For years, Sean Spicer waged a lonely war.
Long before he sparred with reporters as White House press secretary for President Trump, Mr. Spicer turned his ire toward an unlikely foe: Dippin' Dots, a frozen treat described by their maker as "tiny beads of ice cream."
In a series of posts on Twitter from 2010 and 2015, Mr. Spicer asserted that Dippin' Dots were not — despite their slogan — the ice cream of the future.
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One of the tweets was an article in The Wall Street Journal on the 2011 bankruptcy of the Dippin' Dots company that Mr. Spicer shared, as if to say, "See? I'm not alone. Other people think you're not the ice cream of the future, too."
It seems likely, however, that Mr. Spicer eats the beaded ice cream at least on occasion: In 2015, he tweeted angrily at the company's corporate Twitter account to complain that a concession stand at Nationals Park in Washington had run out of vanilla-flavored Dippin' Dots.
Twitter users stumbled upon tweets from Mr. Spicer's private war against Dippin' Dots over the weekend after Mr. Spicer gathered reporters at the White House to complain about their reporting on the size of the crowd at Mr. Trump's inauguration. William Hughes, a writer for the website A.V. Club, wrote on Sunday that Saturday's news briefing was "a trial by fire" for Mr. Spicer.
"Could he get through an entire five-minute speech to the press without slipping in an attack on his archenemy Dippin' Dots, The Ice Cream Of The Future?" Mr. Hughes asked.
The answer was yes. But Dippin' Dots was not going to take any chances. On Monday, the company felt compelled to respond to Mr. Spicer's yearslong public dislike of its product, calling for a truce in an "Open Letter to Sean Spicer" on its website.
"We've seen your tweets and would like to be friends rather than foes," wrote Scott Fischer, the company's chief executive. "After all, we believe in connecting the dots."
As you may or may not know, Dippin' Dots are made in Kentucky by hundreds of hardworking Americans in the heartland of our great country. That means we're creating jobs and opportunities. We hear that's on your agenda, too.Scott FischerDippin' Dots CEO
Mr. Fischer also offered to send the White House free Dippin' Dots, saying the company could "afford to treat the White House and press corps to an ice cream social" and promising that all their favorite flavors could be amply provided.
All joking aside, Mr. Trump has used his large social media platform — more than 21 million followers on his personal Twitter account — to bash corporations, including an attack on Boeing in December that sent its stock price down roughly 1 percent.
Perhaps with that in mind, Mr. Fischer also took pains to emphasize that Dippin' Dots was a successful and growing company based in the United States.
"As you may or may not know, Dippin' Dots are made in Kentucky by hundreds of hardworking Americans in the heartland of our great country," he wrote. "That means we're creating jobs and opportunities. We hear that's on your agenda, too."
Billie Stuber, a spokeswoman for the company, said it responded because "it's certainly easy to get pulled into the wrong conversation, inadvertently."
Ms. Stuber said the company wanted "to remain transparent and authentic with our message" in response to Mr. Spicer's online negativity.
"The fact is, we're ice cream," she later added. "We're all about fun and fun experiences, and our response in this situation or any other should remain true to who we are."
Dippin' Dots are not the only sweet treat about which Mr. Spicer has strong feelings.
In 2016, he told The Washington Post that he chews dozens of pieces of cinnamon-flavored gum each day, swallowing each one whole.
"Two and a half packs by noon," Mr. Spicer told The Post. "I talked to my doctor about it, he said it's no problem."