• manucode
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    627 months ago

    You might not know it, but catapults were originally invented to deliver ads across long distances. Only later was their usefulness for warfare discovered.
    After the invention of the airship, catapults became obsolete for advertising. They continued to be used though in the trenches of World War I.

    • Malgas
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      347 months ago

      Pfft, catapults. A trebuchet can launch a 90kg advertisement over 300 meters.

      • dustycups
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        77 months ago

        “we have been trying to contact you about your car’s extended warranty”

    • @floofloof@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      In modern times something similar happened with the atomic bomb, which was originally developed by the Mushroom Marketing Board to be a giant illuminated billboard in the sky. It was repurposed as a weapon after it was found to reduce, not increase, mushroom sales in neighborhoods where it was deployed.