Put A Space Exploration Message In Front of Star Trek (Update)
Aerospace Industries Association Crowdfunding Campaign to Advertise for Space Program
“The Aerospace Industries Association is leading a first-of-its-kind crowdfund campaign to showcase to students and young people the exciting new era of U.S. space exploration.”
Please Support We Are The Explorers – A Movie Trailer for Our Space Program (With Video)
“NASA recently made an inspiring new online video narrated by Mr. Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime (see above), to show the progress being made on these new systems, but the agency is barred by law from buying advertising time for such a spot. Today we’re running a crowdfunding campaign to edit this video into a 30 second spot, and place it in over 50 movie theaters around the country, starting with the premier of ‘Star Trek Into Darkness.'”
Keith’s update: The $33,000 goal was met a few minutes ago. According to the site “Now for the next “giant leap.” With still weeks to go, we can expand our reach to the whole country. Our current funding pace puts us on target to place ads in at least one theater in every state in America. If we raise our funding total to $94,000, students, young people, and the general public will see this video from coast to coast. This new goal will expand our reach from 59 movie theater screens to 750 screens! “
Keith’s update: After barely 48 72 96 hours this effort is nearly on-third more than half two-thirds of the way towards its goal having raised just under $10,000 over $17,000 $22,000 $26,000. Once the goal is exceeed additional funds will help the video appear in an even larger number of theaters. Interestingly, the bulk of the donations come in small amounts from approximately 500 800 people (thus far).
Mini-Drones From Star Trek Logo Over London
“On Saturday night, to mark Earth Hour and simultaneously plug the upcoming instalment in the film franchise, 30 mini-drones formed the Star Trek insignia beside Tower Bridge.”
Keith’s note: Hmm … what would it take to make a NASA logo like this …
I watched the trailer. The low-frequency noise in the background of the music during parts was annoying and will be worse in a theater. Flashing the Mercury astronauts at a late point in the trailer seems out of place. Otherwise, I thought it was it was really great, very well done (definitely way above the average YouTube offering). I really hope this goes ahead and catches on.
Thanks Steve! We’ll certainly be editing for quality control, and the primary focus will be on the future for the 30 second piece. Can’t thank you enough for the support.
This is the most inspiring post I’ve seen on NASA Watch. Nicely done!
I don’t think their use of the NASA logo is legal unless NASA has given their permission, like if NASA is sponsoring this. Under sequestration this is opne of the things NASA does not want to see, apparently. The logo is closely controlled by NASA. Why don’t they use the AIA logo?
Huh?
The NASA logo is shown in the last 10 seconds which makes this appear to be NASA produced
I guess it’s closely controlled when it’s in their interest…
“Hmm … what would it take to make a NASA logo like this …”
A simpler logo. Like the worm.
There you go 😉
Yeah, same thing I thought. The drones could definitely do that.
I would love to know what law specifically bans NASA from advertising, especially since I hear 30 second spots on NPR every so often.
Several recent NASA Authorization Acts tell NASA that it can’t advertise, lobby, or promote itself. The Authorization Acts (2006) also tell NASA to promote itself. Confusing. Whenever NASA does something that is seen as advertising Congress jumps down their throats.
As I pointed out in 2 years ago; the advertising ban is a myth:
http://nasawatch.com/archiv…
I would love for a reader of NASAWatch to identify the law that says NASA cannot advertise. I have searched far and wide and have found no such evidence.
Call NASA OGC.
I went through this exercise a few years back and found the answer, but like a fool, I didn’t record where I found the information, so all I have is the memory. What I found was that, you’re right, NASA is not actually barred from advertising itself, or its products, missions or other accomplishments. However, they are barred, by legislation, from spending money on advertising themselves (that’s my interpretation; what I read was written in lawyer talk). I’m assuming that his hasn’t changed in the last few years, but don’t quote me on that .
On one hand, there’s a big difference; on the other hand, how do you advertise without spending any money? Answer: you can’t. But, there’s nothing stopping anyone not associated with NASA from advertising NASA if they want to spend the money, which is exactly what the AIA is doing, using their own money plus donations.
This makes me wonder about another possibility. If you and I are not legally allowed to advertise ourselves, do the reciprocity laws prevent us from advertising each other? (I pay to advertise you and you pay (an equal amount of money) to advertise me.) This might be a way around the problem for NASA.
I’ve often wondered why the DoD can pay big money advertise itself on TV, but NASA can’t spend anything to advertise itself.
As for the Spinoff argument, it could be argued that this is not advertising; it is simply documentation of public domain information that tax payers have paid for and are therefore entitled to read. Of course, why they need to print them on expensive glossy paper in full color is another matter. NASA (and the entire government) could save a bundle every year by not printing everything in such expensive, high-quality style. Legislate that!
When you say ” they are barred, by legislation, from spending money on advertising themselves” can you at least tell me which legislation? It’s not been specific in any recent Authorization or Appropriation laws that I’ve seen.
Specifically, I think it is that advertising is interpreted as the same as lobbying, which NASA definitely can’t do. Just as NASA can’t seek NSF funding directly, since it bypasses the congressional budgeting process. There’s a lot of stuff like that. For example, any member of the public can grab images and make a calendar and sell it, but NASA is forbidden from doing that itself.
Lobbying by ALL federal employees or agencies has been verboten since the 1939 Hatch Act. This law is explicit in that has to do with lobbying and electioneering by Federal employees while on the clock. This has absolutely nothing specific to do with advertising (barring an ad that was overtly political).
You are far from the first person to cite or make reference to the Hatch Act, however, if you can complete the following:
Be, All that You can Be, In the…
The Few, The Proud, The ….
Then you’ll realize very quickly that the Hatch Act does not apply for Federal Government advertising.
Great video! and awesome to have Optimus Prime narrate. Good luck cutting it to 30 seconds from 2:30.
I’m betting, and hoping, that they’ll leave the 2:30 version on YouTube and wherever else they can post it. I, too, think a 30 sec version will be tough, but at the same time, on the big screen you can get more impact with less (but well chosen) content simply because it’s big and loud. Perhaps the actual content is not as important as simply getting something reasonable in front of people’s eyes. If they can get average people thinking that support for space (and NASA) is ubiquitous, then the battle is half won.
Also, since this video was well done, perhaps it will encourage other people/organizations to create their own high-quality pro-space videos. If the (unstated) idea got out that it was a contest for best pro-space-exploration video, then we might get a lot of good promotion for free showing up on hundreds of web sites. Running a 30-second spot in a theater or on TV is expensive, but running it on a web site can be dirt cheap.
Yeah great point. Now I imagine it, having some nice quick clips of awesome footage on the big screen, big and loud, and then a nice calm animated NASA logo on black at the end like it is here and that would be pretty sweet with a big impact. Actually that is a no brainer formula. Badass quick clips of space and launch footage on the big screen followed by the cool NASA logo. The people are in the theater excited to see a new movie already. It’s a great medium.
They might want to include one of those clips up-close of the Shuttle SRBs igniting like we’ve seen in the more recent launch recap videos. POW!!! hehe
Mike,
Actually they’ve said they’re going to take the NASA logo out of it when they edit it. But I don’t think it makes much difference. Even those non-space people who can’t identify the hardware on sight know one key thing about US space — the name NASA.
Come to think of it, how does this differ in intent from the NSS Kickstarter-funded video?
Keith,
I don’t see this as so much an attempt by (or for) NASA to get around its advertising ban… as AIA recognizing that taxpayers can and should own this program themselves and advocate for it. So it’s the American people reaching out to their fellow citizens. Ultimately that’s so much more sustainable, and at least offers the prospect of the American people actually steering the program towards achieving their dreams for space exploration, development, and settlement.
A very good way to look at it.
It’s not NASA advertising itself anyhow, since the AIA is doing it in conjunction with public support. Also, according the the AIA, it’s a campaign to “showcase to students and young people the exciting new era of U.S. space exploration“, and therefore is a response to all of the STEM promotion requirements.
Although the NASA meatball appears at the end (it’s being edited out), “NASA” is never mentioned in the narration; rather the term “we” is used throughout. This is good. “We” is not defined, but the implication is that “we” are the American people, a recognized standard since Kennedy at Rice University.
If NASA does public outreach, then this might be considered part of the public reaching back, feedback if you like. This effort is, I think, much like rooting for your favorite sports team — it’s good for the team but it’s not something that the team or its management did; it’s the fans showing their support, and I can’t imagine that any of the relevant legislation bans that.
Just to head off possible objections, maybe the narration could add an innocuous sentence which suggests that Congress has been and still is in support of the US exploration of space (but no mention or video of SLS or Orion!, please).
Comment: Although the video carefully avoids mentioning NASA, the text on the web page displaying it is filled with NASA references, and basically equates US space exploration with NASA. It has the following disclaimer — “This crowdfund campaign is the work of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) of America. This campaign is not endorsed by NASA, nor is it conducted at their direction or request.“, but it uses the word “NASA” 14 times throughout. I would consider replacing the NASA references where possible, both to avoid legal objections and because, today, NASA is certainly not the whole story. The so-called commercial companies are a growing contributor to the overall effort.
Steve
Great video, I already made my contribution. But, if this is about “we” then why does the current video only show NASA (taxpayer) programs? Should at least SpaceX (if not also Blue Origin, Bigelow, others) be shown also if this is about the collective We – the American people?
Agreed, and that may well happen when they edit it down to 30 seconds. They’ve already said that they’re taking the NASA logo out of it. Perhaps they could offer inclusion to the various aerospace companies as an incentive for a nice contribution. Another possibility is that, for the $33K cost, maybe SpaceX, et al will each create and run something comparable of their own. The more the merrier.
What is truly inspiring from my perspective is how we are seeing so many different people, different, groups, and different organizations tackle the problem of opening up space.
I like almost everything about this, but I do wish it were slightly less NASA-centric. The base is broadening now, and there should be a bow to that.
It’s like a PAC no?
It’s really inspiring to see crowdfunding used like this – I can see a lot more happening in this realm to get interesting space content out there. If people want it to happen, they can make it happen with their money.
Two weeks left, and they’re still far from their “one theater per state” stretch goal.