Frusen Glädjé facts for kids

Frusen Glädjé was a special kind of ice cream made in the United States. It started in 1980. The company was founded by Richard E. Smith. The name "Frusen Glädjé" sounds Swedish, and it means "frozen happiness" in Swedish. Even though the name was Swedish, the ice cream was actually made in America! Today, you won't find Frusen Glädjé in stores because the company was sold many times, and the brand name is no longer used.

History of Frusen Glädjé

How Frusen Glädjé Started

Frusen Glädjé ice cream was first made in a special factory. It began selling in 10 states in 1981. These states included New York and California. At first, there were eight different flavors. A shop in New York even had 15 flavors! By the end of 1982, Frusen Glädjé was sold in every state. The company made 30 million pints of ice cream that year. This was a big jump from 18 million pints in 1981. Erhard Sommer was the company's president.

Marketing the Ice Cream

The company wanted people to think of Frusen Glädjé as a fancy ice cream. They said it was for people who liked "the very finest" things. TV commercials often used the phrase, "I ate all the Frusen Glädjé." Another saying was "Enjoy the Guilt." This phrase appeared in ads and on small ice cream bowls. You could even order these bowls by mail!

Lawsuit with Häagen-Dazs

Another American ice cream company, Häagen-Dazs, tried to stop Frusen Glädjé. In 1980, Häagen-Dazs sued them. They didn't want Frusen Glädjé to use a "Scandinavian marketing theme." Häagen-Dazs complained about many things. These included Frusen Glädjé showing its natural ingredients. They also showed a list of artificial ingredients that were not in the ice cream. Frusen Glädjé even gave tips on how to eat the ice cream. They also had a map of Scandinavia on their packaging.

The court decided against Häagen-Dazs. This was because Häagen-Dazs had also pretended to be Scandinavian. They said they were Danish, but they had no real connection to that region. So, the court said Häagen-Dazs couldn't complain about Frusen Glädjé doing the same thing.

Frusen Glädjé is Sold

In 1985, Richard Smith sold Frusen Glädjé to Kraft General Foods. Later, a spokeswoman for Kraft said they sold their Frusen Glädjé rights to the Unilever company in 1993. However, a spokesman for Unilever said Frusen Glädjé was not part of that deal. After these sales, the brand slowly disappeared. But in 2016, a company called Papilion, LLC, tried to get the "Frusen Glädjé" trademark again.

See also

• Foreign branding