You’re scrolling through TikTok or Reels at 2 AM and suddenly a guy with massive shoulders is holding a sugar cone, staring directly into your soul, and shouting in Mandarin. It’s John Cena. Or maybe it’s a 3D-rendered cat dancing to a high-pitched "ice cream so good" loop. If you’ve spent more than five minutes online in the last few years, you’ve run into the ice cream meme in one of its many chaotic forms. It’s weird. It’s slightly unsettling. Yet, it’s a perfect case study in how internet culture takes something mundane—a frozen dessert—and turns it into a global inside joke that refuses to melt away.
Memes usually have the shelf life of a banana. They’re brown and mushy within a week. But the ice cream meme keeps regenerating. Whether it's the "Bing Chilling" era or the surrealist "NPC streaming" trend, this specific niche of digital humor taps into a bizarre intersection of celebrity PR blunders and the uncanny valley of livestreaming.
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The John Cena "Bing Chilling" Catalyst
Let’s be real: we have to start with John Cena. In May 2021, the WWE star and actor was promoting Fast & Furious 9. In a video posted to Weibo, Cena sat in a car, holding an ice cream cone, and sang/shouted about how much he loved the snack in surprisingly decent Mandarin. He said "Bīngqílín" (冰淇淋), which literally means ice cream.
The internet, being the internet, heard "Bing Chilling."
It wasn't just the words. It was the energy. Cena looked like he was being held at gunpoint by a dairy lobbyist. The sheer absurdity of a massive action star passionately pitching frozen treats to a Chinese audience became the "Bing Chilling" phenomenon. People started remixing the audio, adding vine thuds, or distorting the video until Cena looked like a deep-fried fever dream.
Why did it stick? It’s the contrast. You have this symbol of American machinity speaking a language many Westerners don't understand, while talking about something as innocent as a cone. It felt performative. It felt like "the grind." But mostly, it just sounded funny.
NPC Streaming: "Ice Cream So Good"
Fast forward to 2023. The ice cream meme evolved into something much weirder: the NPC (Non-Player Character) trend. If you haven't seen Pinkydoll or the thousands of imitators she spawned, consider yourself lucky—or behind the curve.
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These creators go live on TikTok and act like video game characters. They stay perfectly still until someone sends them a "gift" (which costs real money). If a viewer sends an ice cream sticker, the creator repeats a canned catchphrase.
"Ice cream so good!"
"Slurp, slurp, slurp."
It’s repetitive. It’s hypnotic. It’s deeply polarizing. Some people find it a brilliant way to gamify content creation; others think it’s a sign of the literal apocalypse. Regardless of your take, the "ice cream so good" line became a massive audio meme. It was used in thousands of videos to mock the "dead behind the eyes" look of modern digital labor. It turned the act of eating—or pretending to eat—into a transaction.
Why we can't stop watching the "Slurp"
- The Uncanny Valley: Seeing a human act like a programmed bot triggers a specific part of the brain that’s both uncomfortable and fascinating.
- The Power Shift: The viewer controls the "character." For a few cents, you can make a stranger say "Ice cream so good" on command.
- Audio Loops: The sound bites are short, punchy, and perfect for the TikTok algorithm which rewards high-retention, repetitive sounds.
The Cultural Impact of Bing Chilling
People think these memes are just for kids. They aren't. They've leaked into the real world in ways that are actually kind of significant for marketing and celebrity branding.
When John Cena later had to apologize to China for calling Taiwan a country during that same press tour, the "Bing Chilling" meme took on a political edge. It became a shorthand for celebrities "selling out" or being overly cautious with international markets. The meme became a weapon of satire.
On the lighter side, it’s also just a vibe. You’ll see "Bing Chilling" referenced in Discord servers, gaming lobbies, and even on professional sports broadcasts. It’s a linguistic shortcut. If you say "Bing Chilling," everyone knows you’re referencing a specific brand of chaotic, slightly forced enthusiasm.
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Does the Ice Cream Meme Have a Future?
Sorta. The meme has already branched out. We’ve seen the "Little Lad" berries and cream trend (different dairy, same energy) and various "cursed" ice cream truck jingles. The core of the ice cream meme is the subversion of childhood innocence. Ice cream is supposed to be simple. When you mix it with high-stakes international PR or weirdly sexualized NPC streaming, it creates a friction that the internet loves to exploit.
We’re likely going to see more "food-based" NPC triggers. But the "ice cream" variant remains the gold standard because of the sound. The "slurp" or the "munch" sounds are basic ASMR. Even if the visual of John Cena fades, the sound of someone enthusiastically enjoying a dessert they clearly don't have time to eat will always be funny.
What You Should Actually Do With This Information
If you’re a creator, don’t just copy the NPC "ice cream so good" format. That ship has mostly sailed, and the market is saturated with low-effort clones. Instead, look at the why. The ice cream meme works because it’s a "pattern interrupt." It’s someone doing something unexpected with a familiar object.
Actionable Takeaways for Navigating Meme Culture
- Watch the "Remixability": A meme only survives if other people can use the audio or the format easily. "Bing Chilling" was easy to lip-sync. "Ice cream so good" was a perfect sound bite.
- Understand the Context: Before you post a "Bing Chilling" joke, realize its origins in international relations. It makes the joke land better when you know the subtext.
- Monitor the Lifespan: Don't be the brand that posts a "Bing Chilling" joke three years late. Memes like this have "peak" periods. We are currently in the "post-ironic" phase of this meme, where people use it specifically because it's slightly dated.
- Embrace the Weird: The internet is moving away from polished, "perfect" content. The success of the ice cream meme proves that being weird, awkward, or even a little "cringe" is often more effective than being professional.
To truly understand where internet humor is going, you have to accept that logic isn't the primary driver. Joy, confusion, and repetition are. The next time you see a giant man or a filtered teen talking about frozen dairy, don't overthink it. Just enjoy the brain rot for what it is.
Stay updated on these trends by following specific "meme historian" accounts on YouTube or TikTok—channels like "Lessons in Meme Culture" are great for breaking down the origins of these things before they hit the mainstream. If you want to use these trends for your own content, focus on the audio first, as the visual is usually secondary to the "earworm" quality of the catchphrase.