Andy Walsh2x Exited Founder, Startup Strategist & Podcast Host

The Sober Sex Ad That Went Viral for the Wrong Reasons

26 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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A brand greenlit a $15,000 stop-motion ad about sober sex after customer data showed people who drank less reported better sex lives. The ad was made in three weeks, a risky move compared to the safer playbook Athletic Brewing had followed before.

Again, this wouldn't have been in any of the analytics that a lot of customers noticed that when they cut back on their alcohol, their sex life improved. So they were like, huh, well, maybe we should do something around sober sex. Mind you, this is a brand who 3 months before didn't want to take any risk at all. They wanted to just do what was, what felt safe, which is to do the path that Athletic Brewing had already won from in the prior years. Now they're like, sure, let's do this sober sex ad using stop motion and get it done in 3 weeks for a small budget. I think including all the editing, it was $15,000.