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A project to make businesses more aware of their customer experience, and how to fix it. By Mark Hurst. |
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Previous: Unreadable text at Cooper-Hewitt | Main | Next: Citibank online statements
May 24, 2006 12:03 AM
Broken: Carl's Jr. hand-scooped shakes
Beth Olson writes:
"Hand scooped" ice cream shakes and malts?
I really hope Carl's Jr. has a strict employee hand-washing policy!
This is a little obtuse. I fail to see the problem. If I were to see this advertised somewhere, I (and anyone familiar with American English) would assume that "Hand-Scooped" refers to the fact that the ice cream is scooped out of a container with a utensil commonly referred to as an ice cream scoop rather than dispensed from a machine. I would not assume that someone was using a bare hand to scoop the ice cream. I thought at first that a bare hand holding a scoop of ice cream was depicted on the cup, but upon closer examination it appears to be a depiction of the product itself. This might be broken (or funny) if it were a Foot-Scooped shake.
I usually take things pretty literally, but I echo eBob's pov. If something is sewn by hand, you can be sure a needle was used; if something was built by hand, you can be sure another tool was used (or do you really think that if I built a coffee table by hand that i pressed the nails really hard with my fingers?). If something is done by hand and a hand-held tool, it's still considered "by hand". This is *not* broken.
Personally, my favourite is the Kettle Chips ads that talk about their "hand made chips".
I have difficulty deciding whether this involves people holding a slice of potato between their hands and rubbing them together really fast, or people holding slices of potato in a flame.
"...Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! ... OK, that's one done..."
This is a case of literal vs. figurative meaning. If you take it literally, then you should ask about their handwashing policy. "Hand-scooped" does not imply that nothing else was used, just that hands were used directly in the scooping.
If these shakes are actually dispensed from a machine, then the slogan is indeed broken. If you think that "hand-scooped" means that someone is using bare hands to serve the ice cream, you're a moron.
This is only slightly relevant, but I remember buying a 'hand shaped' naan bread once, and being disappointed that it was merely oval.
Whether they use a machine or a hand scoop, I hope they are scrupulous about employees washing their hands.
You said it, Steve. Phrases like hand-dipped, hand-made, hand-scooped etc. might go better with that textual annoyances topic a few months ago, but broken? No, or at least not any more broken than other figures of speech. Besides, what else would you call it, spoon-scooped?
It's broken because hand-scooped is a meaningless decorative phrase when describing ice cream. They are implying that it's handmade ice cream without getting in trouble for actually saying that, when it's not really true. It's machine made ice cream scooped with a scoop, which is technically a machine with only 1 part.
Here's a suggestion for another category of items not to be submitted: signs where the problem is descriptive, not functional.
How does this diminish the user experience?
You know what's broken? A pop-up window that has a version of the picture that's the same size as the in-post thumbnail.
Not broken.
Should be posted in the "Just for Fun" category, because it is kind of funny... but not broken.
Let's laugh with, but not at, those who either saw the humor, or hadn't had their coffed and did a legitimate two-second "WTF?"
Hand-scooped may be a meaningless phrase when describing the ice cream itself, however, when describing a shake there is an implication that actual ice cream was used in the making of the shake. (What constitutes "actual ice cream" may be open for debate. To me, this implies hard-packed ice cream that usually comes in a cylindrical container. It does not imply that the ice cream was made on the premises, nor that the ice cream was "home-made".) The phrase "Hand-scooped" differentiates this shake from other shakes that may be made from a mix and come from a machine. As such, I would expect this shake to have a certain texture and flavor that shakes from a mix would not have. Compare milkshakes from McDonald's with the shakes at Steak 'n' Shake (or, apparently, Carl's Jr.) and the difference will be readily apparent.
What's broken is that the image appears to get smaller when you click on it. (it actually stays the same size.)
Oh come on. It is the same as any product advertised as 'hand made', you know they still used some tools, just not 'power tools' The tool here is the scooper. Hey, even if you dont understand Engrish, you can still see that they are using some implement to scoop the ice cream. Whoever sent this in is broken.
Not broken for the same reasons everyone else has given.
But I do agree that the vendor is hoping that customers will infer "hand made" or "made from scratch" or "all natural" because someone used a hand-operated tool (a scoop) to deposit one glob of prefab chemicals into another.
It's like those drinks that say in big letters "made with real juice!" and then you read the small print to see it's 10% juice, combined from 4 different kinds of juice, and made from concentrate.
I think with the entries of late Thisisbroken is Broken itself.. you dont scoop without a scoop usually.. so hand scooped doesn't=putting your hand into a container and scooping..
Where I work we sell both hard and soft serve ice cream and the ice cream of the future, Dippin' Dots ;). To differentiate between the white and brown stuff from a machine and the "real stuff" we refer to it as soft serve and hand dipped. What else should they call it "scooper dipped"? Oh, I know "Scooper Scooped!"
Mark, I was with ya last time, but this time I have to agree...not broken. Sorry, but the traditional use of the "hand-" prefix implies that it's not done by a machine, not that it's done by an actual hand.
Nonetheless, I do hope they have a strict hand washing policy.
This should've been in just for fun.
The icecream of the future is broken. Guess time travel turns it into extreamly cold little pellets.
Where are you from? hand-scooped, in this example means: "to use a scoop with your hand"
This is NOT broken.
I heard a commercial for a furniture store on TV this morning that said "We have 24 hour delivery." Now being how it was in the morning, I had to think for about 20 secs as to why they would need to deliver furniture at 3am in the morning and then it dawned on me that they meant they deliver WITHIN 24 hours of your purchase.
Sometimes I am so dense! I thought the poster thought this was broken because they knew it came from a machine and the cup says hand scooped. I never imagined someone would actually think the icecream was scooped with a hand... This one just flew right over my head. not broken.
This is such a stretch it disapoints me. I thought someone reviewed submissions before they got put on the front page? They're really slacking today.
Wow, hand scooped - not those lousy ice cream scooping robots they have at other places, no, a real old illegal imigrant putting human care into the scooping of the ice cream! Maybe someday they'll come up with homemade icecream!
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Those look the the same drinks you can get at Dunkin Donuts... I don't remember what they are called. In any case they probably come from either a machine or from a mix... Maybe if it was a milkshake made from hard icecrean it would be hand scooped.
Posted by: Chaos at May 24, 2006 09:21 AM