![]() ![]() A couple of years later, we moved to the Chicago area, and I never saw a Good Humor truck again. Our mom would never let us eat the ice cream in the house. My brother and I would sit in the shade and munch on the heavenly treat. Ah, to think … an ice cream bar for a dime? I think my favorite was the toasted almond bar, but my memory has clamped onto the experience, rather than the end result. If we were lucky, we could feel the cool air that blasted from the side of the truck. Once the selection was made, the most exciting memory came to life, as the door on the side of the truck was opened by the driver and he would reach into the very back, while a mist of white, ice-cold smoke would pour out of the interior. I wonder if they did that because they knew we were too young to read. Hmm, they always had a picture of the treat next to the name. We couldn’t read, so we would have to point to the item on the menu on the side of the truck. I can’t remember if he had a hat, but I always remember he was a portly older man. The driver had white pants and shirt and a black belt that diagonally crossed his chest, which helped hold up the money changer he was wearing. I don’t know if it was on purpose, but the driver would park in such a way as to compel us to put our bare feet on the hot concrete and make us dance through the sales process. We would frantically wave and jump until the truck pulled over to the side of the road and stopped in front of us. For some reason, we always thought there might be a chance he wouldn’t see us, and we couldn’t let that happen. The truck was enormous to a four-year-old. It was the iconic, cab-open Good Humor Truck. And it wasn’t just any old ice cream truck. We would stand on the curb and watch the big, white open-air truck slowly work its way toward our staked out position on the street. ![]() We knew that if we didn’t move quickly enough, there was the chance that we would miss the ice cream truck. We quickly ran into the house and descended on my mother with unrelenting excitement until she coughed up a dime to just get us out of the house. It was as if my brother and I were on a mission and the clock was ticking. There was no such thing as air conditioning back then, but it was just the way it was.ĭuring the early afternoon, we heard the distinct bells of the ice cream truck blocks away. When I was a little guy, about four or five, I fondly remember the hot, sweltering days of summer in Detroit. He relates the experience, from hearing the bells to feeling the cold air that wafted from the truck when the Good Humor man got the frozen confection. Begora recalls the childhood excitement when the Good Humor Truck came to the neighborhood. The track was announced alongside ice cream truck driver education about the history of “Turkey in the Straw” and resources for replacing it with RZA’s creation.Boomer reader R. RZA agreed, and on August 13, 2020, Good Humor dropped a new jingle for a new era. This ensured our jingle wasn’t a one-off stunt, but rather a timeless track played by trucks for years to come. Most importantly, we negotiated with RZA to make his track available free of charge to any ice cream truck driver…in perpetuity. Both lived on a mobile-optimized website featuring background on the brand, “Turkey in the Straw’s” history and rationale for our intervention. Edelman also turned RZA’s original music into two key pieces of content: a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, and a music video showcasing the new jingle spreading joy to the streets. RZA composed a track that mashed up the signature tones of ice cream truck music with Wu-Tang flavor, which we tested on an actual ice cream truck speaker to ensure its final mix would work in the wild. So we turned to Wu-Tang Clan’s mastermind, rapper and composer RZA. Our idea was simple: join forces with an iconic Black artist to create a jingle that represents all communities. When a viral video resurfaced the racist origins of the minstrel tune “Turkey in the Straw” we knew the brand had the opportunity and responsibility to respond with a solution that spread joy, in a moment when the country needed it most. ![]()
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