Ella's parents have been on holiday to Lake Como in Italy and promised to bring her back a special present. What she gets is a can of air.

The cans are made by a company called Italy Communica and are intended to appeal particularly to American tourists who have arrived in increasing numbers to the area since George ClooneyThe actor first found fame in the TV series ER. His wife, Amal, is a British-Lebanese human rights lawyer. bought a villa on the lake.

One local said that the canned air made him feel ashamed. Another said:  "I think it's better to breathe the actual air of Como. Buying it doesn't bring the same satisfaction."  

Selling air is not something new. In Naples after the end of World War Two, empty cans left by American troops were resealed and sold as souvenirs.

The idea may have come from the SurrealistA movement in art and literature which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind. artist Marcel Duchamp. In 1919 he gave two American friends a tiny glass bottle he had bought in a pharmacy and labelled "Air de Paris".

People have paid huge amounts of money for other things that might be thought worthless. Yesterday a slice of the late Queen's wedding cake was auctioned for £2,200.

Is this morally wrong?

Yes! Getting people to spend money on something pointless is a shameful waste of resources and insulting to poor people.

No! The value of something is what people are prepared to pay for it, even if the price is crazy.