Rant and Rave: Magnum Ice Cream

Food  ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Magnum fever has hit the Philippines. And no, it is not from the heat, but from a sweet frozen treat.

Selecta’s “must-buy for the in-crowd” epic marketing attempt, tided over by a short-lived social networking craze, has whipped up a mid-summer storm for its Magnum bar.

At fifty pesos a stick, Magnum is hardly on the price or calibre of Häagen-Dazs, but with the hype slowing down and the lines getting shorter, many will still be left waiting for the royal treatment ads promised from this glorified Pinipig Crunch.

The Magnum Bar is, like many of its kind, a small square block of chocolate-coated frozen vanilla cream on a stick.Another five pesos will get you an almond variety, covered in a crunchy, armor-like Belgian shell, almost as hard as the coins of the dear souls that bought it. For the almond hater and/or ice cream gourmet, there is a chocolate truffle variety, which trumps the nuts in favor of a delectable coating of melted truffles, and an extra cup of diabetes. Magnum’s flavors–some not yet available locally – provide a different experience in every wrapper, that will leave you cool in the summer heat or hot in bed with a sore throat.

Kidding aside, it is not half-bad. With summer around the corner, this frozen chocolate delight is a saving grace against the 32 degree heat (then again, so is Manong’s Dirty Ice Cream). And if you are lucky enough to taste the chocolate truffle ones – seemingly more suited for instagram photos than in people’s freezers – you will know the cool feel of tasting a “prized” flavor for yourself. But sadly, this is about as far as Magnum gets. Dubbed the ice cream of choice for the social climber, subtle marketing leaves one with the sweet satisfaction of eating to impress rather than savoring it for its own sake.