◐
Written by
on 

Bashing AI data centers makes its way into brand marketing with new Jason Kelce ad

Bashing AI data centers makes its way into brand marketing with new Jason Kelce ad

By

Kelsey Vlamis

You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.

Jason Kelce poses in a field beside a Liquid Death can mascot while both hold jars of yellow liquid.

Garage Beer

Bashing AI data centers is all the rage, and brands are cashing in.

"AI data centers waste millions of gallons of water," former NFL player Jason Kelce says as he appears to pee into a jar in a new ad for his beer brand, Garage Beer, and the canned water brand Liquid Death.

"We want your pee to cool these data centers," Kelce says, before breaking into a song with lyrics like "please give us your pee" and "let's pee on computers together."

The ad says to have a Garage Beer or a Liquid Death Sparkling Energy drink, then "send your pee to the AI data center of your choice," as a person in the ad drops a jar of pee at a post office.

Small print at the bottom of the ad cautions that "The suits want us to tell you to please don't actually send your pee."

The ad highlights the uphill PR battle AI companies and data center developers face as more Americans report concerns about AI's impacts.

"There are many things that Americans can't agree on, but opposition to AI data centers is the one thing almost everyone can agree upon across the political and cultural spectrum," Andy Pearson, Liquid Death's vice president of creative, said in a statement to Business Insider.

Andy Sauer, CEO and co-owner of Garage Beer, said in a statement provided to Business Insider that both Garage Beer and Liquid Death are "humor-forward brands" that are "also serious about the important things."

"Water is the world's most valuable resource, and data centers are a hot topic, so we got together to have some fun, while raising a little awareness," he said.

Kelce and his brother, Travis Kelce, both co-owners of Garage Beer, have not been vocal critics of AI, but their brand isn't the first to jump on the AI-criticism bandwagon in its marketing.

After the marketing campaign for Friend, the wearable AI companion, faced backlash last year, Heineken put up a billboard in New York City featuring a similar device that said: "The best way to make a friend is over a beer." Legacy camera brand Polaroid's summer marketing has included images of people swimming outside alongside messages like: "Go jump in some water before the data centers drink it all up."

AI companies have been responding with ads of their own. A Meta ad last month promoted a cheerful vision of the AI future and said the company disagreed with negative predictions about the tech's impact. An Anthropic ad also addressed AI anxiety head-on, featuring alarming images such as a house on fire and a voiceover of people questioning AI's impacts. "There's hope in hard questions," the ad said.

AI data centers, in particular, have drawn growing opposition across the country from residents holding protests and filing lawsuits to block proposed developments over concerns about water and energy use, higher utility bills, and noise. A Business Insider analysis last year found the boom in data centers, some of which use water for cooling, was deepening the water crisis.

As for whether mailing your pee to data centers for use as coolant is a good idea, the US Postal Service did not respond to a request for comment.

Read next

Kelsey Vlamis's face on gray background.

Kelsey Vlamis

You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.

Kelsey is a senior reporter for Business Insider, where she covers business and tech news as well as stories about travel, luxury, and consulting.Her feature story "Disaster at 18,200 feet" received awards from the New York Press Club and the North American Travel Journalists Association, as well as honorable mention from the Society of American Travel Writers. It was also included on Longreads' and Pocket's best of 2022 lists. She has also received an American Journalism Online Award for her coverage on missing and murdered Indigenous people in Wyoming.She's appeared on CBS, NPR, NBC, and other outlets to discuss her work. She previously worked on the world news desk at the BBC in London and received a master's in journalism from Northwestern University.She can be reached by email at [email protected] or via the encrypted-messaging app Signal @kelseyv.21.Popular storiesDisaster on Denali: Inside a 1,000-foot fall on America's highest peakThrifting is more popular than ever. It's also never been worse.Rolex wouldn't service the vintage watch my mom inherited. Watchmakers say it happens all the time.A tiny, invasive bug and the climate crisis are changing how guitars are made, and shifting the course of music historyThe tourism free-for-all is overGovernment-run boarding schools were founded to 'civilize' Native Americans. Hundreds of dead children remain buried in the schoolyard graves.Meet the Texas minister who helps fly dozens of women to New Mexico every month to get abortionsPeople are flocking to Colorado for the great outdoors, but the air pollution is so bad, it's forcing many to stay insideInside Kabul: An aid worker reveals the devastating chaos that erupted during the US exit from Afghanistan