Sorry, No Dairy-Free Ice Cream at Baskin-Robbins

Baskin-Robbins sent out a press release to talk about its new spring line of soft serve ice creams. Nothing unusual there and normally not anything I'd pay attention to.

But a line in the release caught my eye.

The introduction of Baskin-Robbins new Soft Serve products also follows the recent launch of the company's BRight Choices(TM) treats. BRight Choices are better-for-you options that have all the great taste and quality customers expect from Baskin-Robbins. BRight Choices menu options include fat-free, dairy-free, no-sugar-added and light ice cream offerings.

Wait. Baskin-Robbins has a dairy-free ice cream? Wouldn't that be news?

It would be, if it were true. The BRight Choices menu options do include no-sugar-added ice cream offerings and light ice cream offerings. So by all the logic of the English language it should include fat-free ice cream offerings and dairy-free ice cream offerings.

Well, here's their BRight Choices products page. As you can see there, the fat-free choice is frozen yogurt. And the dairy-free offerings are two flavors of sorbet.

Nothing wrong with sorbet, which is fruit and ice and normally tasty. But its not ice cream, not even imitation ice cream, not even a "creme" frozen dessert. It shouldn't be on the same list with real ice creams or with frozen yogurt, a dairy product that is much closer to ice cream than sorbet is.

The Baskin-Robbins web site is careful to call their BRight Choice options "treats" rather than ice creams. Their press releases should be equally careful. And somebody who knows the business should be reading them before they go out the door.