Hoaxland quote
Hmmmmm...
"We believe in Martians, partially, because we want to believe in Martians. Subconciously we have always been lonely: ergo, our ready acceptance of any evidence that there is life elsewhere in this Universe. And Mars is so handy......" from Why We Won't Find Life on Mars by Richard C. Hoagland, Analog magazine Dec. 1974 - 2 years before the Face picture was taken.
Guess he figured out that more money was to be made by selling garbage to the nutcases out there...