Patrice King is used to getting free products for special occasions such as holidays and elections because her dad was a manager at Kellogg's Co.
With other food and drink businesses creating products to get interested in the presidential election, it is no surprise Baskin-Robbins Inc. and Jones Soda Co. are not any different.
With Baskin-Robbins, voters had two options this year for the presidential election. They could vote for Sen. John McCain's Straight Talk Crunch, a caramel ribbon, chocolate pieces, candy red states and crunchy mixed nuts swirled into white chocolate ice cream. Or they could vote for Sen. Barack Obama's Whirl of Change, a peanut-nougat ice cream whirled with chunks of chocolate-covered peanut brittle and a caramel ribbon.
When the polls closed Sunday, Whirl of Change won 51 percent of the vote compared to Straight Talk Crunch at 49 percent.
If the national election turns out to match the votes of thousands of cola drinkers and ice cream eaters throughout the country, Obama will become the next President of the United States.
King, a Ball State University freshman journalism major, said she thought it was a good idea businesses sold products that pertained to the times because it was easy to expose what was important in society.
"They get the bang for their buck," she said.
Mike Genelle, brand manager at Jones Soda, said companies tended to create special campaigns and packages around holidays or other special times because people loved products that were relevant to the time. Since the company's founding in 1996 it has had consumers submit photos to put on labels, but this was the first time Jones decided to make a special flavor and put the presidential candidates' images on the bottle labels for the elections, he said.
"With the campaign it gave us a perfect opportunity to showcase the way we can customize our labels to make them relevant with the time and [show] our young consumers how important the young vote is and take a chance to make a stance on political issues," he said. "By launching it online we're giving people under 18 who can't vote the opportunity to do so."
In fact, people can vote as many times as they want, and the votes are tallied every 15 minutes. By the time the paper went to press, Obama had 12,642 votes, Ron Paul had 6,000 votes, McCain had 3,306 votes and Sen. Hillary Clinton had 2,064 votes.
People can vote until Election Day.
Genelle said when Jones Soda wanted to launch Campaign Cola, it was clear McCain was going to be the Republican nominee, but it was still unclear whether Obama or Clinton would be the Democratic nominee so all three were launched. The company then had so many people asking for Paul to be a choice that Jones Soda launched him as well, he said.
The campaign launched on June 4.
King said she was not surprised Obama led in Jones Soda's poll and won with the Baskin-Robbins poll.
"I don't really use them, but I know they tend to appeal more to teenagers," she said. "That's the group who Obama tries to make a connection with."
On Sept. 3, Baskin-Robbins launched its Limited Edition Presidential Election Flavor campaign so United States citizens could vote for their favorite candidate.
Scott Colwell, Baskin-Robbins brand marketing officer worldwide, said in a press release the campaign provided a way for all ages to get involved in this year's political race.
"Baskin-Robbins is capturing the excitement of this important election year, and possibly getting a taste of who Americans will elect as their next president in November," he said in the release.
The ice cream company has had campaigns for historic occasions since the 1960s when it created "Candi-date," for Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy. In 1996, Baskin-Robbins started creating ice cream for both presidential candidates when it created "GOPeanut Butter" for Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole and "Saxy Candidate" for Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton.
Freshman public relations major Miguel Medina said he also was not surprised Obama was winning and it was a good idea companies sold special products.
He generally bought special products more for holidays, but he said selling them for elections was good because it kept people interested and knowing who was leading.
"[I buy them] because it's a seasonal thing, and you can only get them during the season," Medina said.
Genelle said he hoped Jones Soda would continue this campaign for future elections and possibly look toward local markets within states for governor races.
"Whether it's a campaign or another event, if a company and brand can show they are hip and in to the time then it makes it a little bit more fun to go out and become a part of the process and interact with the brand through some of these events' specific products," Genelle said. "It's about being able to capture a relevant moment and execute it on a package."
OnlineTo vote for your favorite candidate with Jones Soda Co., visit campaigncola.com
For more about Jones Soda Co., visit jonessoda.com
For more about Baskin-Robbins and to see the election results visit baskinrobbins.com
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