Amazon's Air Delivery Ad

Did you see the Amazon commercial this past weekend? You might’ve been fooled (like this columnist ) into thinking it was a serious news item on a new commercial use for drones. But, in fact, it was a press release from Amazon timed for wide distribution right before Cyber Monday, a big day for online shopping. Only a tragic train wreck kept the delivery drones from being the top news item on practically every major TV news program. The news directors couldn’t resist the free B-roll of Amazon-labelled mini-copters flying around and dropping off a package. But couldn’t they tell an ad from real news? Or did they not even care?

How many obstacles can you count standing between Amazon and its pipe dream?