Cornetto (), meaning "little horn" in Italian, is an Italian brand of frozen dessert in the

ice cream cone An ice cream cone, poke (Ireland/Scotland) or cornet (England) is a brittle, cone-shaped pastry, usually made of a wafer similar in texture to a waffle, made so ice cream can be carried and eaten without a bowl or spoon, for example, the Hong Kon ...

, which is manufactured and owned by parent company

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

. Cornetto are sold as part of the

Heartbrand This is a list of brands owned by the British multinational consumer goods company Unilever. Unilever's billion euro brands These brands have annual sales of one billion euros or more: * Axe/Lynx *Dove *Omo/Persil * Heartbrand (Wall's) ice ...

product line, known internationally by different names, including

Algida This is a list of brands owned by the British multinational consumer goods company Unilever. Unilever's billion euro brands These brands have annual sales of one billion euros or more: * Axe/Lynx *Dove *Omo/Persil * Heartbrand (Wall's) ice ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, Wall's in the UK, HB in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

, Frigo in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and

Kwality Wall's Kwality Wall's is an India, Indian multinational frozen desserts brand owned by the Indian consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever. It is a major producer and distributor of frozen dessert products in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Myanma ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Several variations of the product exist, ranging from milk-based

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

vegetable fat Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or fa ...

-based dessert.

Manufacturing

For a long time, the idea of selling frozen ice-cream cones had been impractical, as the ice cream would soak into the moist cone during the manufacturing process and make it soggy and unpalatable when served. In 1959, Spica, an Italian ice-cream manufacturer based in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, overcame this problem by insulating the inside of the waffle cone from the ice cream with a coating of oil, sugar, and chocolate. In 1976 the patent was acquired by

, which began marketing the product in Italy through the

brand and abroad through other subsidiaries, including Wall's in the UK, HB in Ireland, Frigo in Spain and

in India. They are sold in many different sizes throughout Europe in sizes ranging from 28-ml Miniatures to 260-ml King Cones, though the 90-ml and 125-ml sizes tend to be the most popular.

Varieties

The product is available in a variety of flavours, including Strawberry, Mint Chocolate, Nut, Lemon, Whippy (yogurt flavour with a chewy chocolate), Valentine's Day flavours, and Cornetto Soft (soft ice cream that comes in chocolate chip, cookie dough, vanilla, chocolate, and double chocolate). Cornetto Soft is sold on the street by vendors and is made on the spot with an ice cream dispenser, but the other flavours are premade and factory packaged. Also, Cornetto Enigma is made, which consists of cookies and cream, raspberry and double chocolate flavours. Unilever introduced a Cornetto chocolate confectionery into the UK market in 2013, following a licensing deal with Kinnerton Confectionery.

Advertising campaigns

'O sole mio campaign

The brand was marketed in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Brazil by successful advertising campaigns which placed the Neapolitan song "

'O sole mio "O sole mio" () is a well-known Neapolitan song written in 1898. Its Neapolitan language lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro and the music was composed by Eduardo di Capua (1865–1917) and Alfredo Mazzucchi (1878–1972).. The title tran ...

" into a variety of stereotypical Italian locations and situations, with its lyrics changed to: :Just one Cornetto, :give it to me, :delicious ice-cream, of Italy, :creamy vanilla and choco dream, :Give me Cornetto, :from

Wall's ice cream Wall's is formerly an ice cream and meat products brand, now split into two businesses: *Wall's (ice cream), a brand owned by Unilever that makes ice cream *Wall's (meat) Wall's is a brand of meat products in the United Kingdom, best known for i ...

. (in the UK) :give it to me, :a big ol' nut and chocolate dream, :HB Cornetto :spells the best ice cream. (in Ireland) :''Dame un Cornetto'' :''Molto crocante'' :''E più cremoso'' :''É da Gelato.'' :''Cornetto é da própria Itália.'' :''Ti voglio tanto,'' :''Corneeeeetto mio!'' (in Brazil) In Britain and Ireland, the advertisements ran for 10 years during the 1980s and 1990s, with the song supposedly sung by former Italian waiter

Renato Pagliari Renato Pagliari (28 June 1940 – 29 July 2009) was an Italian tenor, who was the lead vocalist alongside Hilary Lister in the short-lived 1980s pop duo Renée and Renato. The pop duo were best known for their UK Christmas Number 1 hit from ...

of one-hit wonders

Renée and Renato Renée and Renato were a female/male vocal duo, who had a UK number-one hit in December 1982 with " Save Your Love". The follow-up single " Just One More Kiss" peaked at No. 48. Their third single, "Jesus Loves Us All", failed to reach the UK Si ...

. (However, this is claimed not to be the case by Pagliari's son, Remo.) In 2000, the commercial was ranked 23rd in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's UK poll of the " 100 Greatest Adverts". The theme resurfaced in 2006, this time sung by pedestrians, drivers, office workers, and marathon runners in Central London.

Other campaigns

In the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, the "" () campaign was launched in 2008, relying on humour and focused on the product's affordability, with skits that centre on things one cannot afford with 20

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...

and suggesting that the audience should buy a Cornetto instead. "" () and "" () were used as slogans for the campaign. By May 2011, 30 story-lines had been produced. In 2019, the price of Cornetto was 25 pesos (this was not always the case). But in 2020, it became 20 pesos again. The television advertisement entitled "Tugs", which is part of the campaign, was selected as the Adobo Ad of the Year for 2010 through online voting at the ad agency band night "Lakihan Mo Logo 14".

References