When you think of the sound of an ice cream truck ambling slowly through a neighborhood, what comes to mind first? Probably something like “Turkey in the Straw”, or the eternal “The Entertainer”. Depending on how many horror-thrillers you’ve seen, these range from crisp and cheerful chimes, to off-key and sinister tunes.
Of course, across the pond, they had their own signature ice cream truck songs. Vans in the U.K. often played “Greensleeves” or “Pop Goes the Weasel”. But in July 1999, frozen food conglomerate Birds Eye Wall’s proposed a drastic change.
Instead of the familiar and long-standing jingles, they wanted to use current mainstream hits to lure kids in. The idea was that the old jingles were exactly that: old. The campaign wanted to bring ice cream jingles into the new millennium.
UK Ice Cream Trucks Replaced Tried and True Classic Chimes with Mainstream Pop Hits to Bring In Customers
Before 2013, ice cream vans in the U.K. could only play their jingles for four seconds every three minutes. The Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs first published its Code of Practice on Noise From Ice Cream Vans Etc. in 1982. Then, 31 years later, the department relaxed its policy on noise from ice cream trucks. In between, there was the new jingle campaign.
In 1999, ice cream truck jingles still played for only four seconds. They also couldn’t play while parked. How much of “Wonderwall” can really be played in four seconds, anyway?
“We are always looking at innovation and moving with the times,” a spokesperson for Birds Eye Wall’s told the BBC at the time. “To a lot of young people, these tunes may not mean as much as they do to the older generation, and perhaps more up-to-date music might be more appropriate.”
Along with U.K. hit-makers like Oasis and Spice Girls, the company also suggested using “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice. The company claimed that the outdated music wasn’t resonating with customers anymore. However, the people actually in the streets peddling their wares saw something different.
“People get to know you, and they like the tunes,” said George Parkinson, who, in 1999, had been an ice cream man in Birmingham for more than 60 years. He called the idea a “load of rubbish.”
And for the kids who flock to the ice cream vans in the heat of summer? Well, they certainly weren’t going for the music. What’s more likely to bring kids running with pocket change in hand: four seconds of Oasis from a janky speaker, or the promise of a sweet, sweet Bomb Pop for $1.25? Oh, sorry, I mean whatever a Lolly Gobble Choc Bomb is.