Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War players can now express their loyalty to unofficial Gamer™ foods Mountain Dew and Doritos with a cosmetics social media giveaway, one item of which is the cheesiest series gun charm ever (literally). Whether played in jest or through serious marketing partnerships, Pepsico has always positioned both Mountain Dew and Doritos as a snack and drink combo made specifically for stereotypical gamers through advertising and targeted product lines. Mountain Dew has a long tradition of teaming with blockbuster video games every fall for its Game Fuel line, starting all the way back in 2004 for Halo 2's launch. Doritos has partnered with games in the past as well, and their efforts once earned gaming personality and The Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley the nickname of Dorito Pope online.
Although Halo was the originator of these partnerships, Call of Duty has long since surpassed it as the "bro's" first-person shooter of choice. Because of this, Activision's franchise has enjoyed a partnership with the citrus soda for several years, producing promo spots, over the top packaging, and double XP codes aplenty. In this year's Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, things went even further, with the developers at Treyarch injecting old school Doritos and Mountain Dew logos into the campaign as part of the game's 1980s setting and aesthetic.
Given that close relationship, it's no wonder that Mountain Dew is currently running a social media giveaway of cosmetic trinkets for Black Ops Cold War. Players on Twitter can follow the official Mountain Dew account and tweet at them with the "#DoritosDewDrop" hashtag in order to receive a gun charm and emblem based on the snack foods. The charm will let players hang a Doritos chip from their favorite rifle while the emblem will let them personalize their profile with a nuclear explosion full of caffeinated green energy. This same type of promotion was also done during the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare last year.
With close to 10,000 people tweeting at the account and hoping to grab promotional snack items for their virtual guns, some players have found that the automated bots haven't yet messaged them a code to redeem their items. The official account encourages a direct message with the same hashtag, which seems to work much quicker than the replies due to the high traffic. This is good to know for this drop, as well, with the future drops implied by the name "Drop #1" in the tweet. What those future shameless marketing crossovers will contain is anyone's guess, but it's not likely to be tasteful so much as tasty.
The deep connection between Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and the extended Mountain Dew snack empire may be seen as tacky by some, but it's also a very effective relationship. The dedicated fanbase of Call of Duty is of an age and lifestyle that they appeal highly to the mighty overlords at Pepsico, and it's likely that many fans wouldn't complain about what is technically advertising, as they may already be buying the drinks, anyway. Double XP codes and fancy gun charms are seen as an added bonus that makes them more likely to enjoy the brand in the future. It's a win-win all around - except for series developers hoping to preserve their artistic integrity.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.
Source: Mountain Dew