I Scream Cry For Ice Cream

For my paper, I would like to explore ice cream in general (no specific brand). First off, who doesn’t like ice cream? I’m lactose intolerant but that doesn’t stop me from devouring a pint of Blue Bell Birthday Cake. To be totally honest though, it was because of this music video (which I am hesitant to link to and is by no means what I normally look up on Youtube or listen to… so don’t judge me!) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaSmikcBod0) that the phenomenon of ice cream jumped out at me. What I wonder is has the entertainment industry created ice cream as a comfort food or have people naturally gravitated to this dessert by themselves? Is this an international norm? The general question in this case is WHY do people eat ice cream? However, my interests lean more towards whether ice cream is a comfort food or not (I have not decided which route to go). The implications of discovering the connections of customer insights with their experiences is valuable in terms of how to better promote this product. Perhaps there are better forms of packaging to serve this market. Also, if I can discover whether there is a correlation between consumption and emotional state, then perhaps I can discover whether to credit or discredit the entertainment industry for this. The value of that conclusion could possibly have greater implications for integrated brand promotions. Personally, I think it would just be interesting to determine different experiences people go through when eating ice cream.

To begin, I started thinking of why I even eat ice cream. Maybe emotions have nothing to do with consumption? For me, I usually have cravings for this dessert after being exposed to a Blue Bell ad or passing through the frozen section of the grocery store. One would think that living in Texas where the temperature goes into the triple digits increases my ice cream consumption to every second of the day. However, at least fore me, I actually do not think weather has any affect on when I eat it or not. I recall one winter I went to the store just to buy ice cream and the clerk questioned whether it was too cold to eat something like that. Thus, perhaps there are more reputable factors to contribute to why we eat ice cream. Also, it would be quiet a leap to assume that if this ice cream binge eating phenomenon really existed it would apply to everyone. This is why I am tempted to just focus on figuring out if there is a specific persona that is more drawn towards this product where the correlation between emotional state and eating consumption is the strongest.

However, I still cannot rid myself of the feeling that perhaps the whole ice cream is a comfort food has been fabricated by the entertainment industry and consumers just play along with the idea. Perhaps conformity to what was falsified as a norm is what is driving this phenomenon, how ironic would that be? This is why I am stuck on whether to write about ice cream consumption in general or go with my greater interests. If I did look at consumption in general, I would consider the marketing mix with product, price, place, and promotions. Do these factors affect ice cream consumption? Is this type of dessert so popular because of the abundance of flavors offered? Could it be because this market is so saturated that pricing allows all consumers with ranging incomes to purchase it? Maybe consumption is so high because of the abundance of locations that serve ice cream? Just look around you. There are specialized shops such as Marble Slabs to grocery stores with everything from gelato to private-label products, ice cream is everywhere and is quite easily accessible. The same is true even in the 1900s. Looking at the history of ice cream, in 1920, Harry Burt sold his ice cream bars from white trucks with bells. This product was so popular that it was being sold on a truck. What other products have such dominance on consumer shopping lists and is sold in fleets of trucks? It doesn’t even stop there. Ice cream goes even further back towards the 4th century B.C. There have been references from when the Roman emperor Nero commanded ice to be brought down from the mountains and combined with fruit toppings. What was Nero doing with ice cream? Was he eating it while he was witnessing the destruction of Rome? Was he eating it as a snack in his theaters?

Here is a report from Mintel that contains data that explain relevant market trends and delves a bit into the purchasing behavior of consumers. For example, it shows that in the U.S. ice cream spending is continuing to decrease since 2007. Also, supermarket sales of ice cream dropped in 2008, but there was a huge jump in purchases made at drug stores. http://academic.mintel.com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=393447/display/id=460950#hit1