Products and publicity in the skies
During the opening ceremony of 17th Paris Motor Show exactly 100 years ago, on 4 October 1922, André Citroën (1878-1935) achieved a media coup when two aeroplanes wrote the word "Citroën" 5 km into the sky above the French capital.
For the new advertising channel, the planes, which took off from Le Bourget airport, made use of a gas emitted from their exhaust pipes. While these dissipate after some time, the lettering or logo of brands and products remain longer in the minds of passers-by.
With this and other public relations exploits, such as the "crowning" of the Eiffel Tower with its illuminated advertising in the Art Déco style from 1925 to 1933, the engineer and vehicle entrepreneur Citroën cemented his reputation as a pioneer of modern advertising. (ah)