I am fortunate enough to live at the beach. One of the benefits of living at the beach is Mr Whippy. I do not have to leave the house to be tempted by a mood enhancing treat as the treats, now that the weather has warmed up, come each weekend to me.
Just the sound of the Mr Whippy van cruising slowly down our street has members of our household jumping up with a smile on their face and hurrying outside after raiding the loose cash jar.
Have you ever seen someone holding an ice cream looking unhappy? The only unhappy faces are those who just dropped their ice cream or those who can’t afford to buy one and have to watch others enjoying them.
Knowing as I do how much pleasure can be gained from an ice cream I had to shake my head when I read that an NZ Ad watchdog has upheld a complaint about an ‘irresponsible’ ad that dared to link ice cream with happiness!
I’m waiting for them to ban Red Bull ads next because let’s face it, they don’t give you wings, do they?
Oh and one more thing…
It is actually scientifically TRUE that ice cream makes us happy! It was found that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a part of the brain which plays a role in emotional processing and decision making, is activated when eating ice cream. The OFC showed a positive emotional response when eating ice cream, almost like the brain was being rewarded (Oxford Journals).
There were five other parts of the brain that were positively activated by eating ice cream: the primary somatosensory cortex, insular cortex, motor cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and retrosplenial cingulate. The primary somatosensory cortex was affected by the temperature/texture, the insular cortex was triggered by the taste, the motor cortex was activated by how the mouth moved, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex excites the brain when ice cream is consumed, and the retrosplenial cingulate was positively affected, so the person was emotionally happy because of the ice cream.
So basically to sum up, ice cream triggers rewards centres in the brain. If the shop uses that science to challenge the judgement of the Ad watchdog I bet you that the watchdog will turn around and claim that on that basis it’s psychologically “addictive” and therefore should either be banned or restricted.