Cornetto (ice cream)

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Cornetto is a branded frozen ice-cream cone, manufactured by Unilever and marketed throughout the world under various different company names, but with the same Heartbrand logo. It is most familiar to British consumers as Wall's Cornetto.

The idea of selling frozen ice-cream cones had long been a dream of ice-cream makers, but it was not until 1959 that Spica, an Italian ice-cream manufacturer based in Naples conquered the problem of the ice-cream making the cone go soggy. Spica invented a process, whereby the inside of the waffle cone was insulated from the ice-cream by a layer of oil, sugar and chocolate. Spica registered the name Cornetto in 1960. Initial sales were poor, but in 1976 Unilever bought out Spica and began a mass-marketing campaign throughout Europe. It is now one of the most popular ice-creams in the world.

The brand was marked by a successful advertising campaign which placed the Italian song O Sole Mio into a variety of stereotypical Italian locations and situations. The song changed the words to:

Just one Cornetto,

give it to me,

delicious ice-cream, from Italy,

vanilla and strawberry dream,

Give me Cornetto,

from Walls' ice cream.

Now to a sizable number of British consumers the alternative lyrics are more famous than the original. The adverts ran for ten years during the 1980s and 1990s, and resurfaced in 2006, this time sung by pedestrians, drivers, office workers and marathon runners in Central London.

The product is available in a variety of flavours including Strawberry, Mint Chocolate and Nut, whilst previous flavours have included Rum & Raisin in the 1980s.