Drink at your own risk

Founded by an ex-Netflix exec and supported by a pro-environment, hardcore lifestyle brand, Liquid Death shares with its customers that their product is now Certified Cursed™ for October.

Hiring a witch doctor, the famed Louisiana-based Mystic Dylan, the brand has created an audacious and brash publicity stunt. The video produced of the ritual is very cut-and-dry, shot with hand-held cameras and no special effects to make the ritual feel cheesy or fake. Dylan writes a sigil on the ground in chalk, recites incantations, calls upon pagan gods, and lights a few candles. 

The resulting ad by Party Land is a wide-eyed look at Halloween beliefs with a massive wink to the intended audience of young men, rockers, punks, and alt youth. Liquid Death, now Cursed, aims at the energy drink market with bold branding and tongue-in-cheek nods to a lifestyle aesthetic. They aim "to be unnecessary" in everything they produce, and they achieve it. 

After Dylan has finished his ritual, the deep ambient music is quickly replaced by a jaunty tune, and the video announces that all product is cursed through October! In addition, you can buy a counter-curse (to enjoy Liquid Death demon-free) for just one dollar. The ad is fun to watch if only because water as a product is so straightforward that promoting the deliverable never quite sells. Cursed water, though. That’s something to talk about.