First it was booze, then it was fast-food combo meals, and now it’s ice cream. Celebrity collaborations in the food world have never been more ubiquitous than they are at this very moment, and the frozen food aisle is occupying an especially prominent place in that trend.
Last week, Snoop Dogg announced plans to launch a new line of ice creams called Dr. Bombay. Available in flavors like Syrupy Waffle Sundaes and Tropical Sorbet Swizzle, the pints are already on shelves at Walmart, and are headed to other retailers in the coming months. Days after Snoop’s announcement, legendary singer Cher debuted her own brand of gelato — called Cherlato, obviously — in collaboration with posh New Zealand ice cream purveyor Giapo. She celebrated the news with a roving ice cream truck slinging scoops of Breakfast at Cher’s coffee ice cream in Los Angeles. You can only get Cher’s gelato via the ice cream truck, but reading the tea leaves on the Cherlato website indicates that there are bigger plans in the works for the brand’s future. And sure, we live in a time when celebrities are relentlessly in pursuit of expanding their brands, but why in the world is ice cream, of all things, becoming such a popular way to do that?
It could have something to do with the fact that ice cream is a $73 billion industry, one that’s expected to grow to nearly $105 billion by 2029, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. Americans eat an average of 20 pounds of the stuff per person each year, a figure that’s sure to rise as we all seek out chilly desserts to combat this new era of “global boiling.” This growth is also happening at a time of major change for the ice cream aisle, as plant-based options become more common, and premium brands (Van Leeuwen and Jeni’s Splendid, for example) are making their way onto the mainstream grocery store shelf alongside old-school stalwarts like Breyer’s and Edy’s. Everyone loves ice cream, so why wouldn’t they love an ice cream with their favorite celebrity’s name on the pint?
This also isn’t the first celebrity ice cream boom. In 2020, Fast Company reported that a slew of scoop shops, including New York City chain Serendipity and Portland’s Salt & Straw, were releasing limited-edition flavors in collaboration with celebs like Selena Gomez and Dwayne Johnson. The following year, supermodel Tyra Banks opened her scoop shop Smize Cream in Los Angeles, and now fans from all over the country can order pints of her Butter Pecan But Betta via Goldbelly.
Whether these ventures were an attempt to revive interest in these brands in the COVID era or simply a logical conclusion of celebrities and influencers shoehorning themselves into every facet of our lives, celebrity ice cream has proven to be a winning formula. And in at least some cases, ice cream feels like a natural extension of these celebrities’ brands. Ice cream fits perfectly into the ecosystem of other Snoop-endorsed products, namely wine and weed. “Ice cream is more than just a snack to me; it’s a way to chill, relax, and get happy,” Snoop Dogg said in a press release announcing Dr. Bombay. Cher, meanwhile, just really fucking loves gelato.
Eventually, everything in the supermarket, from apple cider vinegar to, yes, ice cream, may be backed by a notable name. The economy is uncertain, trends come and go, but fandom is forever, no matter how good Snoop Dogg’s ice cream actually is. What remains to be seen, though, is which of these celebrity ice cream brands will actually have staying power. Will Dr. Bombay be the ice cream version of Newman’s Own, or will it go the way of Heidi Klum’s Fruit Flirtations? Remember those? I didn’t think so.
