<a href="http://www.brandiron.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/pic-22.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-1714" title="pic 2" src="http://www.brandiron.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/pic-22-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="32" height="48" /></a>If you’re like most people who a.) own a smartphone or b.) follow technological trends, then you have probably become aware of a popular mobile application called Draw Something. For those of you who are not familiar, Draw Something, which was recently acquired by social-game giant Zynga, is a Pictionary-like game where players pick a word from a list of three, and then create a drawing depicting that word so that a Facebook friend can try to guess the word and award you points.

Seeing how Draw Something has managed to amass 50 million downloads in five months, it is clear that Zynga has already figured out a successful formula to draw in users, and now they are incorporating an advertising model that is bringing brands into the picture.

With the Stanley Cup playoffs underway, the NHL decided to take advantage of this opportune time and become one of the first advertisers to buy terms related to their brand, terms such as puck, hat trick, and slap shot.

It initially appeared that players of the game welcomed<a href="http://www.brandiron.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/pic-32.png"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1707" title="pic 3" src="http://www.brandiron.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/pic-32-225x300.png" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a> the insertion of brand terms. After testing recognizable brands like KFC and Doritos, it appeared as though “people loved to draw the Colonel and bags of Doritos,” according to Dan Porter, Zynga’s VP of Mobile Operations.

However, as more brands come aboard, it seems as though more users of the mobile app are being turned off. According to App Data, Draw Something’s monthly active users have declined in recent weeks, and daily users have dropped by an estimated 4 million in the last month alone.

Could it be that the inclusion of these brands into Draw Something is actually leading to its demise? Some people certainly seem to think so. A recent online discussion on the social news website Digg included posts by Facebook users complaining that the once renegade social networking site, founded by a college kid in a dorm room, has become a giant, corporate marketing tool. One user writes that Facebook is becoming uncool because the people in charge are too stupid to realize that the online community doesn’t want to be “lied, sold, and marketed to, everywhere they go.”

It will be interesting to see if the minds behind Draw Something buy into this rhetoric. After all, since going public late last year, Zynga has reported that 9% of its $311.2 million fourth-quarter revenue came from advertising, and they have announced plans to introduce a system where brands will underwrite rewards for advancement within their games.

While it might be too early to tell whether or not brands are killing the cool-factor of social technology, what is certain is that the wheels of social branding have already been set in motion.