Along with discouraging misuse of the product, the Ozzy warning ad aims to serve as a reminder that Death Dust is “way tastier when you mix it with water and drink it,” Pearson said.

Cautionary tale

It also gave the swagger-filled brand an opportunity to work with Osbourne for the first time in a campaign, although Liquid Death sponsors The Osbournes Podcast, where its waters and teas often make cameo appearances.

“We’ve wanted to do something bigger with him for a while, and this felt like a natural fit,” said Pearson, noting that Ozzy is “an expert in this space—Google ‘Ozzy and ants.’”

For those who don’t understand the reference, Osbourne allegedly (legendarily) snorted a line of ants during a drug-fueled bender decades ago. There’s an ongoing debate around the incident, as often happens with tales of rock ’n’ roll’s debauched history. 

The topic came up on The Osbournes Podcast last fall, with son Jack asking his father to confirm or deny.

Ozzy swore he actually did snort a line of ants while on tour with Mötley Crüe in the 1980s. His wife, Sharon, couldn’t back up the story because she said she smartly stayed away from that particular combustible combo of out-of-control musicians.

But the 2019 Crüe biopic called Dirt captures Ozzy as he appears to be snorting ants, Sharon Osbourne said on the podcast. (Ozzy’s guitarist at the time, Jake E. Lee, has said publicly that it was a small spider, not a line of ants, but Ozzy protests.)

“I did, I was there, I did it,” Ozzy said during the October podcast. “It’s my nostril … I was drunk, and I did it.”

Liquid Death’s campaign is the latest brand collaboration from Osbourne, who starred in a popular Workday Super Bowl spot in 2023 and has worked with Samsung, Best Buy and Sony PlayStation, among others.