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Illustrated advertisement showing a frightened couple in a city threatened by colorful alien microbes, promoting antimicrobial preservatives as protection against contamination.
[transcription]
When NASA first sent men to the moon on Apollo 11 they weren’t only concerned with bringing them back, they were also concerned with what our astronauts might bring back with them — “Back Contamination.” NASA calls it. Alien microbial contaminations that could seriously threaten the earth’s ecosystem.
That’s why NASA chose UCARCIDE Antimicrobials from Union Carbide to decontaminate every step of astronauts’ take-off — from the moment they set foot on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet — till they were safely quarantined.
But our story doesn’t stop at NASA. Because of its functionality over a broad pH and temperature range, low odor and toxicity, UCARCIDE has become a universally recognized preservative for consumer and industrial products. It’s also easy to handle, highly soluble in water, and can be deactivated. In fact, UCARCIDE Antimicrobials have been proven more effective than most other proprietary preservatives currently used. And the best part is, UCARCIDE Antimicrobials are very economical — so you don’t have to be NASA to use them.
For more information, and for free samples of UCARCIDE, contact your Union Carbide Sales Representative. Or write to us at Danbury, CT 06817.
UCARCIDE 225 and 250 Antimicrobials. They not only saved the earth from alien microbes; they’re also preserving our way of life.
Union Carbide
Specialty Chemicals and Plastics Division
[additional notes] - Violet Webber
This ad is dramatically different from the others that I have seen in terms of its science fiction storytelling. The illustrated scene of a couple fleeing colorful airborne organisms resembles mid-century pulp sci-fi or disaster comics, transforming microbial contamination into an existential planetary threat.
By invoking NASA and the Apollo missions, the ad borrows credibility from space exploration while also tapping into Cold War–era anxieties about contamination, invasion, and technological risk. Microbes are metaphorically framed as extraterrestrial enemies, allowing antimicrobial preservatives to appear heroic.
The narrative reframes preservation chemistry as civilizational protection. Instead of simply preventing spoilage in products, antimicrobials are portrayed as safeguarding humanity itself. This exaggeration works rhetorically because microbes are invisible threats; visualizing them as aliens makes risk understandable and emotionally engaging.
