Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls Becomes a Major Lackluster
Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls ice cream, inspired by an innuendo-laced 1998 skit featuring Alec Baldwin as baker Pete Schweddy, who promises, "No one can resist my Schweddy balls", is getting cold - as in cold shoulders from consumers especially those supporters and members of the One Million Moms group (read related news HERE) that the limited-edition flavor is visibly absent in some supermarket chains.
Store chains that have decided not to carry the flavor are not saying whether their decisions were influenced by the One Million Moms group, their own reservations about the name or other factors.
Suzi Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop chain, said that for proprietary reasons, the company does not disclose the reasons behind decisions about what the stores do and don't carry. She said they have a very strong relationship with Ben & Jerry's, though, and its products are generally strong sellers.
Messages were left Thursday for spokespeople from the Roche Bros. and Big Y grocery chains, both based in Massachusetts; and Publix, which has scores of locations in the southeastern U.S., about whether they had decided to stock the flavor.
Even with limited availability, though, Ben & Jerry's spokesman Sean Greenwood said Thursday that Schweddy Balls has quickly become the most popular limited-edition flavor the company has produced.
Greenwood said about one-third of the retailers that carry its other products are offering Schweddy Balls, about the same as any other specialty flavor it has produced — though this one has outpaced those in sales at the stores and the company's "Scoop Shops."
Ben & Jerry's, a division of consumer products giant Unilever, has toyed with language in some other products, too, such as its widely stocked Karamel Sutra ice cream and the peanut butter-laden What a Cluster, formerly known as Clusterfluff.
- Source
Store chains that have decided not to carry the flavor are not saying whether their decisions were influenced by the One Million Moms group, their own reservations about the name or other factors.
Suzi Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop chain, said that for proprietary reasons, the company does not disclose the reasons behind decisions about what the stores do and don't carry. She said they have a very strong relationship with Ben & Jerry's, though, and its products are generally strong sellers.
Messages were left Thursday for spokespeople from the Roche Bros. and Big Y grocery chains, both based in Massachusetts; and Publix, which has scores of locations in the southeastern U.S., about whether they had decided to stock the flavor.
Even with limited availability, though, Ben & Jerry's spokesman Sean Greenwood said Thursday that Schweddy Balls has quickly become the most popular limited-edition flavor the company has produced.
Greenwood said about one-third of the retailers that carry its other products are offering Schweddy Balls, about the same as any other specialty flavor it has produced — though this one has outpaced those in sales at the stores and the company's "Scoop Shops."
Ben & Jerry's, a division of consumer products giant Unilever, has toyed with language in some other products, too, such as its widely stocked Karamel Sutra ice cream and the peanut butter-laden What a Cluster, formerly known as Clusterfluff.
- Source