Now that NASA has turned up some compelling new evidence that water may in fact flow on Mars, brands can't wait to start selling things there.
Or at least that was the prevailing joke Monday morning among the logo-faced accounts of major companies, who sought to ride the wave of NASA's discovery of salty water on the red planet.
Companies from Denny's to Southwest Airlines weighed in on the possibly historic scientific breakthrough with er, dusty jokes about commercializing the Red Planet.
The timing of the discovery also made for some opportune free publicity for 20th Century Fox's upcoming film The Martian with readymade jokes about star Matt Damon happening upon some Martian rivers.
Other pertinent brands, like water bottle companies and Mars-owned candies, apparently decided to sit out what could have been a marketing lay-up with some obvious one-liners.
As far as scientists know, Mars remains mercifully free of brands.*
what happened on mars did they find free wifi ??— Denny's (@DennysDiner) September 28, 2015
Now that #Mars could be semi-livable, we’re pleased to announce our new Valles Marineris location on the Red Planet! Open 24hrs 40mins!— 7-Eleven (@7eleven) September 28, 2015
.@NASA Good news for mankind. GREAT news for Watney. #MarsAnnouncement #TheMartian pic.twitter.com/HnY2gZyf1a— The Martian Movie (@MartianMovie) September 28, 2015
Water on Mars found! We have sent our best divers to check it out #MarsAnnouncement @NASA pic.twitter.com/MGzn4mDyWY— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) September 28, 2015
Our April Fools' joke from 2014 just got a little more realistic! #MarsAnnouncement https://t.co/CgHywVOIC3— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) September 28, 2015
But did you find pizza up there @NASA? #VeryImportantQuestions #TheTruthIsOutThere— Papa John's Pizza (@PapaJohns) September 28, 2015
Since some brands somehow resisted the urge to roll out the wisecracks, Twitter users took care of it for them.
NASA has just confirmed, there is water on Mars... http://t.co/bYBjdGmx45 pic.twitter.com/dmtUbapuHe— 9GAG (@9GAG) September 28, 2015
Oh thank goodness, they've found my brands on Mars. pic.twitter.com/M8sB07ZdsZ— grant pardee (@grantpa) September 28, 2015
Nestlé has announced plans to have a fully-operational bottling plant on Mars by the end of 2016.— Michael Aranda (@michaelaranda) September 28, 2015
*Correction: As Planetary Society Senior Editor Emily Lakdawalla points out, Mars is not entirely brand-free. There are two awesome stickers of a Lego mini-figure, which she designed.
@mirikramer @PatrickKulp I'm sorry to tell you there's 2 stickers of a LEGO minifig on Mars http://t.co/pM0EA97Etb pic.twitter.com/coIn0e3Dog— Emily Lakdawalla (@elakdawalla) September 28, 2015
@mirikramer @PatrickKulp I designed the labels :)— Emily Lakdawalla (@elakdawalla) September 28, 2015