Baskin-Robbins Bump Day

Claim:   Baskin-Robbins outlets will be offering free ice cream to pregnant women on 21 May 2008.

Status:   True.

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, May 2008]

Origins:   The Baskin-Robbins chain of ice cream stores gave

up holding its annual free scoop night a few years ago, but on Wednesday, 21 May 2008, they'll be staging a similar (but more exclusive) promotion.

On that date, designated as "Bump Day," select Baskin-Robbins stores in California, Chicago, New York, Nashville, and El Paso will be offering free 3 oz. cups or cones of their new Soft Serve ice cream to expectant women between the hours of 11 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Baskin-Robbins' "Bump Day" is a reference to expectant mothers' displaying tell-tale "bumps" in their abdomens, to Wednesday being commonly known as "hump day" (because it's the day workers get over the mid-point "hump" of the Monday-to-Friday work week), and to the promotion's falling just after the sporting world's "Bump Day" (i.e., the third day of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, when non-qualified cars to try "bump" others for a spot in the race).

Baskin-Robbins has recently begun rolling out Soft Serve ice cream in their stores. The company expects half of their 2,400 locations to be offering that product line by Summer 2008, with the rest adding it by Spring 2009.

Last updated:   20 May 2008

  Sources:

    Hein, Kenneth.   "Baskin-Robbins Offers Consumers the Soft Sell."

    Brandweek.   18 May 2008.