Whatever Floats Your Boat

There have been a lot of recent videos of international tourists here for the World Cup discovering things about American they had no idea of and loving it. And the videos are a joy. Many, too, are hilarious when what the visitors are bowled over by are just normal, everyday things to Americans - like ice in soft drinks, or yellow school buses (which they thought was only done by Hollywood for the movies or on The Simpsons), or air conditioning, or free refills of beverages, and more. But this might be my favorite for several reasons -

First, it's something totally normal here, the kind of thing Americans wouldn't even give a second thought. Second, the visitors at first think the concept is so weird that they're almost scared of it. Third, they have no idea what the basic food item even is. But fourth and most of all, when they do finally try it…they are utterly beside themselves in heaven for what is, to them, a transcendental experience.

I am speaking of a root beer float.

Really. Apparently, they don't have root beer in many other parts of the world. I'd have thought otherwise, but the people here are completely bewildered by the beverage. Also odd is that they think putting ice cream in a soft drink is the strangest, most terrifying thing in the world - the best I can figure is that, not knowing what root beer is, hearing the name they think it's a kind of actual beer, in which case putting ice cream in it would be strange. What's so fun here is watching people take their first sips, ponder what it is they're tasting, and then the flavors kick in…and…and they're absolutely gobsmacked. Really. I'm not exaggerating. I won't say more, though. That's most of the fun.

It's also somewhat interesting in how the differences in root beer come into play. A&W appears to be the best "starter" root beer, rather than Barqs, which is a more intense product.

SIDE NOTE:: Years ago, when I was doing PR on the Naked Gun movies, we had a deal of some sort with Barqs, so there were cases of it on the set. Because I was allowed to have fun with writing the press kit, and make up quotes (always getting approval from the person I was fabricating the quote for) I decided to do a parody of product placement, and to the filmmakers' credit, they let me keep it in. I wrote -

"In a calm moment, producer Bob Weiss breaths an oft-repeated sigh. "Lest anyone get the wrong idea, between babies, stunts and animals, we were extraordinarily careful on this movie. We believe in doing everything with great concern and consideration. No crass product placement, nothing other than the utmost integrity. That's what makes 'Naked Gun' movies 'Naked Gun,'" he says, quaffing down a cold, frosty Barq's Root Beer. That's Barq's, with the rich, full flavor that means root beer."

Anyway, here's the video. It's 11-minutes, and (for me) great fun all the way through. Especially down to the very last person. Not everyone loves root beer floats here - but most do and (most importantly) when they do… such is there is such joy watching people so ethereally happy over something so absolutely normal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-MYxIPCaL4