Content creator Brian “FaZe Rug” Awadis has officially launched the first line of candies from his candy company 1UP Candy and is celebrating the new line with an activation with partner CashApp. 1UP Candy products are only available through the official website.
FaZe Rug’s line pays homage to extreme flavored candies such as WARHEADS, according to a release: “1UP Candy sour gummies are coated with a heavy concentration of citric acid crystals and then loaded on the inside with an additional pop of tartaric acid and malic acid to deliver a powerful and intense experience that kicks in about eight seconds into the challenge.”
To celebrate the launch, 1UP Candy is hosting an online challenge, asking fans to “suck on 3 extreme sour gummies while attempting to keep a straight face” while recording themselves and posting their experience on Instagram or TikTok under the hashtag #1UPsourchallenge and their Cash App $Cashtag for a chance to win up to $500 USD. From May 17 – 20, 1UP Candy will run a pre-sale for Cash App Card holders that includes a 20% discount at checkout.
Awadis, best known for creating gaming-focused content for YouTube and Twitch, co-founded the new company in 2022 with the help of VO/D (or Void Media), a company co-founded by Christopher Koch (who serves as CEO) and Michael Schenker—both are former employees of Wasserman-owned talent representation firm, The Montag Group. Koch also operates another company called Over Dinner, which is best described as a VIP supper club that connects business executives with celebrities and athletes.
1UP Candy appears to be the first such business that Void Media has founded with a high-profile influencer/content creator, though it is tough to know for sure given the company’s lack of public facing information on its social media channels and its website, which only features social media links and a single-sentence slogan, “We build and operate disruptive businesses with iconic talent.”
Nevertheless, the partnership between FaZe Rug and Void Media is a familiar play, not unlike MrBeast’s virtual brand offering with Virtual Dining Concepts for the MrBeast Burger franchise and his snacking brand Feastables with “talent-led” venture studio Night.
To say that FaZe Rug has a substantial social media footprint would be an understatement: he has 298K followers on Twitch, 2.6M followers on Twitter, 23.4M subscribers on YouTube, and 10.4M followers on TikTok (with 206.1M video likes).
