The Amoco Alien
The famous image that caused stir was an advertisement photo.
This is the story. Thanks to Donald Ware.
AMOCO Advertisement and the Alien
In November of 1989 AMOCO placed a full-page advertisement in
Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine headlined "Technology
so advanced it will help you answer some big questions." On the
back was a full-page color photo of an alien head and shoulders
with his four-fingered hand raised in a gesture of friendship.
Spokespersons for AMOCO said this is a photo of a ten-inch model.
One NASA employee who received a copy of the photo in the mail said
he thinks it is a photo of an alien taken by another alien with a
camera provided by a NASA source. High quality copies show moisture
in the corner of the left eye and thin hairs on the neck. Many
people think this is not a photo of a ten-inch model. I asked the
lady on the advertised 800 number if this ad sold much of their
product. She said no, but they got a tremendous number of inquiries
about the alien picture. This ad was repeated in Aviation Week and
other aerospace magazines, some in even larger format. While I was
in the Air Force we knew this as "Aviation Leak" magazine; because,
much information, when declassified, reached the public through
its pages without being released at a press conference. This
insured responsible and accurate reporting.