Ben & Jerry on Social Justice and Ice Cream

Can you build a successful and fun brand around serious social justice topics? Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream discuss feeding hungry kids, police reform and how businesses can make a difference on social issues. “Passing legislation that is going to reduce child poverty in the US by 40% is huge – it’s pretty much the best news I’ve heard in quite a long time,” says Greenfield about the American Rescue Plan, the latest COVID relief package that includes critical provisions that will help fight the hunger crisis. Ben & Jerry’s is also focused on police reform through the Campaign to End Qualified Immunity. “What we need to seize about this moment is the issue of racial justice… The reality is if we are not able to pivot from protest to policy right now, all those protests were for nothing,” Cohen believes.