Fresh off leading his team to a Super Bowl LIX victory, Jalen Hurts is now the first NFL player ever to headline a Sprite commercial, joining an elite class of icons in the brand’s newly revived Obey Your Thirst campaign. The ad, which mixes cool confidence with comedic charm, is a nod to Hurts’ signature stoicism with a twist.
In the commercial, Hurts fields questions from a fictional reporter named “Thirsten A. Sip”, a tongue-in-cheek play on ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. Instead of losing his cool, Hurts remains unfazed, just like he does in postgame interviews. But this time, he’s sipping Sprite, not spitting stats.
“Being a part of the next ‘Obey Your Thirst’ campaign is really special,” Hurts told Adweek. “This partnership brings back a lot of childhood nostalgia and not only speaks to my core values, but to the standards I’ve set for myself throughout my career—showing up and being yourself is always enough.”
Jalen Hurts is the first NFL player to endorse Sprite. pic.twitter.com/Lhnin7QVje
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 28, 2025
This latest campaign is a throwback with a 2024 remix. First launched in 1994, Sprite’s Obey Your Thirst slogan has featured cultural heavyweights like Grant Hill, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, LL Cool J, and A Tribe Called Quest. It stepped away in 2019, pivoting to Thirst for Yours, but now it’s back.
Brian Rogers, Sprite’s senior brand director, said the revival of the campaign was rooted in authenticity. “Now more than ever, younger generations are bombarded with messages about who they should be and how they should behave. Sprite is the antidote… a brand that empowers fans to challenge the status quo and embody their authentic selves,” he said when the campaign relaunched earlier this year.
Hurts joins a reimagined Sprite roster that includes Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards and Olympic gold medalist Sha’Carri Richardson, both of whom have recently starred in their own campaign spots.
