Kelly Hillerud

Ben and Jerry’s questionable ice cream name has gotten many people in an uproar and rightfully so. It’s vanilla ice cream with fudge covered rum and milk chocolate malt balls and has been dubbed “Schweddy Balls” This name came from a Saturday Night Live skit where Alec Baldwin is playing Mr. Schweddy and he is selling balls to suit everyone’s taste They play on the balls for the last four minutes of the skit where in the end Alex says “No one can resist my Schweddy Balls.”

I cannot believe that Ben and Jerry’s marketing team was sitting around trying to come up with a new ice cream name and they thought that “Schweddy Balls” would be a good one. I was appalled when my two teenage children brought this ice cream to my attention. I had not heard of it until this point.

So I got on the internet and started researching it. I found the Ben & Jerry’s ad for the ice cream as well as the skit on Saturday Night Live. When reviewing the skit I was shocked at how inappropriate it was for children. Then upon further research I found out why I have not heard of this ice cream until my children were talking about it. Many stores have boycotted the ice cream. As far as I am concerned Ben and Jerry’s is lucky that consumers have not boycotted the company all-together.

This is not the first time that Ben and Jerry’s have come up with an ice cream name that offended some people. There’s Chubby Hubby that started off as an office joke where two individuals were poking fun at an individual who talked about loving Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. But this time they have gone too far. This was a huge marketing mistake and Ben and Jerry’s should have thought it out a little better before releasing the new ice cream.

How do you feel about “Schweddy Balls” ice cream?

Graphic Credit:
Animationfactory.com