One Small Step for man, one Giant Message to the Universe

One Small Step for man, one Giant Message to the Universe

LONDON, March 7/PRNewswire/ -- - Doritos to Broadcast the First Ever Advert Into Space

The world's first ever advert is to be broadcast to extra-terrestrial life, Doritos announced today. Doritos, as part of its new 'You Make It, We Play It' initiative, is asking the British public to shoot a 30-second ad that will be beamed past the Earth's atmosphere and into the Universe, to anyone 'out there' that may be watching. The winning ad will also be aired on the more conventional medium of British television.

The space bound ad will be broadcast from a 500MHz Ultra High Frequency Radar from the EISCAT Space Centre in Svalbard, Norway. The transmission is being directed at a solar system just 42 light years away from Earth with planets that orbit its star '47 Ursae Majoris' (UMa). 47 UMa is located in the 'Ursa Major' Constellation, also known as the Great Bear or Plough. It is very similar to our Sun and hosts a habitable zone that could potentially harbour small terrestrial planets and support life similar to ours.

The Doritos Broadcast Project is being undertaken in association with expert astronomers and academics from Leicester University and is also being supported by EISCAT (The European Incoherent SCATter Scientific Association), which studies solar-planetary interactions and operate a series of radar systems, including the Svalbard based transmitter.

Professor Tony van Eyken, Director of EISCAT, said: "Broadcasting an advert extra terrestrially is a big and exciting step for everyone on Earth as up until now we have only tended to listen for incoming transmissions. There have been reports that NASA beamed a Beatles song towards the Polaris star system, though as this is a 1,000 light year round trip, it's highly unlikely it will ever be received by extra-terrestrials. With the transmission technology and planning we are employing there is a much greater chance that the Doritos advert will potentially be seen by billions of aliens."

Peter Charles, Head of the Doritos Broadcast Project said: "By broadcasting the winning ad to the Universe, Doritos is giving someone from this country the chance to go down in history as the creator of the first ever extra-terrestrial advert."

In addition to going down in the advertising annals for this unique first, the filmmaker responsible for the winning ad will also win GBP20,000. Entries to the Doritos' 'You Make It, We Play It' competition can be submitted via the Doritos website - http://www.doritos.co.uk.

The deadline for entries is midnight on May 18. The extra-terrestrial broadcast is scheduled for June 12, and the ad will be aired on British TV from June 15.

For further information, images or spokesperson comment contact Jamie Kaye or James Regal at Frank PR on +44(0)20-7693-6999 or email doritos@frankpr.it

Source: Doritos

For further information, images or spokesperson comment contact Jamie Kaye or James Regal at Frank PR on +44(0)20-7693-6999 or email doritos@frankpr.it

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Profile: International Entertainment