I got Iced

Me getting Iced...

Double Icing

For those of you who have been living under my rock, you might also have questioned your friends this past long weekend when - at the end of our Montauk grocery shop - the guys grabbed two cases of Smirnoff Ice.  My mind immediately flashed back to being in high school, drinking Mike's Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ices and thinking I was super cool.  Flash forward to last weekend and seven professional twenty-somethings going through a few cases of "recreational" Ice (which nobody actually really likes) in one weekend.

Again, to those who aren't already pros at this, here's how Icing works: Hand a friend a Smirnoff Ice drink and they've got to get down on one knee and chug the Ice.  BUT if the attackee is already holding an Ice (defensively), the attacker has to chug both of them (gag). 

My friends were even more creative with Icing, stragetically hiding the drinks or getting third parties to participate.  For example, one of us ran to the IGA during dinner and got the hostess to Ice us all... in front of the entire restaurant… now that's dedication... not to mention really embarassing. 

The NY Times observed that “the game has exposed the mercurial line between guerrilla advertising and genuine social media trends, raising questions about how young consumers can know when they have co-opted a brand for their own purposes, and when that brand has co-opted them”.   Excellent point. Diageo (Smirnoff's parent company) has denied involvement in this viral success.  Apparently the game was started by some 22 year-old guy named Joe and is completely user generated.  “Joe” refuses to comment.  Uh huh…

Truth is, it doesn't matter.  Icing went viral because it's a game, it's competitive, and it involves alcohol! People are having fun with the product beyond it's specific function as a beverage. The fact that it's a girly drink just adds to the cache.  Marketing ploy or not, Icing made Smirnoff cool again.

Oh, one more thing: