One of the main unspoken rules of marketing: don’t make posters that set on fire at the slightest glimmer of daylight. That’s according to everyone except Fox, who are promoting their new vampire series The Passage with spontaneously combusting adverts.

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Just like the night-dwelling monsters, the posters put up on glass boxes around the Brazilian streets of Sao Paulo burst into flames at sunrise.

How? Here’s one for you, chemistry fans: it’s all thanks to a coat of flammable paint made with potassium permanganate and sulfuric acid. Which, no, definitely isn’t something Dulux usually stock.

Unfortunately, the posters might have been made for a lost cause, the show itself bursting into flames and cancelled after one season in the US. And we can’t see news of The Passage travelling far in other countries either with flammable poster only lasting a few night-time hours.

We guess the only way the show could catch on is – stay with us here – if these awesome posters catch the eye of a reputable TV and entertainment website in the UK. Or if Fox makes another set of posters that can be warded off by a garlic clove or two.

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Never mind systematic Twitter campaigns let by legions of fans, that’s how you earn a recommission.

Authors

Thomas LingDigital editor, BBC Science Focus

Thomas is Digital editor at BBC Science Focus. Writing about everything from cosmology to anthropology, he specialises in the latest psychology, health and neuroscience discoveries. Thomas has a Masters degree (distinction) in Magazine Journalism from the University of Sheffield and has written for Men’s Health, Vice and Radio Times. He has been shortlisted as the New Digital Talent of the Year at the national magazine Professional Publishers Association (PPA) awards. Also working in academia, Thomas has lectured on the topic of journalism to undergraduate and postgraduate students at The University of Sheffield.

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