7-Eleven Slurpee Unity Tour Leaves for D.C.

We dispatched Ryan Jones — whom I won’t call an intern, because he’s so much more than that to us — to see what was what today at One Arts Plaza when 7-Eleven launched their Slurpee trucks to discover the New World. Ryan tells us:

When Barack Obama made an off-the-cuff remark earlier in the week announcing his affection for Slurpees, you had to know it wasn’t just going to pass without incident. Because as soon as the president called the Slurpee a “delicious drink,” it sent a question spinning through the minds of 7-Eleven execs, which was relayed by marketing guru Laura Gordon at the company’s event to kick off its inaugural Slurpee Unity Tour:
 
“When the president says your drink is delicious, what do you do?”
 
Um, high-five?
 
“We’re taking it on the road!”
 
Ohhh, right.
 
So 7-Eleven decided the best way to cash in on some free publicity was to send five Slurpee sampling trailers across the country, handing out free frozen drinks in forty-degree weather. The trailers started today in Dallas, and they’ll trek through 14 other cities on their way to Washington, D.C., where they’ll show up as uninvited guests on the White House lawn and hope for an invite from the Obama administration for a “Slurpee Summit.”
 
The tour got started outside 7-Eleven’s headquarters at One Arts Plaza with a low-key event emceed by the aforementioned Gordon. She took control of the mic for about 10 minutes and rattled off all the prerequisites of a hastily done marketing campaign, including the token product-related adjective (in this case, it was “Slurpee-licious”).
 
And because 7-Eleven loves America, they’re being all patriotic about this thing. Three of the flavors that are making the road trip are named simply Red, White, and Blue. The money flavor is one that’s available only on the tour, called Purple for the People — purple, Gordon said, because it’s the result of combining red and blue.
 
Then the trucks swung into action, handing out free samples of Purple for the People to the people, but my decision to snap a few cell phone photos for the Front Burnervians put me at the back of the line, and I bailed before I got to taste.
 
If you want to follow along with the tour, 7-Eleven will be posting video from each stop on the official Slurpee Facebook page (facebook.com/Slurpee).