Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream: ‘You Won’t Be Able To Resist Our Schweddy Balls!’

Ben & Jerry’s has announced its newest ice cream flavor and it has many parents up in arms. The name? Schweddy Balls (that would be vanilla ice cream loaded with fudge-covered rum and chocolate malt balls).

Saturday Night Live fans will recognize the controversial name as an homage to the popular skit featuring regulars Alec Baldwin, Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer. Baldwin plays Pete Schweddy, the owner of Season’s Eatings holiday bakery, while Shannon and Gasteyer play NPR radio hosts who interview him for a culinary show.

“There are lots of great treats this time of year. Zucchini bread. Fruitcake. But the thing I most like to bring out at this time of the year are my balls,” Schweddy tells his interviewers, followed by a rant about cheese balls, rum balls, popcorn balls…”Balls for every taste!”

It’s all in good fun but the Schweddy Balls title is offending at least one parenting group, which has called for a ban of the “tasteless” ice cream flavor. One Million Moms a project of the American Family Association is urging parents to take action by sending Ben & Jerry’s an email requesting that no additional Schweddy Balls ice cream be distributed (as of now, it’s being released in a limited batch, which means it’ll be distributed nationwide, but only for three or four months; if it proves popular, they’ll produce another batch).

“As a person and a performer, I am a sucker for holiday balls. And I have no doubt this ice cream will cause many to scream ‘Good Times,'” said Gasteyer in a company release. I, for once, am already having a field day with this whole thing. Sure, the name is unsophisticated and somewhat juvenile but, hey, the company getting a whole lot of free publicity as a result.

Ben & Jerry’s spokesperson Sean Greenwood says the name is irreverent. “We’ve always been about having some irreverence and having some fun… We’re not trying to offend people. Our fans get the humor.”

I can’t say I disagree. The name is so clearly a joke and, I’ll admit, it’s kind of funny. Do I want my five-year-old running around screaming, “Schweddy Balls! Schweddy Balls!” Absolutely not. But, really, I can opt not buy it if I’m that concerned. There are so many things to get worked up about as a parent, serious things like bullying and safety and health. A new flavor of ice cream is just not up there on my list.