in 1974, cosby began promoting jell-o pudding for general foods. cosby said comedian jack benny, whose program the brand sponsored, was the only previous spokesman for jell-o, but kate smith, lucille ball, and andy griffith have also pitched the brand. in previous campaigns since the brand's launch in 1902, it was targeted towards parents rather than to children, a practice from which the company departed in 2001. cosby's early commercials were unscripted, but later were written by comedy writers. cosby disagreed with the writers, who wanted to say the food was for when you were "hungry"; cosby thought there was not enough substance to satisfy hunger and wanted to use the word "appetite". in 1979, general foods introduced pudding pops, the company's first frozen dessert product. with cosby as spokesperson, it sold us$100 million its first year. after introducing gelatin pops and frozen fruit bars, the company's frozen desserts sales reached $300 million. cosby was engaged to promote the flagging jell-o gelatin product line in the mid-1980s, when general foods introduced a holdable jell-o product called "jigglers". sales increased seven percent during the first year of the promotion.