In an end-of-year article titled "I tried Salt & Straw's ice cream line inspired by this year's viral moments", Elena Cavender recounts her experience doing exactly that: sampling the five new flavours released by Salt & Straw, an Oregon-based ice cream company, influenced by viral moments popularised throughout the year.
The limited-edition pack, now sold out but, at the time of release, priced at almost $100, was crafted to give those who enjoy ice cream a way to look back on the year and its memorable contributions to Internet culture.
From a reference to the trio of billionaires who decided to race each other to space, to a nod to the Korean Netflix thriller series that had everyone on the edge of their seats, Salt & Straw spoke to the younger generation, offering them a fun product that brought together the things they watched, read, shared and talked about during 2021 and a typical snack they generally love.
Focusing on the article itself: after providing the reader with images of a scoop of each type of ice cream, their witty names (for example, "Non-Fungible-Tropical Tuna Tamales" as a reference to the rise of NFTs and cryptocurrency in 2021) and listing their ingredients, the author gives her opinion on each flavour, comparing her expectations to the (sometimes disappointing) results.
The article is limited to a short review of each variety of the snack, with no conclusion or commentary on aspects like pricing. However, she does briefly discuss each flavour's relation to their corresponding "viral moment", sometimes even relating her opinion on them to her expectations: "I thought the concept of billionaires going to space would taste really rich, feature expensive ingredients, and taste good because someone told you it would taste good [...]."
By reading this article, the reader is, of course, exposed to the opinion of the author on each flavour and may be influenced based on what she tells us she liked or disliked. Though the purpose of the article is not to sway our own perspective on the flavours, but more to inform us about their appearance, general tastes and textures, the author does make use of interesting and meaningful descriptive words and phrases ("tangy", "super salty", "pink goodness", "delicate", "buttery", etc.) that can somewhat manipulate us or even confirm our own thoughts, depending on the tastes and likes we have.
In conclusion, this article provides a generally non-manipulative outlook on a product created seemingly for a millennial/Gen-Z demographic, that enlightens the reader on the author's personal opinion on it. In terms of influencing society, this text brings more attention to the product - as Cavender is sharing it with Mashable readers and she includes a link to the product's web page at the end of the article - and can affect the company's sales.
Original article: https://mashable.com/article/salt-straw-viral-limited-edition-pack
Cover image and post image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/jpellgen/9264664792/in/photostream/
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