National Ice Cream Day: Would You Buy An Ice Cream From This Man? A Retrospective

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This modern Mr Whippy throws a very disturbing spanner into our love affair with ice cream – DO NOT continue if you wish to hold onto your innocence…

Although the ancient Greeks were eating a mix of snow and fruits in the 5th century BC, ice-cream didn’t reach America until 1800. The U.S.A. is now the world’s largest producer and consumer, with the average American eating some 20 pounds of the yummy stuff a year, and 19 percent admitting that they enjoy it in bed.

Across the pond, Italian ‘gelato’ is very highly regarded, and if you say ‘Just One Cornetto’ to Europeans who pre-date the 1980s, you may be startled by how many will burst into song. Watch the Anglo-Dutch company Walls’ gondolier ad blending sweet expectations with dry humour, then see if you can get that song snippet out of your head.
So far, it’s all good clean fun, innit?

Then things went suggestive…

Really? Good old ‘Can I have an ice-cream, Daddy, pleeeeeeeeeeease’ went suggestive? Yes, little one, yes.
U.S. company Haagen Dazs kicked the raciness factor up a notch with spots such as this cool number featuring hot Hollywood star Bradley Cooper.

Good old ‘Can I have an ice-cream, Daddy, pleeeeeeeeeeease’ went suggestive? Yes, little one, yes. And we’ve got proof.

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… and then they went beyond

Way, way beyond. Watch and you’ll see. Again, you proceed at your own risk.

Strictly speaking, this headless guy is not a modern Mr Whippy because that’s a soft-serve ice-cream and his offerings look relatively firm. We don’t comment because ADDS is about letting you view campaigns and vote/comment. Suffice it to say that this one made advertising guru Dave Trott pause when we described it in response to his challenge to name a truly creative ad. “What’s the name of the ice-cream?” he was curious enough to ask.

The answer (if you didn’t dare watch the ad) is Little Baby’s, a U.S. company. Here’s another one of theirs, showing a guy eating his own head, which is made of ice-cream – somehow not as disturbing?

Happy National Ice Cream Day (July 15) everyone!

To have your say on this and other ads, please visit the ADDS site.

Tree Elven is a creative who thinks big, values simplicity, and loves life. She’s the Founder of ADDS, an independent voting platform – it’s like TripAdvisor for advertising.