Even Free, It’s a Rip-off
Too late to be any good, the Cry for Help free ice cream post!
April 28th was Free Scoop day at participating Baskin-Robbins locations (now infiltrating a Dunkin Donuts near you!) You might ask "Bil, don't you mean Ben & Jerry's? They're the ones who've been giving away free ice cream once a year to thank their customers." That's true, but the B&J Free Cone Day was actually the day before. You might also ask "So is Baskin-Robbins trying to copy Ben and Jerry's because, since they can't compete in quality, they might as well piggy-back marketing efforts with the Vermonters?" Yes.
Now, neither Ben nor Jerry (not the people, but the soulless corporate behemoth which bought their names) really has any leg to stand on anymore in denouncing apers of any sort (start doing crosswords and "aper" will wiggle its way into your vocabulary). Witness: Two of B&J's newest flavors have been Dulce Delicious, caramel ice cream with a caramel swirl, and Dublin Mudslide, an Irish cream liqueur ice cream.
What's that? Sounds familiar, but you remember these flavors in a more upscale, less cow-laden store? You must have been at Häagen-Dazs! Over there, their evil flavor scientists came up with (original) flavors like Dulce de Leche, a caramel ice cream with caramel swirls, and Baily's Irish Cream, a (branded!) Irish cream liqueur flavored ice cream.
As far as I can tell, Unilever has moved it's new flavor research department from here to here.
Also, to round out the iced bitterness, I ordered one of these the last month and almost choked when it came to $6-change. Actually, I think Em paid for it, but still, it's the principle! (thanks, babe) In good ice cream news, there's an amazing place on North Carollton near Canal in New Orleans for gelato. Mmmmm!
April 29th, 2004 at 11:07 am
Well, Baskin Robins has been doing this for 5 years.
I’ll go in there to get free ice cream (and they’re within walking distance of my house). But i prefer to eat local handmade stuff, for a number of reasons.
Support your local ice cream!
(I still haven’t recovered weight-wise from supporting them TOO MUCH over the last couple of years)
April 29th, 2004 at 2:20 pm
Yeah so, about a year ago when Dulce Delicious moved in and the classic (non-green) Pistachio got kicked out, I had just about had enough of B&J. So I send them an email through their website comment section asking why why why (and accusing them of copying Haagen). The answer I got was something along the lines of “making money is more important than making classic flavors, and if we copied Haagen Dazs, they could sue us, so why would we do that?”
However, at the regional B&J meeting that year, I got the regional manager to ADMIT to basically ripping off the Dulce flavor because of its popularity amongst premium ice cream addicts.
Thus began my inner struggle with B&J - up until then I loved their business principles and ideas, and of course the ice cream (which I still mostly love). However, now its all pumped with chemicals like Splenda, carb-reducing agents, and most likely countless others. If you’ve noticed, the “Vermont’s Finest” and “All Natural” labels have been removed from the logo, and B&J is a sliver of what it used to be.
Though I truly hate what Unilever has done to a once magnificent ice cream empire, I will still defend old skool B&J to the death. They have been giving away free cones once a year since 1978. Baskin-Robbins can stick their Shrek ice cream up Walt Disney’s butt. I’m proud to say that the Narragansett B&J location did not give away, or even offer free cones of Carb Karma ice cream on free cone day because all (3) employees made a pact to never sell it again. What is left of B&J’s all natural flavors continue to be unrivaled, until Unilever destroys them as well. Enjoy those while you can.
May 10th, 2004 at 3:08 pm
I kinda agree. I prefer the old B&J ice cream too. I really don’t go for the new stuff. Its not the flavor necessarily, but the execution.
I still go to Baskin Robbins for Jamoca rather than coffee. I go to B&J for Cherry Garcia.
Ben & Jerry’s I don’t think complains about free cone day. I went to my local one and they even said to go to Baskin Robbins the next night down the block. Id d my own taste test and you can tell the difference in what you pay for. H-D and B&J are by far better ice creams.
I’m not going to complain about ice cream prices when gas prices are through the roof.