Frusen Glädjé facts for kids

Frusen Glädjé was a special kind of ice cream made in America. It started in 1980, and its name sounded Swedish. "Frusen Glädjé" (pronounced FROO-sen GLED-yeh) means "frozen happiness" in Swedish. Even though the name sounded foreign, the ice cream was made right here in the U.S. The company that made it doesn't exist anymore, and you can't find Frusen Glädjé ice cream today.

The Story of Frusen Glädjé Ice Cream

Frusen Glädjé ice cream was first made in a special factory. In 1981, it was sold in 10 different states, including big ones like New York and California. It came in eight different flavors, but a special shop in New York had 15! By the end of 1982, you could buy Frusen Glädjé in every state. The company made 30 million pints of ice cream that year, which was a lot more than the 18 million pints they made in 1981. The president of the company was a person named Erhard Sommer.

How Frusen Glädjé Was Advertised

The company wanted people to know their ice cream was very fancy and high-quality. Their advertisements said it was for people who "taste for the very finest." One popular saying in their TV commercials was, "I ate all the Frusen Glädjé." Another saying they used in print ads was "Enjoy the Guilt." They even offered small crystal ice cream bowls that you could order by mail, which also had this saying on them.

A Disagreement with Häagen-Dazs

In 1980, another American ice cream company called Häagen-Dazs tried to stop Frusen Glädjé. Häagen-Dazs sued them because Frusen Glädjé was also using a "Scandinavian marketing theme." This meant Frusen Glädjé made their ice cream seem like it came from a Scandinavian country, even though it didn't.

Häagen-Dazs complained that Frusen Glädjé showed a list of natural ingredients and said it was best to eat the ice cream when it was soft. They also didn't like that Frusen Glädjé included a map of Scandinavia on their packaging. However, the court decided against Häagen-Dazs. This was because Häagen-Dazs had done the same thing! They also made their ice cream seem Danish, even though it had no real connection to Denmark. So, the court said Häagen-Dazs couldn't complain about Frusen Glädjé doing something similar.

When Frusen Glädjé Was Sold

In 1985, the person who started Frusen Glädjé, Richard E. Smith, sold the company to Kraft Foods. Later, in 1993, Kraft said they sold their rights to Frusen Glädjé to another big company called Unilever. However, a spokesperson for Unilever said that Frusen Glädjé was not part of that deal. After these sales, the Frusen Glädjé brand slowly disappeared from stores. In 2016, a company called Papilion, LLC, did file a trademark for "Frusen Glädjé," but the ice cream has not returned to the market.

See also

In Spanish: Frusen Glädjé para niños

• Foreign branding