Japanese Company to Advertise Soft Drink on Moon

Pocari Sweat, a beverage produced by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., will become the first product to be advertised on the surface on the moon, USA Today reported.

The grapefruit-flavored soft drink has gained popularity across Asia and the Middle East as a sports beverage which supplies consumers with nutrients and electrolytes lost during exercise.

To achieve its astro-ad, the company has designed a one-kilogram titanium can specially suited for space travel. Filled with a powdered version of Pocari Sweat, the drink is expected to be delivered to the moon in late 2016. Space X, the US-based space exploration firm, is in charge of transportation. A rover designed by Atrobotic will carry the can to Bürg crater, where it will remain indefinitely.

According to Pocari Sweat, the goal is to inspire kids to become astronauts, fly to the moon, find the abandoned can, and…drain it, of course.

Of course, to make the lunar, powdered variety of Pocari Sweat potable, future astronauts will have to know how to extract oxygen from the moon’s surface and create water. Known as “basic chemistry,” NASA hopes to have achieved that essential process by 2018.

But the campaign isn’t only about the beverage ad. Pocari Sweat’s space can will also play the role of a time capsule. Along with the drink, the canister will also contain messages from Asian children addressed to descendants, as well as a recording of a hit single from J-Pop group “GReeeeN”.

Anyone can submit his or her text message using mobile phone.

While one would expect the unique ad concept to be fairly costly, the price tag won’t reach stratospheric rates, USA Today noted. The estimated cost of “dropping that can on the moon” will still fall drastically short of the $8 million rate of a one-minute Super Bowl ad.

USA Today added that it is still unknown whether Pocari Sweat will be the only brand installing an ad on the moon in 2016, as Astrobotic has already expressed an interest in taking on additional advertisers.

While Pocari Sweat may be a pioneer in lunar advertising, space commercials are hardly new. An Israeli milk producer filmed an ad on a Russian space station in 1997 and Pizza Hut delivered  specially-sealed pizzas to the International Space Station in 2001.