7 Twisted, Weird and Wacky Ice Cream Ads That Sweetened the Category

When eaten in moderation, ice cream can boost serotonin and energy levels while providing a decent dose of protein, hydration and calcium.

Noticeably absent on the effects list is existential dread and abject terror, unless, of course, the dish served up included some classic advertising in the category from Halo Top and Little Baby’s.

The two brands are among a handful of marketers that have taken a decidedly unconventional approach to promoting the all-American favorite sweet treat—a wholesome staple of street fairs, birthday parties and kid-friendly outings since time immemorial.

Rebel Creamery, Magnum, Oatly and Cold Case have followed an offbeat playbook similar to Halo Top and Little Baby’s, melting the edges ever so slightly with their own style of twisted humor. And while the commercials are safe for work, none is really meant for children, and there’s a good reason for that.

Such work often comes from premium brands touting smaller servings versus family-size tubs, “which means hyper-indulgence, weird flavors, eating directly from the container,” according to Kelly Schoeffel, a former 72andSunny strategist who worked for about eight years on the Tillamook business. “It’s fundamentally adult and hedonistic—it’s targeting us, and we’re in on the joke.”

A frosty vice

Ice cream is “a safe space—a rare emotional thru-line between childhood and adulthood,” said Schoeffel, former chief marketing officer of Meow Wolf and an ADWEEK Creative 100 honoree. “It can accommodate a broad range of humor, even dark humor.”

In general, consumer packaged goods marketers tend to take themselves “way too seriously these days,” said Jonathan Schoenberg, executive creative director at TDA Boulder, the agency behind Rebel Creamery’s recent harshly hilarious “Don’t Sugarcoat It” campaign.

There’s a different tenor historically around some product segments like ice cream, chocolate, beer and spirits, “knowing that they are a bit of a vice and having some fun and being naughty and capturing consumers accordingly,” Schoenberg said.

In honor of National Ice Cream Month and the dog days of summer—and continuing to highlight the resurgent comedy trend in the industry—ADWEEK has made a seven-layer sundae out of notably quirky past and present ice cream campaigns. Some have been more successful than others (RIP Little Baby’s), but all have undeniable entertainment value. Grab a spoon and dig in, readers. 

Halo Top, “Eat the Ice Cream”

When this Black Mirroresque spot dropped in 2017, ADWEEK called it “the perfect cinema ad to run before horror films.” That’s because it creeped everyone out, and also because it got big-screen media buys in front of Stephen King’s It and other genre flicks. 

The dystopian spot, which gives serious Kubric vibes, centers on the potential (inevitable?) robot enslavement of the human race and what might happen when “everyone you love is gone.” Hint: It involves too much hand-fed ice cream. Blessed by Halo Top founder and CEO Justin Wollverton, the work came from director Mike Diva, who said he leaned on Four Loko and his baser instincts for the concept. The result, in all its sterile glory, became an instant classic.

Halo Top, “Ice Cream for Adults”

By 2019, the fast-growing low-sugar brand was ready for its first national campaign. But was its humor any less bleak by then? Not much. Centered on a nihilistic, kid-unfriendly ice cream truck, the spots deal with such realities as soul-sucking jobs, crushing debt and romantic failures—you know: typical adult stuff. 

The work, with its deadpan delivery and angst-riddled edge, came from 72andSunny New York and director Tim Godsall. For a compilation of the four ads, check out the link here, posted by actor Eric Satterberg, who played the truth-spouting ice cream man. The spots hit even harder, in the best way, when viewed back to back.

Little Baby’s, “This Is a Special Time”

This is a spokesthing, and it has a name: Malcolm. Freaky, right? 

Little Baby’s, a small-batch “super premium” brand and retailer, launched in Philadelphia in 2011 and grew to $1 million in revenue a few years later, partly on the strength of the ad’s surprise viral success. Founder Pete Angevine hadn’t envisioned “This Is a Special Time” as a traditional commercial, telling CNBC that he spent $3,500 to make a “funny little piece of video art” that he posted to YouTube. The wide-eyed character, by the way, isn’t covered in ice cream. It’s marshmallow fluff.

Alas, the brand closed up shop in late 2019, shuttering its four Philly locations. Malcolm, though, lives on in our nightmares.

Rebel Creamery, “Don’t Sugarcoat It: Favorite Child”

Mom doesn’t have a favorite kid? Sure she does, Darren, and you should’ve left well enough alone. Asking the question just stirred up a hornet’s nest in this starkly funny gut-punch of an ad from TDA Boulder for Rebel Creamery.

As part of an effort called “Don’t Sugarcoat It,” the spot starred a matriarch driven to dropping truth bombs by snacking on the low-sugar frosty treat. The brand was ready to push some boundaries in its marketing, with “Favorite Child” launching earlier this month as an example of the new no-BS storytelling aesthetic. With taglines such as “pickleball isn’t a sport” and “not every baby can be the cutest baby,” “Don’t Sugarcoat It” is expected to continue going forward.

Oatly, “It’s Not Chicken”

There’s no chicken or crab or mayo in these frozen dessert bars, according to ads that thoroughly and purposely messed with consumers’ heads. Oatly, a brand known for its quirky sense of humor, played with the well-worn person on the street ad trope and created commercial gold with this 2022 campaign.

The brand’s in-house creative division, the Department of Mind Control, shot the series at Americana mainstays like bingo halls, state fairs and water parks, deliberately misdirecting taste testers to get their stunned and confused reactions. The work helped launch Oatly into a new category, where it now battles against a growing cadre of better-for-you products.

Magnum, “Stick to the Original”

This guy wanted to save a few bucks at the grocery store, and it cost him everything. That sure sounds melodramatic, and that’s exactly what the Unilever brand and agency LOLA MullenLowe Madrid were going for with this “fake Magnum” idea.

A woman becomes suspicious of her partner after he brings home generic ice cream bars. If he’s lying about this, what else is he concealing, she asks herself in the spot’s voiceover. The answer: his athletic prowess, his sports victories, even his facial hair. “Like a Magnum is not a Magnum,” says the spot, which marked the brand’s first foray into humor-centric marketing since its founding in 1989.

Cold Case, “6IX”

The brand is called Cold Case, and its current offerings include Jane Dough, Embezzle-mint, Cereal Killer and Assaulted Caramel. It may come as little surprise, then, that its dark sensibility extends to its advertising.

The company debuted this parody last year of David Fincher-directed thriller Se7en, daring viewers to ask, “What’s in the box?” Further promotion for the six-pint cases, selling at an eye-popping $109 online, ties the product even closer to the blockbuster flick: “We all have our weaknesses. Is gluttony your sin of choice?” The ambitious, cheeky and swear-word-free short film, starring Brad Williams and Tony Cox, came from Utah-based agency Creatably.