Talenti Gelato Is Delicious -- If You Can Unscrew It

       Talenti Gelato is a popular dessert that is advertised as a healthier alternative to ice cream. The products many flavor varieties and clear packaging make it very appealing and "eye drooling" for customers to get a sneak peek inside the deliciousness that is held within. This article by Katherine Bindley, tells us about the many customers who have recently had some trouble getting into their favorite desserts. 

PHOTO: Rhiannon Brown

         Philadelphia grocery shopper, Rhiannon Brown, had spotted this pint of Roman Raspberry sorbetto after a long week of recovering from a cold-- being just what she craved. She couldn't wait to eat it when she got home, only to encounter many struggles while trying to get into this sweetness. She tried everything from oven mitts, running the jar underneath hot water, & even bruised her palm trying so grip it so hard. She waited awhile and gave it another try... it still wouldn't budge. Ms. Brown was so angry that at 9 p.m. she stabbed a knife through the top of the lid and peeled it back just enough to eat the sorbetto. Next issue she came upon was how to reseal it. She said "I just used packing tape and I'd re-tape it shut every time I was done!" 

  

       Talenti, which is owned by Unilever PLC, packages its gelato in a clear container topped with a brown screw on lid. For months, some of those brown lids had been screwed on so tight within the factory that these various customers had to go to the extreme just to get into the tasty dessert inside.

        Other customers soon started to have very similar issues causing various twitter threads like the picture shown to the right. Talenti customers have also expressed emotions through pictures on Twitter sand Reddit showing the various tools used to open like, corkscrews, screwdriver, knives and even scissors.

The threads got back to the gelato company and they released a statement saying that the "overtight lids were the result of an issue with an over-zealous lid-tightening machine, which has now fully been fixed." Explaining to customer, that as new pints were to hit the store shelves, the problem should fade out. Yet, five months after the statement, complains have continued and grown!

Michael Marrero, 29, who lives in New York, remembered reading about the lids months ago thinking it was a joke, until it recently happened to him. He tweeted directly to the company saying he thought that the problem was fixed? The company later sent Marrero a direct message offering to mail       him vouchers for his trouble.

I am a frequent buyer of Talenti gelato. HEB is a seller of the gelato so every time I grocery shop I typically make my way to the isle and chose a new flavor to try! This article stood out to me as soon as I saw the title. I couldn't believe about the lids, because I've never had that problem before. It was so interesting reading about how through twitter and social media people were able to share their similar stories on how they were able to open the product. This would fall under the 'Product' portion of the target market & also have something to do with the customer side of the the external marketing mix. Customers came together to share the issues with the product and also shared there variety of strange ways to get to their desserts! 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-talenti-gelato-challenge-open-the-lid-without-a-hacksaw-1518103927