Mumbai: Would you have thought of turning news reports of unidentified flying objects into a marketing opportunity? That is exactly what beverages company Cadbury Schweppes has done with its 7UP brand.

Last week, there were reports in the American media of residents in Phoenix, Arizona, seeing strange lights in the night skies of Monday, April 21. Photographed and captured on video by residents, the lights were visible for 13 minutes shortly after 8 pm, and gave a reminder of Phoenix residents of the original UFO episode in 1997 over the city, wherein they were visible for over three hours.

Now, Plano, Texas based Cadbury Schweppes has offered to send a mass shipment of 'naturally delicious 7UP', to potential space alien landing sites outside of Phoenix, Arizona, and Orlando, Texas, to prevent, or at least make more pleasant, the widespread eating of humans

A press release out of the Plano, Texas, office of the company says, ''Taking note of the appearance of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) over Phoenix, Arizona and Orlando, Florida earlier this week, 7UP has taken immediate steps to counteract the potential threat of alien invasion.''

"We read Drudge Report like everyone else," said Matt Smith, director of brand marketing for 7UP. "And when we saw the reports that UFOs had been spotted in the skies over two major American cities, we knew what people were thinking: they're here to eat us."

The press release goes on to say, ''Although the intentions of the aliens have yet to be established, 7UP is not prepared to take any chances with the lives of billions of humans who inhabit the planet Earth.''

''Any aliens with the technology to cross the vast gulf of space and enter Earth's atmosphere unchallenged are clearly far more advanced than we are, so any attempt to fight them would be futile,'' said Smith.

''The best thing to do is to appease these creatures with a large supply of refreshing 7UP. I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords and, quite frankly, the worst case is that they'll have something naturally delicious to wash us down with.''

7UP says it will be delivering a shipment of the soft drink to potential landing sites around Phoenix and Orlando. Any 7UP beverages unclaimed by the alien invaders will be free for any lucky uneaten humans to take for themselves.

For those of you stuill wondering about the lights, a reported by KTVK-TV, Phoenix has clarified that a man has claimed responsibility for creating the strange lights on the night of 21 April. attaching lit road flares to helium balloons with fishing line, and then setting them off from his back yard about a minute apart each. So much for the answer to the question, ''Are we alone?''