When marketing gets in the way of human achievement

In a bit over 24 hours from now, a skydiver will attempt to break the speed of sound with his own body as he ascends to 120,000 feet from Earth and then jumps out of a purpose built space capsule. Many of you
will think that this is awesome (which it is) and many of you will also think this has been done before (which it sort of has). In 1960, Joe Kittinger jumped from 102,800 feet, using inferior equipment and technology in comparison to what's available today. The amazing video of his jump can be seen below.




Now, many of you, particularly my lecturer, will be wondering what this has to do with digital marketing. Well, the differences between Kittinger's jump and the one being made by Felix Baumgartner tomorrow extend beyond that of height and equipment. Baumgartner's jump is being sponsored by Red Bull and will be shown live on YouTube. The live stream will also be broadcast on redbullstratos.com, Red Bull’s YouTube Channel and the mission’s Facebook page, as well as privileged partner sites. One begins to wonder whether this project was conjured up by the ever-inventive Red Bull marketing team to sit nicely alongside their staple of action sports stars and 'Gives You Wings' taglines, or whether this is actually being pushed by Baumgartner himself as he tries to push the limits of human capacity.

Is this real news or just a publicity stunt? No doubt it will explode over social media and probably feature in many mainstream news services as well. I understand partners like YouTube and Red Bull have to come on to provide funds and support, but the link between the partners seems such a tightly woven marketing concoction in that it features technology, flight and a global audience, the gloss seams to have worn off. There was something so innocent and organic about Kittinger's attempt that seems to be lacking in this instance. Even during the test run, the producers deliberately leave out Baumgartner's jump so the big moment (read: maximum publicity) is preserved for tomorrow.

 Maybe I'm too skeptical, too much of a human achievement purist (if there is such a thing). Clearly, Red Bull wasn't invented then, and sponsorship was probably hard to come by, but I feel the hold Red Bull seems to have over the action sports market takes away the shine from this event. Just a little. Is this a marketing driven stunt? Or the next frontier in human achievement?