A trend has arisen lately that I've been divided on until now. Most of you have already heard of or experienced "Icing" but I will briefly explain it for the culturally numb. Icing refers to a new drinking game that has taken the country by storm where one player "ices" another by surprising him or her (by which I mean him but lets keep it PC) with a Smirnoff Ice. The player presented with the Smirnoff Ice must then get down on one knee and chug it regardless of setting. The only way to avoid being iced is to carry a Smirnoff Ice on you at all times so that upon being iced you can reverse it back onto the other player, forcing them to immediately chug both. Whats new or interesting about a game that involves chugging alcohol? Well we are talking about Smirnoff Ice here, the most universally frowned upon beverage in existence. Originally tagged as a "girly drink", Smirnoff Ice quickly developed into a full blown serving of shame in every bottle. Too girly even for most girls, Smirnoff Ice makes Miller Chill and Mike's Hard Lemonade look like diesel fuel and motor oil. The fun of the game is humiliating whoever the Ice is presented to. I for one would hate having to consume such a drink in public (or private for self esteem reasons).
As much as I enjoy public humiliation. I also love telling myself that I am individual who does not blindly follow trends. After giving this some relatively objective thought I've come out still loving icing. The tipping point for me was a friends facebook status saying "Just saw some kid get iced in penn station..what's better is that he then got id'ed by a cop and got a citation for being under age..I love this game". I can't help but admire the tenacity with which this game is played. Here's an unsuspecting bro being iced in a Las Vegas airport.
The real question is what do the people at Smirnoff think of this? The company denies any involvement in the spreading of the game and I for one believe them. Although they must be excited that the drink is being consumed by somebody, it can't be a great feeling knowing it was your inability to make it cool that lead to its success. Maybe other companies could achieve such success with their own inside out marketing tactics. Perhaps if Buick made even lamer cars hipsters would start buying them and spark a revolution. Maybe fast food thats even worse for you? Oh wait, KFC nailed it
