The Borg are taking over college parties and TikTok. What are they exactly?
Borg – “blackout rage gallon” – has become the drink of choice on college campuses across the country.
Made with half water, half vodka, a caffeinated flavor enhancer and a dash of powdered electrolytes, the drink has been hailed by many college students on TikTok as a party staple for hangovers.
Binge drinking, which is consuming an excessive amount of alcohol in a short period of time, remains a widespread problem that many college administrators struggle to control. But as the borgs go viral, some harm reduction advocates — who don’t condone excessive drinking — said the trend may actually lessen the dangers of the culture of alcohol consumption at home. university.
“When it comes to substance use prevention, harm reduction recognizes that people are going to make their own decisions about alcohol and other drugs,” said Erin Monroe, a designer with a degree in substance use prevention. substance use in New York, to NBC News. in a message. “But there are strategies we can use to reduce some of the risk.”
When making borgs, drinkers get “complete control” over what they drink and can pace themselves appropriately, Monroe said. She described the borgs as “really strong harm reduction”, when paired with other tactics like taking a ride with a trusted designated driver.
One of the first TikTok videos about the borg dates back to March 2020. The drink, which has become more mainstream following social distancing and other Covid prevention measures, is particularly popular for tailgates and parties in outdoors.
“After covid, the whole ‘common drink’ thing went out the window for us,” one TikTok commenter said on a video about the drink. “the borgs came out of necessity.”
College students started posting more about drinks last year, just as their spring semesters were wrapping up. It gained popularity throughout the fall semester when students posted tutorials and videos showing off their pitchers, which are customized to the taste of the drinker.
In a video posted in October, for example, a TikTok user made a borg out of a bottle of Skyy vodka and Kool-Aid. Another TikTok user created a snowy day with MiO, a pack of Liquid IV, and a can of Celsius fizzy energy drink.
The Borg are completed by labeling the jug with a punny name. Showing borg names like “Soulja Borg” and “Our Borg and Savior” has become its own TikTok trend. Other clever borg names include “Brown v. the Borg of Education”, “SpongeBorg”, and “Borgingham Palace”.
Monroe noted that harm reduction advocates do not promote alcohol consumption by endorsing the Borg.
“Harm reduction does not promote abstinence or alcohol consumption. Harm reduction is completely non-judgmental,” she said. “My goal is always to help people use harm reduction tools that work for them to reduce risk.”
She and other experts took to TikTok to point out that drinking borgs appears to be less dangerous than other forms of binge drinking in college.
In a recent video, Monroe compared borgs to drinking when she was in college, when she said her peers drank “buckets of gin and jungle juice” out of “trash cans in the basement of the fraternity houses”.
She also approved of students tailoring their borgs to their own alcohol tolerances. In a follow-up video, she made her own borg (named “Ruth Bader Ginsborg”) with more water than vodka. Contrary to the drink’s name, she said in a comment, “you might pass out but not everyone wants that.”
Creator Leigh Beez, a crisis response educator who works with students, said in a TikTok that the borgs are among the “fantastic harm reduction strategies I see.”
TikTok creator NarcanMan, who makes harm reduction content, described borgs as “the smartest way to get drunk” in a video.
“It’s not about accidentally taking an alcohol that you have less tolerance to or that isn’t right for you,” he said. “There’s no way anyone will slip anything into your wide-open cup because you have a sealed jug. And you all stay hydrated!”
Meanwhile, many millennial TikTok users also praised the borgs in the comments.
In a video, a TikTok creator told college she remembered seeing bits of hair floating around in frat tubs, which were used to store party concoctions. Another user commented, “How we as a generation collectively didn’t die of sepsis is amazing.”
Others have pointed out that the drink appears to be a more hygienic alternative to the communal tubs of “jungle juice” that have long dominated college parties.
nbcnews
