This New Halo Top Ad Is Downright Creepy

Halloween is around the corner and Halo Top is here to creep you out. A new ad directed by Mike Dahlquist shows a 90-second clip featuring everyone’s favorite low-calorie ice cream, Halo Top. And it’s going to make you uncomfortable. Let’s just say the vibes are more sci-fi movie and less sweet ice cream commercial.

The video begins with a mature woman dressed in white (think: hospital gown and less wedding) in a pale-hued room. A white robot comes in and feeds her a spoon of ice cream. As she asks questions about the flavor, where she is, and where “David” is, the robot demands she continue eating ice cream. It ends with the robot offering her a cone with a scoop on top, telling her that everyone she loves is gone and there is only ice cream.

“It’s almost like an anti-ad,” Halo Top Founder and CEO Justin Woolverton told AdAge. “If anything it portrays ice cream a little negatively but we thought that was overshadowed by how great the dark comedy was.”

The commercial is slated to air in movie theaters. It’ll precede films like It and Kingsman: The Golden Circle. It’ll also make rounds on the brand’s online and social media channels, reports AdAge.

What makes this commercial unique is the lack of branding. Halo Top doesn’t plaster it’s logo or ice cream concept. Sure, ice cream is in the ad, but it’s also non-descript and super unsettling. According to Woolverton, this ad is Halo Top’s most expensive commercial ever.

“We do think traditional commercials can be a little bit stale and that people tune out on those a bit,” Woolverton says. “And I think people are just more interested these days in just something that’s just plain interesting, not something that’s too heavily branded.”