I wouldn't write them all off. Skinny Cow Ice Cream is good. And yes, the ad is creepy.

So, I don't get it. Is everyone gone because they ate the ice cream, too???

I feel like if she gave in and ate it in good humour that would be creepy. she doesn't want it, so it makes sense, in a way.

But that's just stupid and ineffective.

Creepy, but it also hits me in a sorrowful way personally. my DM, age 87, is in assisted living. She has no appetite and is down to 98 pounds. She will drink the Ensure we get her and loves her ice cream in "Dixie cups". All her friends have died. Creepiest ad I have ever seen.

I don't think the demographic is the average GW HD age. I can easily see someone in their twenties finding it hilarious. ( they will never get old!)

But middle aged me, it's terrible. Give me some Breyers, Ben an Jerrys, even Moosetracks of yore.

But the demographic portrayed is going to be us in the future. There may be no nurses or aides for us, only the robots. I'll never buy Halo. Somehow I think we should send them the message that they appear to be soulless. I keep thinking of the 8 elderly people in the Hollywood, Florida assisted living/nursing facility who perished without air conditioning after hurricane Irma. Not to be dramatic, but they had humans "taking care" of them. Euthanasia, hurry up.

ETA: Gads, didn't mean to sound so morose. Just got back from a trip from Florida to Northern Minnesota and my DM's dementia and care has affected me. My DB is tired of all the emotional drama, but DM will not come stay with me. We don't treat our elderly well, being cared for by strangers who don't even know who they are unless family is there.

The world is filled with evil, Voila, and always has been.

Haven't seen the creepy ad, but tried Halo a few months ago because everyone was raving about it. It was awful. Threw it out after giving it another try a couple of days later.

I think the ad Dept should be fired. Stupid ad. Just dreary.....

Faron

I can easily see someone in their twenties finding it hilarious. ( they will never get old!)

I don't know, Bumblebeez. For sure, in my 20s I never thought I'd be as old as I am now, at least not so quickly, but I honestly don't think I would have thought that tormenting a confused old person was innately humorous.

I agree with Bumblebeez. My 30-something hipster kids would find it hilarious I suspect. I honestly do not get their humor-it's very gallows and dry as dust. I'm sure they've got their demographic, and their tie in with IT probably helped them to sell gallons of the stuff.

voila, I’m with you. I was both my parents’ caregiver, and I find the ad incredibly upsetting, offensive, and disgusting. Perhaps it’s personal experience that makes me feel so strongly about this. But even at a young age, I was considerate and empathetic to all elders, and feel young people should be taught those basic human, and humane lessons. I’m an older Stephen King fan, and the original book (nor any of the books he wrote that I read) poked such offensive fun at elderly people. I don’t know about the movie. I get strange humor, and often enjoy it, but this goes beyond that for me. Halo Ice cream will never darken my freezer.

We don't treat our elderly well, being cared for by strangers who don't even know who they are unless family is there. Sadly, that's so true these days.

Yikes!

We got coupons for free pints from Safeway. The stuff is pretty bad. So much of it is air. The mint chocolate chip is particularly rancid.

They won't sell any of it to us.

I think it's creepy and an odd choice to sell ice cream, even to those people who find it funny. Especially when your product is as realistic as the robot. (The lack of realism of the robot probably helps push it more into the spoof realm. Imagine if the robot was like the bartender in Passengers)

(The lack of realism of the robot probably helps push it more into the spoof realm. Imagine if the robot was like the bartender in Passengers)... but the realism in the elderly woman's/actresses questions and reactions brings it back to harsh and uncaring reality for me.

ETA: Gooster, I do see that it's meant to be a spoof. Guess I'm being super sensitive to this.

the realism in the elderly woman's/actresses questions and reactions brings it back to harsh and uncaring reality for me.

Agree 100%, 2Many! It actually reminded me a bit of the robot in Robot & Frank, another super downer. Although I would love to have that robot (the one from R&F) in my house.

@2ManyDiversions -- I agree. The actress acted too well in the role and the writing of the scene made it too realistic . I've never seen an ad where the protagonist rejects the product so thoroughly.

The older I get and the older those I love get, the more crap like this infuriates me. Old people are "funny", apparently, in the "I've fallen and I can't get up" sense that the inevitability of physical frailty is comic fodder.

Sickening.

Yes, it's VERY creepy and frankly an appalling ad. What on earth were they thinking! People buy ice cream because it's delicious and there are a lot of different flavors. Robots and being totally alone are not part of that equation. I'd fire the ad company that came up that this loser of an ad.

That is just horrible and horrifying. And making fun of losing everyone you love?!?! That's supposed to be clever or funny? And force feeding is supposed to be funny? Note too how her feet don't even reach the ground so she is completely the victim. Just awful.

Not to mention I don't like the product either. If you're going to eat ice cream, eat the real stuff...it's worth the calories.

I suspect the ad was made by a bunch of young folks who have no idea of aging or death. I have this theory that young people purposely make fun of old people so they can blame them for aging. Underneath that is the fear/hope that aging is in one's control and it's their fault they got older...the corollary being that they will have control so they won't be making the same "mistake". Hah!

Oddly, if the ad had shown a younger person, say mid teen to mid 50’s (no age spots, no graying hair, et al) it would have been an entirely different take – even with the exact same dialogue. The confusion and questions of the human would have implied the person had been somehow transported to a future when all those they knew were gone, robots had taken control, and those robots weren’t too bright (feeding humans only ice cream). That would have been a parody of futuristic ideas and movies, and far more palatable. The somewhat silent sobs of the elderly woman at the end depicts utter despair. Had that been an actor of another age, the same crying would have depicted the somewhat more amusing idea that they now had to live on only ice cream the rest of their lives.

If this commercial had been put before a focus group with those 2 versions, would the focus group have chosen the elderly person’s confusion (making light of Alzheimer’s; dementia; nursing homes/assisted care facilities that care little about their patients; sometime cruel force feeding – no, I’m not talking about feeding tubes if one is unable to swallow; and despair over losing control of one’s life as you age, losing your loved ones as they grow older) or would they have chosen the more main-stream and acceptable amusement of a robot ridiculously insisting that ice cream is pretty much the source of life and all that is left? "Humans require ice cream."

The thought that disturbs me most: What if they did use a focus group before airing?

If they were going for ‘edgy’ they fell off the cliff.

ETA: Yes, it's only a commercial, but how far is too far? Perhaps showing a mass shooting in a school, with the shooter being the sole survivor and enjoying a nice cone of Halo Top ice cream. Would that be considered commercially and socially edgy... and acceptable?

FWIW, here's the last verse of the jingle, which may or may not clarify things a bit:

Life is a dream
Let's have a ball and you'll agree that we're fancy free (?)
Everyone's gone since the great war It's only me and the machines
I scream for you
I scream for me
I scream for someone to set me free
Humans like me
Don't breathe or sleep
A little ice cream; that's all we need.

Tasteless.

The thought that disturbs me most: What if they did use a focus group before airing?

Well, they're certainly proud of the ad. If you look at the description section they give credits to everyone remotely involved in creating it. Of course, if you look at their other ad that's on youtube, inept may just be the mot juste here.

Of course, if you look at their other ad that's on youtube, inept may just be the mot juste here. I wondered if the Halo ad people always produced commercials like that, so I watched the two devil commercials - over the top acting, the usual cliches about hell and lawyers; it didn't disturb me. This Halo ice cream ad I do find modestly inept, but at the same time, edgy and not 'disturbing' given ice cream is revealed in the end (as opposed to 'illegal drugs' as is implied). I think with this last ad, they used no judgement at all.

What is it they say? There is no such thing as bad publicity? Perhaps they are hoping to boost brand recognition through provocation? Missed their target with me.

And how...pray tell...is that supposed to make someone want to buy their ice cream? Makes me want to never buy it!

Rita I got s free pint of the ice cream with a coupon at the grocery last month. It is also tasteless. I didn't click on the ad at first, just read the comments but when I saw it was Halo I figured, "of course." That they would even put out a product so poor in quality already speaks volumes about their poor judgement. Seriously folks, the ice cream is horrid. I love ice cream and hate waste, but I threw it out after tasting it. Bad texture too.

post your displeasure their FB page...

writer - no, you are not. Poor taste and unfunny. Lousy combination.

Well, this ad certainly didn't get a consumer out of me. Bleah.

Ugh . . . what a turn-off ad! The ad company that created it should be fired!

Hmm, I see that John Gruber over at tech site Daring Fireball says "This is one of the best commercials I’ve ever seen."

I kind of suspected both the product and the commercial are aimed at the sort of people who think Soylent is a swell idea.

writersblock: I had to look up Soylent products, and at soylent.com only got this far before I stopped reading... "Food wastes more than just our time." On Wikipedia I read: "There may be social drawbacks of living on a Soylent-only diet, since some critics have said that it comes at the expense of the pleasures from eating and sharing food." There may be? Again, I stopped reading at "low fiber content" and reports of heavy metal content.

So... I realize this is Off-Topic, but the only possible reasons for cooking homemade foods is enjoying the taste and texture as well as the eye appeal and the aromas, and sharing food with those you love and people you meet - and this has clearly been a huge waste of my time! Dang, I should just stop cooking and drink all my meals! Clearly I've been mislead all these years! That learning cooking techniques is a complete waste of my time, that the relaxation and pleasure I derive from cooking for myself and others is all in my head. Hope DH doesn't mind a nice tall glass of salmon tonight!

Back on Topic: Let's hope John Gruber isn't on the panel of judges for the Clio awards.

Dang, I should just stop cooking and drink all my meals!

Yes, just think how much more time you'd have for more important things, like gaming.

Of course there are a few drawbacks:

http://www.everywhereist.com/i-tried-soylent-it-didnt-go-well/

But that's what I thought of the one time I tried a Halo sample.

Yes, just think how much more time you'd have for more important things, like gaming. I literally just blew water (yes, a liquid!!) all over my keyboard, desk and paperwork, computer screen, and clothes! Warn me next time, will ya! LMAO!

At which point I clicked on your link and read this: "Now, you can understand why I was slightly concerned about ingesting something developed by guys who felt that the prep work for corn dogs and ramen was too much for them. Also, please explain to me how much time and effort is possibly spent purchasing those food items. You can literally buy them at a gas station."

... and again, just when I thought it safe to take another drink of water.... I lost it!

It's good to laugh now... after all, the Halo commercial you linked got me pretty despondent over society, and brought back sad memories of care-giving for my wonderful parents. Thanks!

Esoteric Boomer reference, "Soylent Green" is a term found/coined in a dystopian science fiction film. Perhaps worth a rental if you could find it. Based on a novel which might be easier to find these days.

Spoiler Alert!

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"Soylent Green is made out of peeeeeeeooooople" : Charlton Heston.

ETA: I actually thought writersblock was referring to the "food" in the movie.

That looks like a trailer for a horror movie. SCARY! I felt so bad for that poor woman! "Where is Kevin?"

Checked with DD (mid 20s), who declared it "disgusting" and can't understand anybody would find it funny or "genius".

I grew up watching Soylent Green. I remember the first time I saw it with my Dad, boy, it made an impression.

Thanks, nosoccermom. That's encouraging!

I think it would be funny if there were two robots , both dunking a young hipster in a halo bath...preferably with their cell phone.

Hmm, maybe they need Coco Peru, justerrilynn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGTocGPLeyk

The movie Soylent Green is based on the novel "Make Room! Make Room!" by Harry Harrison 1966.

LOL Writer, never heard of Coco Peru. I think I'll send this one to my son. A mom playing your video game. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Y5xLvYdMM

Thanks, skibby, but I'm inclined to agree with the link I posted above about the commercial product:

Soylent takes its name from a 1960s sci-fi thriller starring Charlton Heston (the website maintains they actually got the idea from the book on which the film is based. Sure, guys. Sure.)

Ok, wait. There's a food product (I'm being generous here, calling Soylent 'food') that got it's name from the book/movie Soylent Green (about a food product made from people, based on overpopulation), that was inspired by a book/movie called Make Room! Make Room! that had a food product made from soy and lentils called Soylent (and also about overpopulation).

RE: Add Coco Peru - that was funny!

I want to read the book Soylent Green having already seen the movie, I want to watch the movie Make Room! Make Room!, I never want to drink soylent, and I will never eat Halo Ice Cream. Did I get that right?

Thought for sure this was going to be the Volvo guy commercial.

P.S. I can't stand Halo Top. Totally yuck.

I needed a quick dessert cake yesterday. Only things that Costco had was either a Halo Top cake or cheesecake.

Good thing I remembered the ad.