No — you won't find "Fudge the Police" or "Hands Up, Don't
Scoop" Ben & Jerry's flavors in your local supermarket freezer
aisle.

But the iconic ice cream brand this week joined activists around
the country in proclaiming that "black lives matter."

Ben & Jerry released a pro-BLM statement online Thursday, and
the company's tweet announcing its support was retweeted by the
Black Lives Matter Global Network's Twitter account on Friday.

Ben & Jerry's ? @benandjerrys
Black Lives Matter. Choosing to be silent in the face of such
injustice is not an option. http://benjerrys.co/blm
#BlackLivesMatter
9:06 AM - 6 Oct 2016
65,156 65,156 Retweets 91,105 91,105 likes

Ben & Jerry's ? @benandjerrys
Black Lives Matter. Choosing to be silent in the face of such
injustice is not an option. http://benjerrys.co/blm
#BlackLivesMatter
9:06 AM - 6 Oct 2016
65,156 65,156 Retweets 91,105 91,105 likes

Stephon Curré @ChillinOnTop
Boycottin' Candy#BenAndJerrysNewFlavor
9:48 AM - 7 Oct 2016 · Washington, DC, United States
329 329 Retweets 411 411 likes

Follow
T. Burg. @toureism
"We Shall Overcrumb" #BenandJerrysNewFlavor
8:50 AM - 7 Oct 2016
340 340 Retweets 463 463 likes

Follow
Kevin Of House Stark @Self_Made_Allen
Thurgood Marshmellow #BenAndJerrysNewFlavor
8:07 AM - 7 Oct 2016
1,538 1,538 Retweets 2,029 2,029 likes

Ben & Jerry's gesture is certainly powerful.

"Black lives matter," their statement begins. "They matter
because they are children, brothers, sisters, mothers, and
fathers ... [and] because the injustices they face steal from
all of us — white people and people of color alike ... It's been
hard to watch the list of unarmed black Americans killed by law
enforcement officers grow longer and longer."

By supporting BLM, Ben & Jerry's sets itself apart as one of the
first major corporations to officially back the pro-black social
justice movement that grew to national prominence three years
ago. And it's a bold move for a public brand, given that even
the Democratic party has kept BLM at an arm's length.

But, at least right now, the statement is just that — a
statement.

"In order for us to begin to create a society that is not built
on a foundation of institutionalized racism, it requires us to
admit that it exists," Chris Miller, Ben & Jerry's social
mission activism manager, said in a phone interview Friday. "It
is our hope that other companies will join us in acknowledging
the issues that have been surfaced by the Black Lives Matter
movement."

Now, this is not Ben & Jerry's first foray into racial social
justice: In May the company announced it would donate proceeds
from the sale of a voting rights-themed flavor, "Empower Mint,"
to the North Carolina NAACP's efforts in challenging voter ID
laws that make ballot casting disproportionately more difficult
for blacks.

The brand has also been praised for taking other progressive
stances, including on issues of climate change and marriage
equality.

But neither Ben & Jerry's nor its parent company Unilever is
entirely without criticism on social issues. Ben & Jerry's
courted controversy in February for its ties to an ice cream
company in Israel.

And in 2010, Unilever's Vaseline caught heat after launching a
Facebook app in India that encouraged users to whiten their skin
in profile pictures.

Indeed, Unilever owns "Fair and Lovely" — a deeply problematic
line of skin lightening products sold around the world.

Miller argues that Ben & Jerry's is able to deflect criticism
because of its credibility on social issues: "When we speak, we
speak on behalf of Ben & Jerry's, not Unilever," he said. "What
has over the years given us the credibility is that we [take
stances] in a way that shows integrity and sincerity."

But the less-savory products sold by Ben & Jerry's corporate
parent are a good reminder: For the ice cream maker's latest
move to be more than just PR, its pronouncement must be followed
with real action — legislative advocacy or direct reparative
work in black communities.

Cynical as it may sound, there might be an economic or financial
argument for this kind of action, too: Founded in 1978, Ben &
Jerry's was a pioneer among companies using social justice
causes to define their brand, said Jason Saul, a professor in
the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

"It used to be that, in the 1960s and '70s, companies gave back
because it was the right thing to do," Saul said. "What Ben &
Jerry's pioneered ... cultivated customer loyalty and
differentiated the brand."

Today, corporations can actually measure how much support of a
cause — like BLM — will influence consumer behavior, he said.
Given stiff competition over price, quality and convenience
across many brands, companies are jockeying for increased social
value.

https://mic.com/articles/156163/ben-...porting-black-
lives-matter-but-will-it-make-a-difference#.U5gkja3KB
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