Cornetto (frozen dessert) facts for kids
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| Owner | The Magnum Ice Cream Company |
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| Introduced | 1959 |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Previous owners | Unilever (until 2025) |
Cornetto is a super popular ice cream cone treat that comes from Italy. Its name means 'little horn' in Italian, which makes sense because of its shape! Cornetto is known all over the world, but it's called by different names depending on where you are. For example, it's known as Algida in Italy, Wall's in the United Kingdom, and Frigo in Spain. It's famous for its creamy ice cream, a crunchy cone, and that yummy chocolate tip at the bottom.
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The Sweet Story of Cornetto
For a long time, making ice cream cones that stayed crunchy was a big challenge. The ice cream would often make the cone soggy before anyone could enjoy it! But in 1959, two clever Italian ice cream makers from Naples, Spica and Mario Faccenda, found a brilliant solution. They coated the inside of the waffle cone with a special mix of oil, sugar, and chocolate. This coating kept the cone crispy and delicious, even with the ice cream inside!
In 1962, a big company called Unilever bought the Cornetto brand from Spica. This helped Cornetto become famous worldwide. It started being sold in Italy under the Algida brand and then spread to many other countries. For example, it arrived in Australia in 1966, the UK in 1976, and many other places like Ireland, Spain, and India. Cornetto cones come in different sizes, but the medium ones (around 90-125 ml) are usually the most popular.
In March 2024, Unilever announced that it would be separating its ice cream brands, including Cornetto, into a new company. This change was completed by the end of 2025. Now, Cornetto is owned by The Magnum Ice Cream Company, which focuses solely on delicious ice cream treats.
Delicious Flavors and Types
Cornetto comes in many exciting flavors! You can find classic choices like Strawberry, Mint Chocolate, and Nut. There are also unique ones like Lemon and Whippy, which has a yogurt flavor with chewy chocolate.
Some Cornetto ice creams are made in factories and sold in packages. But there's also Cornetto Soft, which is a special kind of soft-serve ice cream. You can often find vendors on the street who make Cornetto Soft right when you order it, using an ice cream machine. These come in flavors like chocolate chip, cookie dough, and even fun "Unicornetto" and "Dragon Cornetto" versions!
There's also Cornetto Enigma, which combines different tastes like cookies and cream, raspberry, and double chocolate. For those who love a bigger treat, Cornetto introduced Cornetto Max. This cone has two different ice creams, a yummy sauce, and a chocolate disc on top, designed to be extra appealing to young people.
It's interesting to know that in some places, like India, Cornettos are made with vegetable fat instead of milk fat. Because of this, by local laws, they are called "frozen desserts" instead of "ice cream."
Fun Advertising Campaigns
Cornetto has had some memorable advertisements over the years!
The 'O sole mio' Song
One of the most famous campaigns used the well-known Italian song "'O sole mio". These ads were very popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Brazil during the 1980s and 1990s. The original song's lyrics were changed to be all about Cornetto! For example, in the UK, the song went:
- Just one Cornetto,
- give it to me,
- delicious ice cream, of Italy,
- creamy vanilla and choco dream,
- Give me Cornetto,
- from Wall's ice cream.
These catchy jingles helped make Cornetto a household name and are still remembered by many today!
Philippines' Affordable Treat Campaign
In the Philippines, Cornetto launched a campaign in 2009 called "sarap ng 20 Pesos" which means "delicious 20 pesos." These ads used humor to show how affordable Cornetto was. They featured funny skits where people couldn't buy much with 20 pesos, but they could always get a delicious Cornetto! Slogans like "Mag-Cornetto ka na lang" (meaning "Just have a Cornetto instead") became very popular. This campaign was so successful that one of its TV ads, "Tugs," was even named "Adobo Ad of the Year" in 2010. In 2023, the price of Cornetto in the Philippines was set back to 20 pesos, making it an even more accessible treat.
See also
In Spanish: Cornetto (helado) para niños
- Streets – an Australian ice cream brand
- Drumstick & Extreme – similar ice cream cones made by Nestlé
- Nutty Buddy – a similar cone once made by Sweetheart Foods
- Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy – a series of films by Edgar Wright that briefly shows the ice cream
