Xbox continues the meme with new Series X mini fridges

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has teamed up with Xbox to send influencers real Xbox Series X mini-fridges, in a stunt designed to promote the actor’s new energy drink brand.

The Rock teased the campaign on his Instagram channel on Tuesday, showing a cardboard box and hinting that some people would soon be getting one.

Such people have since been tweeting photos of what was inside the box: a mini fridge shaped like an Xbox Series X with the ZOA logo in the corner.

They also received a customised Xbox Series X controller with the ZOA design on it, a pair of ZOA-branded sunglasses and six cans of the ZOA energy drink.

“I may not be a competitive gamer (certainly not counting the years I beat everyone’s ass on Madden),” says the Rock in an included note, “but I do know what it means to compete.

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“If you want to rise to the top – whether that’s gaming, creating, working, anything – it takes discipline and hard work, but it also takes energy and focus.

“That’s why I bring you the culmination of years of development – ZOA – and my partners at Xbox and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you first.”

It’s not clear if these items are intended purely for promotional purposes, or if they’ll be made publicly available. Last year Xbox’s marketing boss polled fans on whether they would be interested in purchasing an “Xbox mini fridge”.

The Xbox mini fridges come after Microsoft made real, house-sized Series X refrigerators and sent them to influencers last year, including YouTuber iJustine and rapper Snoop Dogg.

The promotional items, which were based on a popular meme, function exactly as a normal fridge would but with an Xbox Series X design, complete with boot-up music upon opening its door.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has a long association with the Xbox brand, having been present for the unveiling of the first Xbox console back in 2001.

Recently, Johnson partnered with Xbox again to help Gamers Outreach, with an initiative that saw it give twenty US children’s hospitals a batch of custom Xbox Series X consoles on portable kiosks.

This isn’t the first time the worlds of video games and energy drinks have collided either: In 1998 a series of TV ads for UK drink Lucozade featured Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft, leading to the drink being renamed Larazade for a while.

Lucozade is also a central plot device in Team17‘s Amiga game Superfrog, as the drink that gives the frog his super powers.