Photo: Bradley Stemke
Updated 2 p.m. Pacific
In 35 different speeches during 2010 midterm campaign appearances, President Obama accused Republicans of standing around and drinking Slurpees while the Democrats worked hard to fix the economy. At Wednesday’s post-election presidential press conference, a Slurpee Summit was suggested as a way of returning to bipartisanship, and 7-Eleven is now very excited about the idea.
The company contacted the White House on Wednesday night, through the public relations firm New Partners, offering to cater a Slurpee Summit for Democrats and Republicans. The company is also offering to actually install Slurpee machines in the White House, and in the Capitol Hill office of the presumptive Speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), according to a new press release sent out by 7-Eleven. Call it Deep Tan Meets Deep Freeze.
“This is a rare opportunity for a brand,” 7-Eleven spokesman Margaret Chabris told USA Today. “We don’t want to be opportunistic, but nothing has ever been this big for Slurpee.”
“They’re delicious drinks,” Obama said about the very sugary Slurpees at his Wednesday press conference. “I like that,” he added about the idea of a Slurpee Summit.
“If the president wants a Slurpee Summit, we’re offering to cater it with red and blue Slurpees — and we’ll even offer a purple Slurpee, since that’s what you get when you bring red and blue together,” Chabris said.
No word on the White House response to 7-Eleven’s offer, but the company is scrambling to build on Obama’s Slurpee laud. Today 7-Eleven rolled out the national ad campaign, with this ad for bipartisan Slurpees in USA Today. The company has now dubbed their project the “Slurpee Unity Tour 2010” and created a Facebook page.
The company is hoping that the idea of Slurpees “bringing people together” will go viral in social media. They’re also sending a fleet of Slurpee trucks across the country, which will eventually arrive on Capitol Hill.
Apparently 7-Eleven has not been briefed on First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, or corporate brass would be even more savvy, and figure out a way to load fresh fruit and veggies on to those trucks, too. And hand ’em out across the country as they remind bipartisan Slurpee fans that sugary beverages are a treat, not a staple food item.
[Editor’s note: 7-Eleven’s website is currently touting a Purple for the People Fanta Slurpee, the 8-ounce version of which has 67 calories and 18 grams of sugars, primarily from high-fructose corn syrup. Because if there’s one thing that Democrats and Republicans pretty much agree on, it’s corn.]
Cross-posted and edited with permission from Obama Foodorama.
