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Active sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics saw a year-old ad hit viewers over Super Bowl weekend, resulting in three times as many sales as the brand’s typical weekend.
The “real girls rock” ad, which premiered in February 2025, was the brand’s second full commercial, and became popular when it was shared on social media by “Harry Potter” author and women’s rights activist, JK Rowling.
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Instagram ad for XX-XY Athletics (XX-XY Athletics on Instagram)
However, this past weekend, founder Jennifer Sey and the company decided to re-air the ad, and it went viral again, increasing its combined views on X to more than 40 million, and was among the top headlines on X for Super Bowl Sunday.
Sey, a former Levi’s marketing executive and US women’s gymnast champion, praised Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for being one of the figures who helped recirculate the ad when it started going viral.
“That was a big difference,” Sey told FOX Business of Cruz. “He made a huge difference… and we were seeing it differently, even with traffic on our website.”
The ad itself shows the brand’s ambassadors, who have stood up for women’s sports, facing hateful stereotypes and seeing the liberal media criticize them as “transphobic.” It featured appearances by OuKick manager 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 thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said Sey. “I’ve done a lot of commercials in my life, I was the chief marketing officer at Levi’s for eight years, I did the Super Bowl commercials… but definitely, this is the one I’m most proud of. I think the message resonates deeply and I think it really motivates people to stand up for this cause.”
Despite the company’s rapid growth since launching in 2024, Sey said he doesn’t want to run one of his ads again during the Super Bowl, stressing that the reputation of getting that time has gone down.
“I think the iconic Super Bowl commercials are a thing of the past,” Sey said. “I don’t think anyone cares anymore, I think people are leaving the house to get food, I don’t think people are listening to commercials anymore. And from a business perspective, I don’t know how you make a good profit if it costs $10 million just to protect the media.”
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Sey criticized the quality of this year’s crop of Super Bowl ads in particular.
“They were just relying on getting as many celebrities as possible in the ad,” said Sey. “That doesn’t really work.”
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