While the technology has been used for a while to enhance high-end laptop computers and television sets, mainly in Japan, now companies such as German-based X3D Technologies are marketing 3D to advertisers in Europe and the US.

Early 3D technologies required observers to wear red-green goggles, which were impractical not to mention hilariously conspicuous. This was necessary because two images were projected staggered in quick succession, one blocked by a red filter and another blocked by a green filter. Display makers have now figured out ways to filter the light before it leaves the unit. Plasma-screens by X3D are already being used to make shampoo bottles loom in front of customers in shops in France, Italy and Spain.

Experts say the future lies in making the technology cheaper so most people have it in their homes. ‘We continue to strive for broadcasting 3D content,’ says Myles Owens, chief executive of X3D. ‘That’s the future of advertising.’