Was it a bird, was it a plane, a UFO? No, it was free advertising and sky pollution – but it was also unmissable and, to some, a reminder of the little obsession on their phones that is the game Candy Crush Saga.
On Thursday evening under clear skies, 500 lighted drones were flown in a synchronized show against the Manhattan skyline to mark 10 years of the wildly popular cellphone game.
The display was flown over land, from neighboring New Jersey, so as not to violate New York City airspace restrictions and laws prohibiting drones within city limits.
What the company described in sugary language as the brief transformation of the Manhattan skyline into a “candified carnival”, according to Fernanda Romano, the company’s chief marketing officer, was a 10-minute light display, with the sky as “the largest screen on the planet”.
But while some gaped, others objected. The local Democratic state senator Brad Hoylman railed against the stunt, saying it was “outrageous” to “spoil” the city’s famous skyline “for private profit”. It also threatened birds, he told Gothamist.
Millions of migratory birds pass over the city every year and many crash into lighted buildings and can be disorientated by objects such as drones.
The company obtained a special permit to stage the display.