College students find additional way to drink/embarrass one another; Smirnoff says, not so fast

The long-standing tradition of college students in their early-20s inventing new ways to drink in excess took a huge blow last week. The popular viral Web site Bros Icing Bros was shut down at the request of Diageo, the maker of the alcoholic malt beverage Smirnoff Ice. By “Icing,” college students around the country started a drinking phenomenon that suspiciously smelled like a marketing ploy from Smirnoff, itself.

For those who aren’t sure what it may mean to ice someone it involves presenting a Smirnoff Ice to a friend in a creative manner at which point the friend would instantly drop to one knee and chug the entire bottle of citrus flavored drink. Of course, the icing can be “blocked” by the victim by presenting  an additional Smirnoff Ice to the original presenter, at which case the originator would then have to drink both bottles. The goal of icing was two-fold as to not only increase one’s alcohol intake but also inflict public humiliation as fraternity brothers drink a beverage often more suitable for their sorority counterparts.

“Icing” became an instant hit as young men rockin pink polo shirts with the collar popped, cargo shorts and boat shoes became the center of attention at parties, work functions, meetings and even graduations. But the whole concept seemed too genius of a sales tactic to be just a game invented by a group of 21-year-olds from South Carolina. Seemingly Smirnoff had penetrated a market previously unattainable by acknowledging that 21-29 year old males don’t drink their product and the majority might even be embarrassed to be seen drinking it. With icing, it turned the tables on the group and made refusing the Smirnoff Ice more embarrassing than the actual act of drinking it.

However, last week Diageo and Smirnoff pulled the plug on brosicingbros.com and all that remains is a message, “We had a good run Bros…” The message is an example of a corporation identifying a potential risk and ending it before it could develop into a lawsuit or worse, someone getting harmed. Or is it? My first thought was that if Smirnoff was not involved in brosicingbros.com they run the risk of backlash and angering the bro community. I quickly realized this could be part of an overall online strategy. If the internet age has taught us anything, it’s that there is always a way around censoring online content and that often the most successful and notorious memes are copied. By shutting down Bros Icing Bros, Smirnoff has increased their exposure as several media outlets have began covering the removal of the site and allowed several copycat sites to post their own versions of the now defunct, Bros Icing Bros.

Whether Smirnoff was behind this game or not, one thing is for certain, they should enjoy increased sales in college cities throughout the country as the expansive bro community becomes more aware of the game and more outraged by the removal of the site.

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