The ice-cream cone, one of the most brilliantly designed products in history, is losing its battle with the boring tub
March 21, 2014 Leave a comment
March 17, 2014 6:24 pm
Save the cone
By Brian Groom
How can this happen? The ice-cream cone, one of the most brilliantly designed products in history, is losing its battle with the boring tub. According to Kantar Worldpanel, sales of cones or cornets in the UK fell 5.5 per cent last year despite a 6.9 per cent rise in overall ice-cream sales. Tubs of luxury ice cream to be eaten at home are leading the market.
A US government official once said: “The ice-cream cone is the only ecologically sound package known. It is the perfect package.” It has a sense of drama, too, not unlike human lives: a wide choice of beginnings, but the ice cream melts if you dither too long, ultimately vanishing into a narrowing tip of pleasure.
There are conflicting claims about who invented the cone. It was popularised at the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair, where several people claimed to have come up with it, but there are earlier accounts of edible ice-cream cones being used in England, France and Germany in the 19th century.
The biggest casualty of today’s trends is the Cornetto, the pre-filled cone invented in Naples in 1959 and mass-marketed around the world after Unilever bought it in 1976. With appetites growing, the 90ml Cornetto is up against large “handheld ice-creams” such as Unilever’s own Magnum super-lolly.
The Cornetto is fighting back, though. This month Unilever launches the Cornetto Choc ‘n’ Ball, a 160ml monster topped with a chocolate-covered ice cream ball.
About bambooinnovator
