Page 41 - AVN May 2022

JOANNA ANGEL HELMS NEW LIQUID DEATH SPOT
As it proved with the standout ad it debuted during this year’s Super Bowl that has since racked up more than 2.5 million views on YouTube, canned water brand Liquid Death does not shy away from edgy, if highly tongue-in-cheek, marketing gambits.
But now the puckish company has ventured where few—if any—mainstream outfits have dared to tread before: associating itself wholly and unequivocally with porn.
Yes, the newest Liquid Death ad, dubbed “Don’t F*** the Planet” and making its world debut in April, was directed by AVN Hall of Famer Joanna Angel and stars three-time AVN MILF Performer of the Year Cherie DeVille as herself. In addition, the crew responsible for shooting the ad was made up entirely of professionals from the triple-X trenches, including lighting veteran Shaun Rivera, director/videographer Curious Judas, make-up artist Azzy, photographer Mad Creativity, and none other than beloved helmsman Mike Quasar—a Hall of Fame member himself—who also makes a brief cameo in the spot. (Full disclosure: this writer makes an even briefer glimpse of an appearance in it as well.)
The bold endeavor, Liquid Death co-founder and CEO Mike Cessario told AVN, was born out of the simple goal of getting the company’s core message—a call to eliminate the use of plastic bottles—in front of the widest audience possible.
A big part of the Liquid Death brand is trying to bring death to plastic bottles,” Cessario explained. “It’s a huge, kind of global issue—every company from grocery store chains to restaurant chains to hotel chains are all trying to get rid of plastic bottles—and we thought, OK, on this mission, if you’re really going to get this message out, you need to get it out to as many people as possible, and not just the people who already care about the environment in New York and L.A. ... you want the masses to be aware of it. And when you look at the statistics, there are more people visiting porn sites than any other site on the internet. So we’re like, ‘Hey, if you really want to reach everyone, this is the way to do it.’”
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