Liquid Death is weird. They sell water in tallboy cans that look like cheap domestic beer, and they do it by leaning into heavy metal aesthetics and sheer absurdity. But things got even weirder when they decided to let an algorithm take the wheel. The Liquid Death AI commercial isn't just a video; it's a bizarre, slightly unsettling fever dream that looks like it was scraped from the bottom of a digital dumpster. Honestly, it’s exactly what you’d expect from a brand that built its entire identity on "murdering your thirst."
Most companies use AI to look polished. They want smooth skin, perfect lighting, and flawless voiceovers. Liquid Death went the opposite way. They used the absolute jankiest, most "uncanny valley" AI generation possible. People are growing extra fingers. The water looks like sentient slime. The faces melt. It’s objectively terrifying. And yet, it works because it mocks the very technology everyone else is trying so hard to master.
The chaos behind the Liquid Death AI commercial
Why would a multi-million dollar beverage company release something that looks like a technical glitch? It's simple. They’re trolling. When the Liquid Death AI commercial first hit social media feeds, it didn't look like an ad. It looked like a creepypasta. You've got these AI-generated figures that are trying so hard to be human, but they fail in the most grotesque ways possible. Their teeth are too numerous. Their eyes don't quite track the same direction. It’s unsettling.
This wasn't an accident.
The brand basically leaned into the limitations of early-to-mid-stage generative AI. They used tools like Midjourney or Runway in a way that highlighted the "hallucinations"—those weird errors where the AI doesn't understand physics or human anatomy. In one scene, a guy is "drinking" the water, but the can is basically merging into his face. It’s gross. It’s hilarious. It’s perfect for a brand that wants to stand out from the boring, sterile world of bottled water marketing.
Breaking the "perfect" AI trend
While brands like Coca-Cola or Nike use AI to create sprawling, epic landscapes or hyper-realistic athletes, Liquid Death recognized a shift in consumer sentiment. People are getting tired of AI. We’re being flooded with "perfect" images that feel hollow. By making their commercial intentionally bad, Liquid Death stayed authentic to their punk-rock roots. They aren't trying to sell you a lifestyle; they're trying to make you laugh while you stare at a screen in mild horror.
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Think about it. Most ads are ignored. You scroll past a perfectly shot mountain range with a bottle of Fiji water in three seconds. But you don't scroll past a man whose hand is turning into a Liquid Death can while he screams silently into a digital void. You stop. You watch. You send it to a friend with a caption like "what the hell did I just see?" That’s the goal.
The business logic of being "bad" on purpose
It’s actually quite brilliant from a business perspective. High-end commercials cost hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of dollars. You need crews, directors, actors, craft services, and weeks of post-production. The Liquid Death AI commercial? It probably cost a fraction of that. They essentially crowdsourced the "creativity" to an algorithm and then curated the most chaotic results.
- Low production cost: No film sets or permits needed.
- High virality: The "weirdness factor" drives organic shares.
- Brand alignment: It fits the "Death to Plastic" and "Liquid Death" edgy persona.
- Speed to market: They can pivot and release content in days, not months.
The genius of their strategy is that they don't care about being "prestige." They care about being remembered. Most people can’t tell you what the last Dasani ad looked like. Everyone remembers the time Liquid Death showed a melting AI monster trying to gulp down mountain water.
Why this works for the "Death to Plastic" mission
Underneath all the skulls and gore, Liquid Death actually has a serious mission: getting rid of plastic bottles. They use aluminum cans because aluminum is infinitely recyclable, whereas most plastic ends up in a landfill or the ocean. You’d think they’d make serious, somber ads about the environment. Nope.
They realized that preachiness doesn't sell water to Gen Z and Millennials. Shock value does. The AI commercial serves as a loud, abrasive signal that says, "We aren't like those other corporate giants." By using AI to create a mess, they subvert the corporate trend of using technology to appear more efficient or "future-facing." Liquid Death is saying the future is messy, weird, and probably involves some guy with twelve fingers drinking water from a can.
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Addressing the "uncanny valley" effect
There is a psychological concept called the "uncanny valley." It's that point where a robot or computer-generated image looks almost human, but not quite, and it triggers a deep sense of revulsion in our brains. Usually, marketers avoid this like the plague. If your mascot looks slightly "off," people get creeped out and stop buying your product.
Liquid Death jumped headfirst into the valley. They didn't just fall into it; they set up a campfire and started roasting marshmallows. By leaning into the revulsion, they turned a technical flaw into a creative feature. It’s a classic "so bad it’s good" scenario.
- Intentionality: The audience knows they meant for it to look bad.
- Subversion: It mocks the "AI will replace creators" narrative by showing how dumb AI can be.
- Memetic Potential: The distorted faces are perfect for memes and reaction shots.
What other brands get wrong about AI
Most marketing departments are terrified of looking unprofessional. They have committees and brand guidelines that prevent them from taking risks. If a junior designer brought a draft of the Liquid Death AI commercial to a board meeting at a traditional CPG company, they’d probably be fired on the spot.
"Why is the water red?" "Why does that woman have three arms?" "This is off-brand."
Liquid Death’s "brand" is that they don't have those walls. Their CEO, Mike Cessario, comes from a creative background (he worked on Funny or Die), and he understands that the internet thrives on the fringe. When you try to make AI look perfect, you're competing with Hollywood. When you make AI look like a glitchy nightmare, you're competing with nobody. You own that space.
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The technical side of the "mess"
If you look closely at the commercial, you can see specific AI artifacts that were popular in 2023 and 2024. The way the liquid moves is particularly telling. AI struggled for a long time with fluid dynamics. Instead of pouring, the "water" in these clips often looks like it’s teleporting or stretching. Liquid Death highlighted these segments. They chose the clips where the AI fundamentally misunderstood how a person interacts with a physical object.
It’s a masterclass in curation. AI generates thousands of images or frames. A human—a smart, cynical human—then goes through and picks the ones that are the most "wrong" in the right way.
Actionable insights for your own content
You don't need a million-dollar budget to make an impact, but you do need to stop playing it safe. The Liquid Death AI commercial proves that "perfect" is often the enemy of "memorable." If you're looking to use AI in your own marketing or content creation, here’s how to actually do it without being boring:
- Stop trying to hide the AI: If you're using AI, let it be AI. Don't try to pass it off as a real photo. People can usually tell, and they’ll feel lied to.
- Embrace the errors: Sometimes the weirdest thing the AI produces is the most interesting. Use the "hallucinations" as a creative springboard.
- Context is everything: This commercial worked because Liquid Death is an edgy brand. If you're a law firm, maybe don't make people's faces melt. Know your lane.
- Prioritize the hook: You have about 1.5 seconds to stop someone from scrolling. A distorted, surreal AI image is a much stronger hook than a stock photo of a smiling person.
- Focus on the "why": Liquid Death used AI to be funny and different. Don't just use it because it's a "trend." Use it to say something about your brand’s personality.
The takeaway here is pretty simple: the internet is bored. We are over-saturated with high-quality, AI-optimized, algorithm-friendly content. Liquid Death succeeded because they gave us something humanly curated but digitally broken. They used the machine to prove that, at the end of the day, a weird human sense of humor is still the most powerful tool in the shed.
If you want to stand out, stop trying to be perfect. Start trying to be interesting. Even if that means making a commercial that looks like a digital hallucination.
Next Steps for Implementation:
Research current generative video tools like Sora or Kling, but instead of trying to generate a "perfect" scene, experiment with prompts that describe surrealism or "glitch art." Observe how your audience reacts to "imperfect" content versus polished stock imagery. You might find that the raw, weird stuff gets ten times the engagement of your most expensive professional shoots.