Professional athlete Jason Kelce has partnered with beverage companies Liquid Death and Garage Beer for a new marketing campaign that humorously proposes using human urine as a coolant for AI data centers. The initiative, promoted through a new advertisement, suggests that after consuming Garage Beer or Liquid Death, individuals can bottle their urine and send it to these facilities to help manage their high temperatures.
To facilitate this, the companies have introduced a "Data Center Coolant" cup, priced at $18. However, the item is currently sold out, limiting immediate participation. The campaign is a satirical response to the significant environmental impact of AI data centers, which consume vast amounts of water daily for cooling. Critics point to the wasteful use of clean water and the pollution from chemical discharge, alongside the strain AI centers place on computing hardware availability and cost.
Despite the campaign's direct appeal to collect urine, both the advertisement and the product page include fine print clarifying that individuals should not actually mail urine to data centers. The practice is legally restricted, with urine only permitted to be mailed as a medical sample under strict packaging and presentation rules. The companies are leveraging this quirky approach to draw attention to the ongoing discourse surrounding AI's environmental footprint.
Liquid Death is known for its unconventional marketing tactics. Previously, the company released a beverage called "Armless Palmer," which led to a legal threat from Arnold Palmer's estate. The company subsequently renamed the drink "Dead Billionaire," generating considerable publicity and media attention, a strategy they appear to be reprising with the "P.E.E." initiative.