Liquid Death and Garage Beer Target AI Data Center Water Use in New Campaign

Liquid Death and Garage Beer have launched a promotional campaign criticizing data center water consumption, using former NFL player and Garage Beer co-founder Jason Kelce in a music video that calls for urine to be used as an alternative cooling source. The companies also released a limited-edition glass container called the “data center coolant collector,” which has already sold out.

The campaign uses humor to draw attention to concerns about the amount of water consumed by some data center cooling systems. In the video, Kelce argues that urine could replace other water sources used to keep computing infrastructure cool. “AI data centers waste millions of gallons of water,” Kelce says in the video. “That's why Liquid Death and Garage Beer have decided to team up: We want your pee to cool these data centers.”

The accompanying product extends the joke beyond the video. Liquid Death and Garage Beer produced a resealable glass mug and encouraged buyers to fill the container and send it to a data center of their choosing. The product was listed as sold out following its release.

The campaign arrives as water consumption associated with data centers, particularly facilities supporting AI workloads, receives increased public attention. Liquid Death and Garage Beer are not the first consumer brands to use the issue in advertising. Polaroid ran billboards in June criticizing data center water use, including one carrying the message, “go jump in some water before the data centers drink it all up.”

The criticism, however, simplifies a more complicated picture of how data centers are cooled. Water requirements vary depending on the technology a facility uses. Evaporative cooling can consume significant amounts of water, while closed-loop designs recirculate coolant and can substantially reduce consumption.

Data from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory puts the scale in context. The lab found that data centers used about 17.4 billion gallons of water in 2023. By comparison, swimming pools accounted for roughly 200 billion gallons, while golf courses consumed about 476 billion gallons.

Individual technology companies have also disclosed figures or estimates related to their operations. AWS said its data centers worldwide consumed 2.5 billion gallons of water in 2025.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella addressed the issue in June while discussing closed-loop cooling. He said a data center using such a system could consume roughly as much water as a single restaurant.

Those distinctions complicate the central claim behind the Liquid Death and Garage Beer campaign. Data centers do consume water, but the amount varies considerably depending on cooling design, and newer AI facilities are increasingly adopting systems that reduce the need for continual water consumption.

The campaign is primarily built around that tension rather than a proposed technical solution. Its most memorable line makes the approach explicit, with Kelce singing, “Let’s pee on computers together and save humanity.”

By turning data center cooling into the subject of a consumer-brand stunt, Liquid Death and Garage Beer are tapping into a concern that has already moved beyond technical discussions about infrastructure. Their campaign adds another highly visible example of brands using data center water consumption as a target for advertising, even as the actual water requirements depend heavily on how individual facilities are designed and operated.

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This analysis is based on reporting from Datacenterdynamics.

Image courtesy of Liquid Death.

This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy and quality.