So, as I was driving into work today, I turned down a residential street and had to wait for an ice cream truck. As I waited for the line of kids to get their ice cream I got to thinking, how weird is this?
I mean, let's ignore the fact that this guy is driving around St. Paul when it is 50 degrees outside and people are actually purchasing ice cream, but the underlying point is what is concerning me.
Why is it okay for people to drive around ringing a bell and expecting children to come and buy ice cream from a truck. Adults are warned NOT to buy things off of trucks (jewelry, electronics, clothing, etc.) because it is typically considered to be stolen goods. Or at the very least, extremely shady. So why on earth do we teach kids to buy things off trucks?
And why ice cream? Whose idea was this? Why not candy? Or snacks (popcorn, chips, etc.)? Or even real food, like pizza or hot dogs? (Yes, I am aware of street vendors that sell these things, but they don't drive around looking for groups of people and hawking their wares....they make people come to them--totally different). Doesn't it seem odd that only ice cream is driven around in miniature trucks and vans and marketed at children?
Come on-kids have no money. Why not use this idea (if it "supposedly" works) to market the people with money? Imagine a beer truck driving around. Hot day, you are out in your yard, doing some yard work and you wipe the sweat off your brow and think how a break sounds good. Then, at that moment, you hear the distinctive ringing bell of the beer truck as it turns up your street. Doesn't that sound good? Of course it does!
Or hell, even a pop and water truck would be better than a stupid ice cream truck. As a kid growing up in the city I LOVED it when the ice cream truck would come around and we would beg mom and dad for money to get ice cream. It isn't that I don't get it, it is just that as an adult, it seems really stupid and extremely shady. (Have you noticed it is always MEN who drive the ice cream trucks?) And seriously, if there actually is a good idea in there somewhere, why are we exploiting it better? No WAY the ice cream truck business is fruitful. No way.
Beer truck. There's a good idea. Dibs! (not the ice cream treat...I'm calling the idea.)
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