14 DAY TRIAL // History has been written on Thursday as UK became the first nation ever to advertise a product to a potential alien species living in our galaxy. The advert beamed into space is part of the Doritos Broadcast Project that offered the UK public the opportunity to create a video showing what life on Earth looks like. The winning video, called 'Tribe', was directed by Matt Bowron, aged 25, and was transmitted into space yesterday for six hours with the high-powered radars of the EISCAT European space station at the Arctic Circle.
The advert will also be broadcasted on television during the break of the final Group B game at Euro 2008. According to statistics, about 61 percent of the population of the UK believes that similar transmissions could facilitate the future establishment of a permanent communication link with other intelligent alien life forms living in the surrounding area of the galaxy. The University of Leicester was also implicated in the project.
"The signal is directed at a solar system just 42 light years away from Earth, in the 'Ursa Major' or Great Bear Constellation. Its star is very similar to our Sun and hosts a habitable zone that could harbour small life supporting planets similar to ours", said professor Tony van Eyken, director of the EISCAT station.
"We are constantly looking to push the boundaries of advertising and this will go further than any brand has gone before. By broadcasting the winning ad to the Universe, Doritos is delivering a world first and Matt Bowron, the winner, will go down in advertising folklore. We also shouldn't be too surprised if the first aliens start arriving on planet Earth immediately demanding a bag of Doritos", said Peter Charles, the head of the Doritos Broadcast Project.
Nick Pope, the previous leader of the UK Ministry of Defense's UFO project, said in an interview that he would always support actions meant to establish communication with extraterrestrial beings, since it was the most likely way we would make first contact with real aliens.
The Doritos Broadcast Project was happily supported by the University of Leicester Department of Physics and Astronomy, a high-profile institution in terms of Space Physics, which is ever expanding the outreach of its programme. Dr Darren Wright of the University of Leicester stated that the fact that the advert was developed by the public was another reason for the Physics and Astronomy Department to be part of the project, since its involvement raises the public's awareness on the space activities the UK is currently conducting.
"The University is particularly committed to outreach programmes along with the National Space Centre ? the brainchild of the University of Leicester ? and engaged in a number of programmes with the wider public", he said.