How Liquid Death Created a Dark Marketing Hit with OpenFortune
Liquid Death doesn’t just market canned water—they create cultural chaos.
So, when Halloween, the one holiday that feels like it was practically designed for the brand’s darkly hilarious vibe, came knocking, Liquid Death didn’t just want a seasonal campaign.
They wanted a creepy, laugh-out-loud stunt that would scare up buzz and drive sign-ups for their “HorrorScope” text service—a place where dark predictions about your future can finally find a home outside of your therapist's office.
And so, the quest began: How to capture the essence of Halloween without resorting to another haunted hayride or yet another pumpkin-flavored anything. The answer?
Give the fortune cookies a grim makeover.
Enter Misfortunes, the black-hearted, doom-filled fortune cookies that no one saw coming.
OpenFortune teamed up with Liquid Death to turn the classic fortune cookie into a mini horror show: jet-black, ominously flavored, and stuffed with the kind of messages that make you chuckle and shudder at the same time.
The stunt featured these dark treats at select Chinese restaurants in New York City and Los Angeles.
Diners cracked open their cookies to reveal not lucky numbers or feel-good quotes but rather grim reminders that sometimes, life’s just a little… cursed.
Each cookie also invited the curious (or morbidly intrigued) to scan a QR code to sign up for “HorrorScope” for a steady stream of hilariously grim forecasts.
Because who wouldn’t want to know just how much worse things could get?
Turns out, people love a little misery—especially when it’s delivered in cookie form.
The Misfortunes stunt didn’t just get noticed; it exploded. AdAge covered it, LinkedIn users went bonkers sharing their thoughts (and dark laughs), and it spread on Reddit like a zombie apocalypse.
The buzz was loud, the laughs were plenty, and Liquid Death successfully got people to not only crack cookies but also crack up (and drive new subscribers to their SMS list).
Liquid Death’s Misfortunes proved that even the most unassuming cultural icon—like a fortune cookie—can be transformed into a powerful marketing weapon when you dare to mess with tradition. It wasn’t about following the rules; it was about breaking them with a sledgehammer wrapped in pitch-black humor.
Halloween was just the perfect stage for Liquid Death to show off its brand of dark magic. And if a canned water company can go viral by making fortune cookies a little evil, just imagine what else could be possible when you embrace the unexpected.
