CAUTION: pictures of delicious goodness ahead!

Ugh. Sorry if you’re craving ice cream as much as I am now.

Halo Top has become one of the top ice cream companies in the U.S., and if you’ve had it, you know why; it has great taste, a large variety of flavors, and the calories of a pint are lower than the calories of a single serving of regular ice cream (and who eats only one serving?).

However, it became more popular than other low-calorie ice creams because of its unique advertising schemes.

Underneath the lid of every pint is a quote that essentially says the same thing (just in a hundred different ways): eat the whole pint, ’cause it tastes good and you don’t have to feel guilty about it. Plus, as you can see above, every single pint is advertised with a huge number to remind customers just how low-calorie it really is. The company doesn’t sell anything larger or smaller than a pint of their ice cream, because that would take away from all of the branding that they have established.

It’s genius, really. So genius that people will spend $5.99 for a single pint and eat it in one sitting.

After that? Well, they go and buy more.

Halo Top knows this. If they remind you time and time again that eating the whole pint is only so many calories, then heck, you’re going to eat it all! It’s fun. It’s like being given permission to eat an entire bag of chips or a pack of Oreos.

Also… Each pint reminds you, the consumer, that it has a “good source of protein”. It almost makes me laugh, like Halo Top is something that you would eat as a meal. I mean, how often do you look for the amount of protein in your late-night snacks?

The thing is: this works for the brand! Halo Top’s target audience is people who are trying to lose weight, or at least watch their calorie intake. Those same people are also probably focusing on foods with protein because, well, protein makes you full and builds muscle (among many other things). The great thing about Halo Top’s statement is that it’s so clearly ambiguous. A “good source of protein” for me means something completely different to another person.

But, when you’re searching through the frozen aisle craving some ice cream, and you see that statement along with the amount of calories, it feels like a win-win.

Now, whether or not Halo Top is actually healthy, and the fact that it is preying off of America’s unhealthy diet culture is something that I won’t talk about here. As much as I love this product, there are other interesting discussions we could have about some of the not-so-great stuff that it’s doing (perhaps unintentionally). I encourage you to read this article if you want to know more.

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Use this post as yet another reminder that Halo Top, and every other company, do all of these things on purpose. Every word on their product/website/poster/commercial is no accident. They are communicating with you (the consumer) strategically, so that you will buy their product or believe their story.