Rab’s World

Although..I do not eat meat; that never stopped me from enjoying some of the finer products of a cow. Namely; the dairy milk products of baked mozzarella cheese on a pizza or ice cream.

Ice Cream is always associated with children. This must be a European thing. As far as I know; Ice cream is a delicacy and downright enjoyment for adults!

Two of my favorite chains for hard-ice cream launches their annual campaign in April to ..well. make the nation aware of ice cream and all of it’s possibilities. It’s Ben & Jerry’s vs. Baskin-Robbins for your taste buds! April 29th and April 30th are important dates for ice cream afficianados.

It’s no coincidence that these two companies are called by two inseparable surnames.

Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream conjures up the freedom-loving creativeness of the late 1960s USA. In reality; Ben & Jerry’s was started by two friends from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978 with their first parlor in liberal Burlington Vermont. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield took advantage of the fresh and active Vermont dairy culture. They and their parlor became an instant hit with their ex-hippie peers for their ability to attach to wholesome ‘green’ ideas and the Hippie creativeness to break the rules in Ice cream flavor making by adding all types of ingredients. Not only that; they gave their ice cream flavors ‘celebrity names’ such as the famous Cherry Garcia in reference/hommage to the grand-daddy Hippie music-maker; Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Limited to Vermont only; they had to do a deal with bigger companies for regional distribution. That proved tenuous at some of the company’s years.

Baskin-Robbins was born under very different circumstances in 1945 southern California. Burt Baskins and Irv Robbins ran with the idea of more flavors than the handful that were being offered around soda fountain diners and cafes in the USA at the time. Originally 28 graduated to ‘31 flavors’. To this day; many equate the slogan with the company although many commodities can have ‘31 flavors’. They believed that the customer should ’sample’ the ice cream before buying. They practically patented the pink dipstick.

Here’s where the battle lies. After all; these businesses are part of American Corporate finance. Ben & Jerry’s initiated their first ‘FREE CONE Day‘ in 1979 to honor the anniversary of the opening of their business. Being the ‘green libertarians/Hippies there were; it is no coincidence that annual observances of this day coincides with Earth Day. They also encourage the Freeloaders to be ‘one in a million’ and sponsor/join a charitable worldly org. You will always find charities pitching their one-sheets to the free ice cream queues across the USA. April 29th is the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Ben & Jerry’s as an ice cream business. April 30th is the day that Baskin-Robbins initiate the 31¢ Scoop Night across nation shops. From 5 pm to 10 pm local time, participating Baskin-Robbins stores will have ice cream scoops for 31 cents each as part of its annual event to honor the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. At the end of this promotion, Baskin-Robbins will donate $100,000 to this foundation, which assists the families of fallen firefighters and provides training to current firefighters to prevent deaths in the line of duty.

I’m not sure of the date this was started but be sure it was a marketing scheme to be noticed to coincide with Ben & Jerry’s 30 year + annual freebie. Baskin-Robbins tries to up the ante on the old liberal establishment by having a donation to a charitable cause. The way it is set up; it looks like the charitable cause will change every year.

I’m not mad, because we as the consumers will win every year…twice! when these two corporations try to pull in potential customers with a great freebie idea!

Just to add humor to this ‘tasty battle’; Sam Caino of MotherBox Media has posted a Flash creation featuring a twisted interpolation of Missy ‘misdemeanor’ Elliot pitching ‘free cones’ for the B & J annual event.

Getcha Free Cones!

UPDATE 1: I thoroughly enjoyed my FREE ‘Triple Caramel Treat’ on a sugar cone at a Ben & Jerry’s in the Times Square area of Manhattan, New York! Two scoops y’all!

UPDATE 2: In keeping with the caramel theme; I nabbed three scoops @ B&R (advertised as 2.5 ounces!) of ‘Pralines and Cream. He put them in a cup and offered me 3 sugar cones on the side. All for $0.93 cents! Not bad, not bad! What the heck! I ordered two more scoops for my daughters. This time, Oreo cookies-n-Cream. A lady before me orderd 26 scoops! Wow! She had three children with her though. So, some simple arithmetic 26 x 0.31 = $8.06 or 2.5oz x 26 scoops = 65 ounces/16 (pint) = 4.0625 pints!. Not a bad deal since a pint at my neighborhood Baskin-Robbins runs around $2.79. Totally win-win for all involved! Or maybe not? According to this blog.. a pint is NOT really a pint. Read here.