US candy chain sells commemorative Barack Obama chocolates

(Pic via ace marketer/stand-up comedian Nathan Hartswick. Follow him on Twitter!)

CandyExpress claims these commemorative Barack Obama heads are available for a limited time only. Not limited enough, unfortunately.  Off the top of my head I would thought of three things Mr. Obama should not be used to advertise: Chocolate, fried chicken (as a German company did), watermelon (that’s a yet).  The Russians are clearly out-thinking me on this: I didn’t even consider someone would use President O for a tanning salon. They did.

The president is apparently quiet the commercial draw in Mother Russia. In addition to the tanning salon and he has also been featured in an ad forthe MeraDent chain of dental clinics with the slogan "Full Dental Democracy!"And of course for this wonderful ice cream treat.

In case you don’t read Russian the slogan says: "Everyone’s talking about it: dark inside white!" The bars have a chocolate-flavored center embedded in a layer of vanilla.

As Russia used home grown slaves instead of importing them as the US did people of African heritage are quite rare. Worth noting: Alexander Pushkin – the nation’s first great poet – was one of those few African-Russians.

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A scoop of silence for one of the greats … Irvine Robbins, partner of Burton Baskin

I guess what was 31 is now down to 30 at Baskin-Robbins — nope 29, Mr. Baskins predeceased Mr. Robbins.

Robbins opened his first ice cream store in Glendale, Calif., in December 1945, following his discharge from the Army. Robbins offered 21 flavors at that store. His brother-in-law, the late Burton Baskin, opened his own ice cream store in neighboring Pasadena a year later. The two eventually joined forces.

Coolest. Family. Ever. But did they split the profits 21/10?

Pol upset by “Staten Island Landfill” ice cream

(seems it is weird food stories week)

It is made by 5 Boroughs Ice Cream whose other flavors include “Jackson Heights Mangodesh,” “South Bronx Cha Cha Chocolate” and “Upper East Side Rich White Vanilla.”

Staten Island borough president James Molinaro was so annoyed by the flavor — which includes brownie chunks, cherries, art-shaped chocolate “crunchies” and fudge — that he decided to give it some free PR. In a letter on his web site Molinaro calls for a boycott:

The stereotyping of our community is as ignorant as it is hurtful. Even the most basic research effort would easily reveal the positive qualities that truly define our community.

Said letter then got the attention of a bored reporter and voila! I hope the makers send him gallons of the stuff in thanks.

Can’t imagine why 5 Boroughs didn’t call the ice cream by the proper name of the 2200-acre heap of trash: Fresh Kills Landfill.

Mmmm, mmmm. That’s good.

Somebody still licks stamps?

Haagen-Dazs and the Austrian Postal Service have launched a series of ice-cream flavored stamps. “They infuse flavors like Cookies & Cream, Macadamia Nut Brittle and Strawberry Cheesecake into the adhesive on the back. As you lick the stamp, you actually taste the flavor!” Consumers get a book of stamps for  every 10 scoops of ice cream purchased.

In keeping with the campaign, all Haagen-Dazs stores will lose at least 1/10th of all orders and prices will increase at whim.

Just what the world needs, an ice cream that tastes like chicken.

 OK, so the headline from this AFP story promised rattlesnake ice cream (Beat the heat — with rattlesnake ice cream)but only cow tongue, Indian curry, cheese, cactus, saury (a type of fish), shrimp, wasabi (Japanese horseradish), roasted eggplant, rice, tofu and salad flavored ice creams are for sale in Tokyo. I have been deceived. FYI: "the cow tongue ice cream is a mixture of vanilla and beef broth with small red chunks of tongue." You first.

Dumb St. Patrick’s Day-related marketing moves

Yesterday I wrote of Spam Cube and its attempt to get some PR out of the Green Day. That is as nothing compared to “Globat.com®, the world-leader in Performance Web Hosting(TM)”, and what has to be the oddest tie-in with what we around here call amateur day. Under the headline, “Globat.com Sponsors St. Patrick’s Day Gynecological Visit,” the release describes “the world’s first sponsorship of a gynecological visit for Shimmer, a long-time eBay celebrity from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Shimmer will be riding to and from her gynecologist in a limo, will undergo a gynecological exam and will be promoting Globat.com and cancer prevention throughout the day.”

They thought that St. Pats and St. Pap (Smear) go together? Furthermore, there’s such a thing as an eBay celebrity? Because when I think “Performance Web Hosting(TM)” I want to connect it with a visit to the OB/GYN — which I am told by reliable sources I am married to as well as every woman comedian I’ve ever seen — is about as unpleasant as a colonoscopy but without the fun of watching it on TV? Because green and (note to self: place euphemism for a woman’s genitals here) goes so well together? Because “Shimmer” is an Irish name? WHAT? WHAT?

And, while it’s not nearly in the same league with the above: Why did Ben & Jerry’s choose the month of St. Pats day to introduce an ice cream flavor called “Black & Tan”? The black & tans, for those of you not up on your Irish history, was the nickname of a particularly reprehensible part of British “police” (maybe the military…) charged with keeping the “peace” while the Old Sod was still entirely a part of the UK. Hmmm, B&J are now owned by Unilever — a British company…hmmm.