Story Archive

Ice Cream Kone

Jose Cantres and Jesus Diaz, owners of Ice Cream Family Corner and Sandwiches in Ocala, Fla., came up with what they thought was a great marketing idea. They had someone dress as an ice cream cone and stand at the busy intersection outside the store with a sign. Up close, the mascot looks like an ice cream cone with a fluffy top and sprinkles. But the costume tends to sag, and the cone is obscured by the sign, so to someone driving by at 40 miles per hour, it looked like a KKK hood and robe. Their business is thus suffering, as customers are avoiding the store. “One [customer] told me, ‘I had to think twice before coming in here because I thought it was KKK’,” Diaz said. Diaz, who is from Puerto Rico, says she had never heard of the KKK before the mascot controversy started. She even has difficulty pronouncing the name — calling it the “Ku Ku Klan”. (MS/Ocala Star-Banner) ...An accurate description of the group — and of the marketing idea.