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| Product type | Ice pops |
|---|---|
| Owner | Good Humor-Breyers |
| Country | Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Introduced | 1922 |
| Related brands | Fudgsicle Creamsicle Yosicle |
| Markets | U.S. and Canada |
| Previous owners | Joe Lowe Corporation; Sara Lee Corporation; Empire of Carolina; AmBrit; Gold Bond Ice Cream |
| Registered as a trademark in | U.S. and Canada |
| Website | popsicle |
Popsicle is a Good Humor-Breyers brand of ice pop consisting of flavored, colored ice on a stick.
In 1905 in Oakland, California, 11-year-old Francis William "Frank" Epperson was mixing a powdered flavoring for soft drinks with water. He accidentally left it on the back porch overnight, with a stirring stick still in it. That night, the temperature dropped below freezing, and the next morning, Epperson discovered the drink had frozen to the stick, inspiring the idea of a fruit-flavored "popsicle". [1] [2]
In 1922, he introduced the creation at a fireman's ball, where according to reports it was "a sensation". [2] In 1923, Epperson began selling the frozen pops to the public at Neptune Beach, an amusement park in Alameda, California. [3] [4] By 1924 Epperson had received a patent for his "frozen confectionery" which he called "the Epsicle ice pop". [2] He renamed it Popsicle, supposedly at the insistence of his children. [1] Popsicles were originally sold in fruity flavors and marketed as a "frozen drink on a stick." [5] [3]
Six months after receiving a patent for the Popsicle, Good Humor sued Popsicle Corporation. By October 1925, the parties settled out of court. Popsicle agreed to pay Good Humor a license fee to manufacture what was called frozen suckers from ice and sherbet products. Good Humor reserved the right to manufacture these products from ice cream, frozen custard, and the like. [6]
In 1925, Epperson sold the rights to the Popsicle to the Joe Lowe Company of New York, who set up a subsidiary called Popsicle Industries to sell the product. "I was flat and had to liquidate all my assets," he recalled years later. "I haven't been the same since." [7] [3]
In 1965, Popsicle Industries was sold to Consolidated Foods Corporation (later renamed ‘Sara Lee’). By 1986, Sara Lee was struggling to bring Popsicle to profitability, so the company sold the U.S. operations of Popsicle Industries to the Gold Bond Ice Cream Company in Green Bay, Wisconsin. [8]
In 1987, Sara Lee sold the Canadian operations of Popsicle Industries to AmBrit Inc.
In 1989, Good Humor, now a subsidiary of Unilever, bought the U.S. rights to the Popsicle brand from Gold Bond and folded the U.S. operations of Popsicle Industries into its Good Humor-Breyers division. [7]
In 1990, Empire of Carolina bought the Canadian operations of Popsicle Industries from Ambrit Inc. [9]
In 1993, Unilever bought the corporate assets of Isaley Klondike from Empire of Carolina, which included the Klondike bar brand and the Canadian operations of Popsicle Industries. This re-united the Popsicle brand for the Canadian and U.S. markets under the Good Humor-Breyers division. [10]
In April 1939, a company mascot called Popsicle Pete was introduced on the radio program Buck Rogers in the 25th Century as having won the "Typical American Boy Contest". [11] [12] The character told listeners that they could win presents by sending wrappers from Popsicle products to the manufacturer. Pete continued to appear in the company's U.S. advertising campaigns until the 1989 acquisition by Good Humor. [13] During the 1940s, Popsicle Pete ads were created by Woody Gelman and his partner Ben Solomon, and appeared on Popsicle brand packages for decades. [14]
The mascot was then introduced in Canada in 1988 and featured in television commercials, [15] promotions, [16] and print advertisements [17] until 1996.
The Popsicle brand began expanding from its original flavors after being purchased by Good Humor-Breyers in 1989. Under the Popsicle brand, Good Humor-Breyers holds the trademark for both Creamsicle and Fudgsicle. [18] Creamsicle's center is vanilla ice cream, covered by a layer of flavored ice. Fudgsicle, originally sold as Fudgicle, is a flat, frozen dessert that comes on a stick and is chocolate-flavored with a texture somewhat similar to ice cream. [19]
Firecrackers are a brand of Popsicles that come in a shape resembling a firecracker (the top being red (cherry), the middle white (white lemon), and the bottom blue (blue raspberry)). [20] These have a similar appearance to Wells Dairy's Blue Bunny's Bomb Pop. [19] Slow Melt Pops include a small amount of gelatin that helps them stay frozen longer than traditional ice pops. Slow Melt Pops are available in several varieties. [21]
Yosicles are a brand of Popsicle that contain yogurt. [22] [23] Revello Bars are chocolate covered ice cream on a stick. [24]
Fruit Twisters are a brand of Popsicle that have fruit juice, milk and cane sugar. [25]
A Klondike bar is a Good Humor-Breyers ice cream novelty consisting of a square of ice cream coated with a thin layer of chocolate.
A choc ice or ice cream bar is a frozen dessert generally consisting of a rectangular block of ice cream—typically vanilla flavour—which is thinly coated with chocolate. Related products may also include other fillings with the ice cream and be styled similar to candy bars. The term has also been used as a racial slur.
A freezie or a freeze pop is a water-based frozen confection similar to an ice pop. It is made by freezing flavored liquid such as sugar water, fruit juice or purée inside a plastic casing or tube, either round or flat. Freezies come in sealed plastic tubular wrappers and conform to the shape of the wrapper when frozen to serve; as such, they do not need to be stored cold. They also do not need to be frozen as solidly as an ice pop and can have a consistency similar to that of a slushie. Freezies are sold in a variety of flavors, including cherry, orange, lemon-lime, watermelon, cream soda, blue raspberry and grape.
Good Humor is a Good Humor-Breyers brand of ice cream started by Harry Burt in Youngstown, Ohio, US, in the early 1920s with the Good Humor bar, a chocolate-coated ice cream bar on a stick sold from ice cream trucks and retail outlets. It was a fixture in American popular culture in the 1950s when the company operated up to 2,000 "sales cars".
Breyers is a brand of ice cream started in 1866 by William A. Breyer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Good Humor-Breyers is the American ice cream division of Unilever and includes the formerly independent Good Humor, Breyers, Klondike, Popsicle, Dickie Dee and Sealtest brands. Based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey it was formed in 1993 after Unilever purchased the ice cream division of Kraft General Foods.
Fla-Vor-Ice is the trademark name for a type of freezie. Unlike traditional popsicles, which include a wooden stick, Fla-Vor-Ice is sold in and eaten out of a plastic tube. Also unlike traditional popsicles, it is often sold in liquid form and requires the consumer to freeze the product at home. A vendor, though, may sell them frozen.
An ice pop is a liquid/cream-based frozen dessert on a stick. Unlike ice cream or sorbet, which are whipped while freezing to prevent ice crystal formation, an ice pop is frozen while at rest, becoming a solid block of ice. The stick is used as a handle to hold it. Without a stick, the frozen product would be a freezie.
Dickie Dee is a Canadian brand of ice cream currently owned by Good Humor-Breyers.
Harry B. Burt was an American confectioner who developed the ice-cream novelty known as the Good Humor bar. Burt is widely credited with revolutionalizing manufacturing, marketing, and distribution techniques for ice-cream products.
Choco Taco was a Good Humor-Breyers ice cream novelty resembling a taco. It consisted of a disk of waffle cone material folded to resemble a hard taco shell, reduced-fat vanilla ice cream, artificially flavored fudge, peanuts, and a milk chocolate coating. The Choco Taco was marketed under the Klondike brand as "The Original Ice Cream Taco".
Mövenpick Ice Cream is a brand of ice cream of Swiss origin produced initially by Nestlé. Since 2016, Froneri - a joint venture between Nestlé and R&R Ice Cream - manufactures it.
Paddle Pop is a brand of ice confection products originally created by Streets, which is now owned by the English-Dutch company Unilever. It is sold in Australia, New Zealand, and a few other countries. It is held for eating by a wooden stick which protrudes at the base. The brand has a mascot known as the Paddle Pop Lion, or Max, who appears on the product wrapper.
A screwball is a type of frozen confection that first appeared in the 1970s. It consists of ice cream inside a conical, plastic cup with a gumball at the bottom. The name was originally a commercial product name but is now used to describe all such ice cream treats.
Halo Top Creamery is an ice cream company and brand sold in the United States, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Austria, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. The brand is marketed as a lower-calorie alternative, partially substituting sugar with stevia, a plant-based sweetener, and erythritol, a sugar alcohol.
Kulfi is a restaurant with two locations in Portland, Oregon.
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