A few posts ago I compared Sun's OpenOffice marketing strategy to dropping leaflets into enemy territory. Not too long after that, Slate Magazine's "Explainer" column explored the mechanics of leaflet-dropping in "The Secrets of Airborne Propaganda Distribution". It's fascinating stuff.

Capt. James Monroe invented the American propaganda bomb during World War II. Thousands of pieces of paper were stuffed into a laminated paper cylinder with a detonator and a delay, and then loaded into a B-17. The "Monroe bomb" exploded on the way down, sprinkling leaflets over enemy territory from a low altitude. The Air Force quickly developed more advanced versions of the same idea. For many years, their standard leaflet bomb was the M129, a fiberglass case that holds up to 80,000 flyers.

An Australian leaflet bomb from World War II (Australia-Japan Research Project)

The leaflet bomb reduces the effects of wind, which can easily blow leaflets away from their intended target. This problem was more acute during World War I, when many pilots made their leaflet drops by hand. The barnstorming pilot aces of the early 20th century also used hand-drops to distribute advertisements for their air shows. Charles Lindbergh had his mother toss notices from the cockpit of his plane.

Thank heavens today's entrepreneurs don't make their sainted mothers text-message millions of teenagers on their mobile phones.

Well, I don't think they do.

Tags: propaganda, leaflet, Slate magazine, Explainer