After the crop circle phenomenon gained popularity soon people all over the world were looking not only to the skies for answers, but to fields themselves. And no phenomenon these days seems to get by without an attempt to capitalize on the easy access of airtime through exploitation. And so with the creation of a recent crop formation in Osnabruck, it seems the ability to create a buzz over strange symbols on the ground is resulting in free advertising for some companies.
When Bower and Chorley claimed credit for the creation of several crop type formations in fields throughout Britain in 1991, it seemed for a while that the case was closed on the phenomenon. For the most part the two left a temptingly reasonable explanation that gave skeptics vindication for their efforts to debunk the hoax and resulted in the mysterious case becoming temporarily closed. But then something strange happened. New crop circles began appearing all over the world. The formations went worldwide.
And unlike the displays Bower and Chorley made with their planks of wood and rope, the new figures were more advanced. Grains of wheat pressed down would show magnetic properties. The cell structure of corn was seen to shift as though it had grown sideways by unexplainable means. The entire process that would result in a crop circle seemed to defy these new displays of technological superiority. Grains would unexplainably show elevated levels of radiation. And people started questioning Bower and Chorley on how they had been able to manifest these strange and bizarre changes. The results they showed fell short. The crop circle phenomenon was reborn.
But then advertisers, using the crop circles to display their own products and companies would come to the scene. Hoping to bring up attention to their products through buzz over their own formations they would either create mystery and then reveal the true cause or they would simply emblazon their logo on crops in order to gain peoples’ interest. But once again these obviously manmade crop formations would lack the stranger qualities of the genuine crop formations.
Is the use of crop circles as a method for creating hype a viable solution to many advertisers woes? Or is there an unspoken rule about using hoaxes for advertising purposes? If so, viral marketing experts certainly are wasting no time for the subject to become a discussion. And while some advertisements use simple obvious logos for the purpose of generating hype, others will encourage locals and media to think something mysterious is going on through the deployment of hoaxed balloons or other craft intended to simulate UFO contact.
According to many UFOlogists, while the crop circle phenomenon certainly has its share of evidence, the black eye viral marketing attempts to put on the study of the phenomenon through means such as crop circle hoaxes only serves to stifle real cases and raise doubts of their genuine nature. Some have even taken this to the point of no longer patronizing establishments which use the hoaxing of the crop circle phenomenon to gain ill earned attention.