A Japanese Sports Drink Is Advertising On The Moon

Ready or not, the world's first lunar advertisement is coming our way. Pocari Sweat, a Japanese sports drink (à la Gatorade), is going all the way to the moon to just to get you—or at least your Japanese friends—to buy their stuff. Talk about an out-of-this-world marketing campaign! (I'm so sorry...)

In 2016, Elon Musk's SpaceX will land a rover on the Moon. Part of that rover's cargo will be a specially designed canister containing powdered Pocari Sweat and a publicly compiled digital time capsule, which will be left there indefinitely. The whole campaign revolves around a challenge: who will reach the canister first to pop the top and drink its contents?

The craziest part of the whole thing? According to USA Today, the total cost to develop the container and ship it to the Moon probably costs significantly less than the $8 million or so it runs you for a minute-long spot on Superbowl Sunday. Try to wrap your head around that next February as you cringe through the latest offering from GoDaddy.

Brett Williams is an editorial assistant at Supercompressor. He's one of those rare types who would rather watch the game than the commercials.

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