Martians” and the flying saucer from which they are slated to a light when it lands, the “Martian” crew consist of Brian Sheppard, 15 (left), of the Royal Army Ordinance Corps school, Aldershot, and Molly Day, 23, a member of the Women’s Royal Air Force stationed at Oxbridge, England. Built by the Royal Air Force Maintenance Command, the saucer showing is part of this year’s White City Tattoo, annual searchlight display of Britain’s Armed Forces, July 4-8. Credit (United Press photo)  7/3/55.
*A special thanks to Louis Taylor of Information Dispersal for the original UP photo.

 

Walla Walla Union Bulletin, July 11, 1955

Jan. 1956:  Another UK saucer for show business, this disc co-starred in the ice show, "Babes In the Woods."  

Kansas City Star, January 4, 1956

The commercialization of flying saucers is a regular topic of exploration at STTF, so we'll be back with more UFO and alien exploitation soon.

Many of the saucers above were located in the galleries at
UFOPOP: Flying Saucers in Popular Culture.

FBI UFO Files, 1947: The Harbinger Letter

The FBI got into the UFO business in 1947, but they wanted nothing to do with it. In many cases, the FBI was stuck doing the legwork for low-level cases, chasing down rumors and hoaxes for the Air Force. They continued to do so up until 1950, but after that they were still occasionally involved mostly in investigating the people involved in UFO cases, most often Contactees or frauds - or both.

FBI files contain many documents on UFO- related cases, often without any context. We’ve written about two such cases before. The most famous FBI document is the Hottel Memo:
Scientist Predicts ET Contact / FBI Crashed UFO Document. Another stir was caused by "A Memorandum of Importance" dated July 8, 1947 which seemed to show the FBI knew quite a bit about the nature of the saucers and the aliens who flew them:

1946, Before Saucers, Kareeta: UFO Contact in California

The problem comes from the FBI material not clearly identifying the source, and worse, by failing to note the solution. We recently discovered another case that follows this pattern, but with a bit of research have matched it to newspaper reports to resolve the mystery.

A Strange Flying Saucer Letter

July 11, 1947, less than a month after Kenneth Arnold’s newsmaking saucer sighting, people across the USA were receiving strange letters suggesting that the UFOs could be “harbingers of a better day,” and that “one of these startling discs is on its way to you.”

Many of the people who received the letter wrote to their local newspaper, and at least one citizen forwarded a copy to the FBI to see what they could make of it.

The mysterious letter itself, postmarked New York City:

Have you seen one of the mysterious "Saucers?" 

What did it look like? 

Do you think these strange celestial manifestations are harbingers of a better day? 

Do you believe it means a new and revolutionary advance is coming? 

Will it make your life brighter, happier, more useful? 

We believe one of these startling discs is on its way to you. Then the secret will be out. 

(Signed) The Combined and Amalgamated Committee of Sky-scanners, Disc Decipherers and New-Product Introducers. 

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover replied to the informant, but merely offered thanks, not an explanation, and no clarification is contained in the files.  

The original FBI files

The Silver Disc Appears

Below is a simulation of the follow-up to the mysterious letter, and the newspaper clippings that clarify the mystery.

The Decatur Herald, (Decatur, IL) July 18, 1947, The Call Leader, (Elwood, IN) July 16, 1947

It was an advertising stunt for Eversharp CA, perhaps the first major company to exploit the flying saucer craze. They were the biggest, but not the first. Many smaller local businesses had beat them to it by commercializing saucers to promote anything from radio stations to hamburger stands.

Here’s a look at the Eversharp CA, a pioneer in the ball point pen business. More on the company can be found in the article at Eversharp CA Ballpoint 1945-1947 at PenHero.com.

There are more FBI flying saucer cases, from the serious to the silly and we’ll continue to look at them here at STTF. We’ll also keep looking at other examples in the never-ending saga of saucer exploitation

Discs in the Sky: Flying Saucer Commercialism

1947: Within days of the first flying saucer sightings, hoaxers, hucksters - even capitalists rushed to cash in.

The Film Daily, July 9, 1947 (page 3) featured some saucer news in the column,"Along the Rialto" by Phil M. Daly, Mid-Week Memos (tid-bits of movie news and gossip), asking the question:

Has anyone filed a title registration with the MPAA like "The Flying Saucer?"
...... Or "Discs in the Sky?"

Across the USA, flying saucers were becoming big business, at least as an advertising gimmick.

The Rain of the Flying Discs

Ringing Down the Week’s Curtain• • • WELL SIR, it didn't lake the boys long to cash in on those flying saucers...... First to crash thru locally were the fast-thinking lads at Metro with display copy in yesterday's dailies slyly intimating that the saucers were a collective plug for "The Hucksters" which is Capitol-bound...... Down in Oklahoma City, on Tuesday the smart Allied Artists lads took to the air and from a plane showered down thousands of flying black and gold discs on noonday shopping throngs to call attention to the coming world premiere there of "Black Gold"......And the postman deposited on Phil M/s desk yesterday a memo from Charles Reed Jones assuring that the flying saucers are really Louis Armstrong records of "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?" It seems, sez CRJ, RCA- Victor couldn't contrive any other distribution to supply the demand since Jules Levey's "New Orleans" has been opening in the keys ......NEXT!!!!...... "The line forms at the right"......

The Film Daily, July 11, 1947 (page 4)

Other radio stations were also in on the saucer act:

Broadcasting magazine, July 14, 1947 (PDF link)

Radio station saucer drops continued as an advertising stunt throughout the 1940s into the 1950s.

Billboard, July 26, 1947

The Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, Iowa, Sunday, April 08, 1951, page 17.
1951 Saucer Drop. Click for larger version

Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft

In 1950, California radio station KFXM had another approach to attract customers: establishing extraterrestrial contact. From Broadcasting, April 3, 1950:

NEW angle on promotional possibilities of flying saucers hit upon by Lowell Smith, time salesman for KFXM San Bernardino, Calif. Mr. Smith has sold half-hour interview with pilot of any flying saucer to come down in a two-county area of station's coverage. Show, if and when it is aired, will take top-priority over any program on air, with Newsmen Jim O’Leary and Dave Hubbard set to parachute tape recorder and portable radio into position to "contact and interview occupant or occupants of any flying saucer" within area. Wilson & Fields, San Bernardino furniture and appliance firm will sponsor the show.

There were no takers, but we have to wonder if Professor George Adamski of Mt. Palomar, CA, might have been listening.

Kenneth Arnold's 1952 UFO Book Promotion

Kenneth Arnold was back in the news in September 1952, due the release of his new book, The Coming of the Saucers, which was co-authored by his friend and publisher, Raymond A. Palmer. The story "Flying Saucer-y" was prepared by King Features Syndicate, and carried in many newspapers as a full-page story.

Here's a shot of the page, followed by larger views of the pictures and text.

The article also featured 11 photographs from the book, both about Arnold's experiences and other UFO and Fortean events he found genuine.

Radar ghosts or "angels."

Here's the two columns of text from the article.

There were a few photographs from a rising star on the saucer scene, "Professor George Adamski," from pages 190-191 of the Arnold-Palmer book.

Also included were photos of  mysterious objects in the sky and a puzzling bridge fire.

Here's the advertisement for the book from Ray Palmer's  Sept. 1952 Fantastic Adventures magazine:

The Coming of the Saucers by Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer is hosted online as a PDF at the British Earth and Aerial Mysteries Society.

The Coming of the Saucers