It wasn’t actor Emma D’Arcy’s recent viral moment that inspired the idea of St. Agrestis’s bottled negroni sbagliato. But it is what made the drink finally happen, as drinkers have recently swarmed bars in search of a negroni… sbagliato… with prosecco in it.
The Brooklyn-based spirits and cocktails producer attempted a bottled negroni sbagliato four years ago, but it scrapped the plans, assuming that Americans weren’t familiar enough with the riff on the negroni (prosecco takes the place of gin). Now, with D’Arcy’s audio on loop in so many people’s heads, St. Agrestis has opened pre-orders for a limited release run of bottled negroni sbagliato. It’s relatively fast action, given that D’Arcy’s clip hit the internet just two weeks ago. “We are embracing the trend and are proud to be nimble enough to respond to an internet sensation like this,” St. Agrestis owner Louis Catizone said in the press release.
Similarly nimble is a promotion from Grey Poupon, which is combining the Don’t Worry Darling drama with the “special salad dressing” somehow involved in director Olivia Wilde’s marital strife. The dressing in question is Nora Ephron’s vinaigrette, which Wilde reportedly made for her new partner, singer and actor Harry Styles, prompting her ex, actor Jason Sudeikis, to lie down in front of her car. Yesterday, Grey Poupon teased a contest to win one of “100 limited-edition ‘Don’t Worry Dijon’ jars, complete with the iconic dressing recipe on the back,” according to a press release. On Instagram, a feather boa — like the ones associated with Styles — is photoshopped onto the jar. The mustard brand’s action is even faster, given that the salad dressing news hit the internet just a few days ago.
It’s only natural at this point in the corporate-brands-as-meme-lords cycle that food brands will try to capitalize on any meme or viral opportunity. But the speed at which we’ve churned through viral food moments in just the past two weeks (this week also brought us James Corden’s egg yolk omelet), proves how quickly brands must act for those plays to be relevant. On the opposite end, of course, are the brands still attempting to capitalize on viral moments like the “It’s corn!” audio (a recent example from a bubble tea store), as well as the butter board (Bath and Body Works posted this just a few days ago), even though both are now essentially old news thanks to TikTok’s speedy turnover.
St. Agrestis’s bottled negroni sbagliato will begin shipping in mid-November; the meme will feel decades-old by then.
