Breyers’ 1996 commercial featured a little girl trying to read the ingredients list on one of its competitor’s boxes, tripping up on words such as “polysorbate 80” and “diglycerides”. She then rattles off the ingredients on a box of Breyers’ ice cream: “milk, strawberries, sugar, and cream.” The creatives behind the ad didn’t need to reach into the regular bag of tricks used to make food look delicious in adverts. It was just cute, clever, and really drove home the point that Breyers only used fresh ingredients. Given that the brand has built its entire story on the foundation of high-quality ingredients — over the last 160 years, no less — a recent post online caught our attention. Not just because it was critical of Breyers for falling into the same trap as its competitors, but for the avalanche of criticism it triggered.
“The biggest downgrade in ice cream history,” said one customer on Reddit, kicking off the discussion. “It’s not even legally ice cream anymore.” The post received over 2000 upvotes and over 100 comments, with many agreeing and mourning the loss of the good old days. So what changed to make so many people so unhappy? The answer, as it turns out, is … nothing. The only thing that Breyers has recently changed is its packaging. And that was in October of last year.
Is it possible that a simple change in packaging has set off this latest round of harsh criticism? Yes, it is, because some customers have noticed that Breyers’ tubs now come more clearly labeled as “ice cream” while others have “frozen dairy dessert” printed on them. Again, this is not new. But last year’s more minimalist rebrand clearly seems to have reopened some old wounds.
Old whine, new packaging
Back in 2013, Breyers changed the label on some of its popular flavors from “ice cream” to “frozen dairy desserts”. Breyers’ Butter Pecan, Cookies & Cream, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Rocky Road were among the flavors that got relabeled. This was done after a tweak in the recipe meant the products couldn’t be legally classified as ice cream anymore, based on standards set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
According to the USDA, to legally qualify as ice cream, an item needs to have at least 10% milk fats, 20% milk solids, and under 99% overrun (this refers to the amount of whipped air added to the product, which gives it a smoother texture). Incidentally, it’s not just your favorite grocery store ice cream brands that can’t be labeled “ice cream” — as per the USDA, even gelato and soft serve don’t qualify. Needless to say, the change did not go down too well with fans. In fact, every few years there’s a fresh round of unwarranted outrage due to the confusion caused by the revised labeling.
The truth is that rather than being “the biggest downgrade in ice cream history,” Breyers continues to sell both ice cream and frozen dairy desserts. And, as it turns out, the tub of Natural Strawberry, which came in seventh on our ranking of popular Breyers Ice Cream flavors, still has only a few ingredients listed, all of which even a child could read.
