Activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics sees Super Bowl weekend marketing spike with year-old commercial
Sen Ted Cruz helped recirculate the ad
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The activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics saw a year-old ad explode in viewership over Super Bowl weekend, leading to sales tripling compared to a normal weekend for the brand.
The "real girls rock" ad, which premiered in February 2025, was the brand's second full-length commercial, and initially garnered traction when it was shared on social media by "Harry Potter" author and women's rights activist, J.K. Rowling.
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XX-XY Athletics Instagram advertisement (XX-XY Athletics on Instagram)
But then, this past weekend, founder Jennifer Sey and the company decided to recirculate the ad, and it went viral again, increasing its total combined views on X to more than 40 million, and was among the highest-trending topics on X for Super Bowl Sunday.
Sey, a former marketing executive for Levi's and U.S. champion women's gymnast, credited Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for being one of the figures to help re-circulate the ad during its viral resurgence.
"That was a big difference-maker," Sey told FOX Business of Cruz. "He made a huge difference… and we could see it differently, even in terms of traffic to our website."
The ad itself portrays the brand's ambassadors, who have stood up for women's sports, facing vulgar hate comments and witnessing liberal media outlets berate them as "transphobic." It featured appearances by OuKick host Riley Gaines and former University of Nevada volleyball player Sia Liilii.
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Sia Liilii appears in the XX-XY Athletics "Real Girls Rock" advertisement. (Courtesy of XX-XY Athletics / FOXBusiness)
"It's the proudest one I've ever made in my life," Sey said. "I've made a lot of ads in my life, I was the chief marketing officer at Levi's for eight years, I've made Super Bowl ads… but for sure, this one I'm most proud of. I think the message is just so deeply resonate and I think it really moves people to stand up for this cause."
Despite the company's rapid growth since it launched in 2024, Sey said she doesn't aspire to ever run one of her ads during the Super Bowl, insisting that the prestige of getting that time slot has waned.
"I think that the Super Bowl ads having prestige is sort of a thing of the past," Sey said. "I don't think anybody cares anymore, I think people leave the room and get food, I don't think people tune in for the ads anymore. And from a business perspective, I don't know how you generate a positive return when it costs $10 million just to secure the medium."
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Sey criticized the quality of this year's crop of Super Bowl ads in particular.
"They were just relying on jamming as many celebrities into the ad as they could," Sey said. "That doesn't really work."
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