They've done it. Those reckless eggheads have finally done it! A Chilean chicken brand, Super Pollo, has partnered with Among Us to launch a suspiciously shaped nugget into space. Well, it never quite technically made it into space, but I'm not a massive nerd so I don't care about the difference between the thermosphere and exosphere and space itself. Among Us nugget went high up. That's it, that's the story.The story began a long time ago, however. It started back in May 2021, when an Among Us crewmate (or Imposter) shaped McNugget from a McDonald's Happy Meal was listed on eBay for $1,000. That's ridiculous enough, right? But it gets more absurd. The thing ended up selling for almost $100,000 and sparked an Among Us nugget gold rush. Unlike the Gamestop stock shenanigans, one is actually rocketing to the moon. It fell short, but hey, at least it tried.
It got even weirder than that, though. Some QAnon conspiracy theorist alleged the overpriced nuggets were actually a front for human trafficking, because no one in their right mind would pay $14,000 for an oddly shaped McNugget.
So, that's the history. Now, to the present again. Super Pollo decided to increase their brand awareness by partnering with Twitch streamers playing Among Us and launching a nugget (presumably made of their chicken) into the stratosphere and promptly went viral on Twitter.
The nugget made it 32 kilometers and flew for over 41 minutes before beginning its re-entry back down to the surface. I wonder if it was raw or cooked. It'd be interesting to know if the heat of re-entry could cook a frozen nugget.
This isn't the only, let's say creative, brand collaboration gaming has seen. Recently, League of Legends hired rapper and queer icon Lil Nas X to be the game's president. He's co-designing a skin and has also made a new original song to open LoL's Worlds competition.
Back in the '90s and '00s there were plenty of, let's just call them what they were, blatantly sexist video game adverts, but we've fortunately seemed to move away from that era of gaming. Many featured models or video game characters in very little clothing, or a woman tied on a bed while her man decides to play a Game Boy instead.
One, for Virtua Tennis, featured a bunch of naked men in a changing room and read "Tennis without the uncomfortable locker room moments." That one was pretty funny.
One of the best promotions for a game of all time was a 10,000-person South African rave held for WipEout 2097. We need more of that.
Who comes up with this stuff? Is there some Don Draper-type advertising executive just knocking back booze and pills, coming up with more and more wild ways to sell video games? Maybe. Hopefully. Where do I sign up?