A plumbing promotion in southern Russia has found the shortest route from showroom marketing to public discomfort: put prize-hungry contestants near toilets, add cameras, and wait for the internet to do the rest.
The Russia toilet drinking contest was staged at a Domix store in Stavropol by local plumbing brand EvaGold. The company called it “Game of Thrones,” because apparently one pun was enough to justify the whole production.
What happened at the EvaGold contest?
The contest offered 100,000 rubles, about $1,276, to the person who could make it through two bathroom-themed challenges.
The first round involved contestants racing to finish a non-alcoholic sparkling drink that had been placed inside brand-new toilet bowls. Video from the event showed people leaning over the bowls and drinking through large straws.
Contestants were split into groups of seven. The fastest person from each group moved on to the next stage, where the remaining seven competitors had to sit on closed toilet seats for as long as they could.
According to reports from the event, after 10 hours only two contestants had quit. That left five people still seated and still competing for the cash prize — a test of endurance, and possibly of life choices.
Why did the videos cause backlash?
Clips from the competition spread quickly on social media, where many viewers described the stunt as “degrading.”
Some residents in Stavropol also criticized the promotion, saying it made the city look bad. That reaction was not especially hard to predict, given that the main visual was people appearing to drink from toilets for money.
Organizers pushed back on the hygiene concerns. They said the sparkling drinks were poured into separate cups with straws before being placed inside clean, unused toilet bowls.
Technically sanitary is not the same thing as visually appetizing, and viewers appeared to make that distinction very quickly.
Did anyone win the 100,000-ruble prize?
It is still unclear who lasted the longest in the second round and claimed the 100,000-ruble reward.
EvaGold’s campaign did get attention, which was the point. Whether that helped the brand is another question. Viral marketing can put a company on the map, but sometimes the map just says: please do not make us watch this again.
Toilet tech has been having a strange year
The Russian contest is not the only recent toilet-related story to make people pause.
Earlier this year, a Chinese company unveiled a self-driving robot toilet designed to roll up to a bed, assist the user, then return to its dock and clean itself.
Months before that, a Chinese car company received a patent for a voice-controlled toilet that could be used inside a vehicle.
So between showroom contests, robot bathroom aids, and car toilets, the global plumbing sector is not exactly lacking ambition. Taste, however, remains a separate department.
