Factory-Made 'Homemade' Ice Cream

Last February, after several consumers had complained, the Massachusetts Attorney General's office took Bic's ice cream parlor to court, alleging that store employees were calling their ice cream "homemade" even though it was manufactured at Brigham's Arlington factory--and even though.Bic's pina colada ice cream was identical to Brigham's natural pineapple coconut.

The court issued a consent order that required the Brigham's, Inc: owned store at 1702 Massachusetts Ave., near Radcliffe, to place in the window a clearly visible sign stating that Bic's serves Brigham's ice cream.

Last week, however, Sandy O. Steingard '77 a Crimson Editor, said she specifically searched for the sign in the window, but found no trace of it, and Christopher F. Nocodemus '79 said yesterday that he had "no recollection of seeing any sign" when he went to Bic's for ice cream last week.

On Tuesday, after several inquiring phone calls to Bic's and Brigham's the day before, the sign was once again displayed prominently in the store window.

Store manager Jeff Lessard said yesterday that the sign "had possibly fallen down" or that "a plant might have covered it."

Although Lessard did not want to discuss how last February's controversy had affected business, he admitted that the sign had at first been "no great help."

Frank Upham, the lawyer who handled the case for the state, said yesterday, "Brigham's tried to rip off the customer by claiming that it was really a little guy" but added that Bic's "got screwed" because other stores in the Harvard Square area do exactly the same thing.

Upham said that the Attorney General's office expects by January, 1977, to enforce new, tighter regulations on the use of the word "homemade" for all ice cream parlors.