Man Charged For Calling A Magnum A ‘Choc Ice’
By Stephen Graham on Thursday, August 2, 2012
Unilever have cheekily tapped into the Rio Ferdinand / Ashley Cole “choc ice” scandal.
“A man faces a possible ban on talking after he called a Magnum ‘a choc ice’.
Gio Fernando made the remark while discussing ice cream with one of his three million friends. “Magnum! A choc ice! Classic! Hahahahahahahaha!!” he said.
But his bosses, Unilever, failed to see the funny side.
“A Magnum isn’t a choc ice,” said a spokesman for the company. “It’s a silky, vanilla bean ice cream, covered in a thick layer of Belgian milk chocolate (available in a three-bar pack and in singles).
“To call it a ‘choc ice’ is offensive and an insult to all those who created the first widely available hand-held indulgence ice cream in the UK.”
Fernando says that his remark was never meant to cause offence, insisting: “It’s just a slang term for Magnum”.
This is the latest controversy to dog the company, after another of its workers, John Merry, called Fernando’s brother “a screwball”. He later insisted that this wasn’t an insult, but in fact meant “a plastic cone of vanilla ice cream with a bubblegum ball at the bottom”.
The case continues, as long as the sun’s still out.”
This is a great example of a brand being topical and actually funny, resulting in a great bit of PR.
Source: Huffington Post UK