During the 2019 holiday season, the company fully leaned in marketing-wise, creating generic-looking gift boxes that advertised lame gifts—either a hand-mixer, a wooden clothes hanger, or an ironing board—but in actuality contained a singular Smirnoff Ice. And then -- bam! “Icing,” a game by which you are forced (or force someone else) to chug a bottle of Smirnoff Ice on the spot, seemed like the only reasonable answer to the unfolding chaos. And a phenomenon it was. Cicely Johnston 2018, Category Uncategorized. The White House even confirmed that PPO officials played "the Icing game," explaining that happy hours were a way to network and let off steam. You have to. May heaven forgive us. That post was then allegedly taken without permission by a 22-year-old recent college graduate in nearby Columbia, South Carolina, who used it as the foundation for BrosIcingBros.com. There are 784 things about this trend that are dumb. Not at the top of anyone’s would-reach-for-first drink list, but it’s not undrinkable. It was a site to gain inspiration on creative places to hide Ices for one’s own bros; a glorious internet haven for hungover buds to share a laugh. But when a recent email about a limited edition, Fourth of July-inspired Smirnoff Ice (which, like most neon blue refreshments, does not give off a distinct "fit for human consumption" vibe) led me down a Google rabbit hole, I learned that The Year of Our Lord 2020 is, among other things, the 10-year anniversary of Smirnoff icing. Four years later, the Washington Post declared that "the game ran its course. Shortly after Icing took over college campuses, the site was removed, and Smirnoff gave a statement to AdAge. *** Tags : Bros Icing Bros Ice Blocking Bros Rules For Bros Icing Bros Smirnoff Bros Icing Bros Smirnoff Ice Bros. previous article. Participants are encouraged to come up with elaborate ways to present the Smirnoff Ice to their targets by hiding bottles or cans in inconspicuous lo… According to the Post, the PPO, which is responsible for recruiting and vetting political appointees, under Trump reportedly "became something of a social hub, where young staffers from throughout the administration stopped by to hang out on couches and smoke electronic cigarettes, known as vaping." And though the viral videos, celebrity icings, and office sneak attacks tapered off, icing lived on, humming like a refrigerator in the background of college culture in the years that followed. So, yeah, that's Icing… [5], Icing, which was described by The New York Times in June 2010 as "the nation's biggest viral drinking game",[6] grew in popularity shortly after the appearance of the website BrosIcingBros.com in May 2010.[7]. Team always look for loopholes in the rules and what they used to do was … BrosIcingBros.com no longer exists, but was once, for a few exhilarating springtime months, a beacon of cross-country, user-submitted icing content. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. [1][2][3] Participants are encouraged to come up with elaborate ways to present the Smirnoff Ice to their targets by hiding bottles or cans in inconspicuous locations, or in situations where drinking it would be dangerous or embarrassing (e.g. You might want to think twice before you open that Pringles can. The creator of the website, who wished to remain anonymous in a 2010 Fortune interview, said that by the end of April of that year, he had more than 100 email submissions per day and needed to enlist friends to help him moderate. If they don't, they are no longer a "bro". So in the absence of a frat culture museum, which I pray does not exist but am too frightened to Google in case it does, what follows is a complete and thorough history of the Smirnoff Ice, in honor of its decennial. Amid suspicion that the trend is an elaborate viral marketing campaign by Smirnoff, which the company has denied, new icing photos are posted daily on various blogs, Twitter and Facebook – including scenes from graduations and weddings – and sent directly to a Web site, BrosIcingBros.com. The rules are simple: You cannot refuse a Smirnoff Ice. — Blake Delman (@Da_Blakester) August 3, 2018. The Rules Are Simple: 1. No one's planking anymore. The game spread like wildfire in the spring and summer of 2010—icings were reported in prestigious New York offices; Mike Zuckerberg iced Facebook’s director of product; someone created a website with the sole aim of imploring the public to ice Ashton Kutcher; Coolio got iced in the middle of his own concert. Despite internet theories of its involvement, the brand maintained that "the icing phenomenon is consumer generated...we never want under-age 'icing' and we always want responsible drinking." Bros Icing Bros: The New Binge Drinking Game That Smirnoff Has Nothing to Say About. Lauren Kranc is an editorial assistant at Esquire, where she covers pop culture and television, with entirely too narrow of an expertise on Netflix dating shows. [6] The viral spread of the game has seen a boost in sales for the company. That bottle of sickly sweet Smirnoff is still up the sleeve of many a bro—and it’s as ice cold as it ever was. Remember neknominations? After the touch-up has been made the linesman blows his whistle to stop play and folds his arms to indicate an icing call. If it’s coffee, put the ice in a French … The Smirnoff Ice itself has the same energy—it’s about as average of a malt beverage as they come. Not many viral trends stick around in such a way. The people keeping it alive understand this, and they won’t let us forget it. The game is based on the following rules: The site, may it rest in peace, was shut down before June of 2010, perhaps by Smirnoff itself. If you’re not yet in the loop on Bros Icing Bros, then get ready to absorb just about the worst meme ever propagated via the magic of the Internet.. But icing is the Bhad Bhabie of drinking trends. After the puck has been shot but before a touch-up has been made, the linesman raises his arm to signal a potential icing call. The Hill, Bustle, Business Insider, and Thrillist, among others, all covered the icing on Capitol Hill. Smirnoff Ice is a sugary, usually fruit-flavored malt beverage.