The Cleveland Browns on Wednesday, July 24 released their new “Alpha Dawg” matte brown helmets.
The event was a spectacle from an unveiling on “The Pat McAfee Show,” to a hype video on social media, a sponsorship from a disposable wipe product and even a mysterious floating barge on Lake Erie.
Forget the helmet itself, it’s the barge incident that has people talking online. Mission accomplished, apparently.
As a man films the reveal of the helmet on the barge, he tumbles and falls into Lake Erie. As it happens, the whole thing was staged by Ross Smith, a social media celebrity who is popular on Instagram, TikTok and pretty much any other short media platform.
Who is Ross Smith and his grandma?
The graduate from Olentangy Orange High School near Columbus became popular for videos with his grandma on Vine.
Smith has nearly 25 million followers on TikTok, four million on Instagram and more than five million subscribers on YouTube. Go ask your kids about him.
With his grandma dancing in front of the helmet, Smith shared his point of view of the splash on Instagram—replete with a Dude Wipes crossposting. The video has been played more than two million times on Instagram. From a promotional standpoint, mission accomplished for the Browns.
While this event was being staged, the Browns were beginning the first day of training camp in Berea. No word on if any of the quarterback competition practice was staged.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: You know the viral Lake Erie splash during the Browns helmet reveal? Shocker, it was staged
Reporting by Dan Kadar, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
