In one shoe ad, for example, a young man is abducted by aliens; while stretched out on the stereotypical alien “examination” table, he notices that his kidnappers show unusual interest in his Airwalk sneakers. In the final scene, he wakes up shoeless in the middle of a dark, lonely highway. Other TV ads involve a group of gray aliens interested in terrestrial automobile technology (Volkswagen’s Jetta), and a Maytag commercial in which the supposed extraterrestrial origin of the new Maytag washer is indicative of cutting-edge technology. All of these productions have a remarkably appealing edge of humor-involving a kind of “little green men” portrayal of aliens that makes for strikingly memorable ads. Beyond humor, the other theme of UFO-related ads is the notion that “our product is so good that even beings from other planets make the trip to earth to obtain it.”

The cutting-edge technology theme mentioned above is also common, though less so. Yet other ads seem to use aliens and UFOs just to create a striking effect. One recent ad for hanging file folders, for instance, plays on the popular TV show X-Files. The picture in the ad shows part of a file cabinet, with files labeled “Alien Abduction” and the like.A little green hand with claws is seen reaching up out of one of the files. Likewise, a somewhat older AT&T ad shows a golf cart being lifted off of the ground by a beam of light from a UFO. The caption reads,“At a time like this, whose cellular phone would you rather own?” In both of these cases, there is no direct product-UFO connection-the alien image is simply intended to attract attention.