What happens when canned water teams up with a classic toaster pastry? If it’s Liquid Death and Pop-Tarts, the answer is absolute chaos.
The two brands have unveiled their new collaboration: a limited-edition iced tea drink called Pop-Tarts Carnage. The drink tastes like Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts and comes in Liquid Death’s iconic death metal can.
An accompanying ad, created in-house by Liquid Death’s production arm Death Machine, opens on a scene of domestic drudgery: a husband and wife eating breakfast at their dining table.
“I think I’ll clean the gutters today and then file for divorce,” the husband says. His wife responds with a bemused smile, prompting a voiceover to proclaim, “Being an adult is boring. Until now!”
Two cans of Pop-Tarts Carnage land on the table. The couple drinks them and is instantly invigorated with chaotic joy.
They tear through the neighborhood on bikes, vandalizing homes, cars, and lawn gnomes while handing out Pop-Tarts Carnage to neighbors and convincing them to join in. Eventually, two senior citizens, a police officer, and the brand’s mascots ride along.
“Last year we were exploring ideas for wild but tasty collabs for our iced teas, specifically around breakfast,” Andy Pearson, vp of creative at Liquid Death, told ADWEEK. “Pop-Tarts came up, and we got very excited. It’s a great brand that everyone knows, and they’ve been making great creative work over the past few years. So it felt like they could be a great flavor pairing and a great marketing pairing as well.”
This campaign continues Liquid Death’s trend of offbeat collaborations. Earlier this year, it teamed up with Spotify to make a soundtrack for the afterlife, and with e.l.f. Cosmetics, it launched goth-inspired “Lip Embalms.”
It also continues the brand’s sense of humor, seen recently during Super Bowl 60 when Liquid Death aired a mock PSA explaining how its energy drink won’t cause heads to explode.
Pop-Tarts is no stranger to bizarro marketing, either. At the Pop-Tarts Bowl during the 2023 college football bowl season, the brand debuted its first-ever “Edible Mascot,” named Strawberry. After the game, the victorious Kansas State Wildcats got to eat Strawberry by hand when it emerged from a giant toaster.
