6 Reasons Why Ben & Jerry’s is a Leader in Diversity & Inclusion
What does ice cream have to do with social justice? According to Ben & Jerry’s a lot. The popular ice cream brand doesn’t see itself as just a company who churns out ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s sees itself as a corporation with power, the power to make a difference. Ben & Jerry’s produces nearly a million pints of ice cream everyday and with the resources that come along with that level of success it has become a model for how businesses can promote social justice.
If you are curious as to why Ben & Jerry’s stands out in a crowd of corporations trying to figure out their own diversity, inclusion and social justice efforts then consider these six ways Ben & Jerry’s leads.
1. Ben & Jerry’s has been involved in social activism for decades. This is not a company that has had a recent awakening. Since Ben & Jerry’s inception it has supported causes like marriage equality. In 1989 in Ben & Jerry’s home state of Vermont it was the first employer to provide health insurance to the partners of employees including ones that are part of a same sex couple. Ben & Jerry’s didn’t stop there, in 2009 it renamed its Chubby Hubby ice cream Hubby Hubby in honour of same sex marriage legislation passing in Vermont.
The ice cream brand also has a history of supporting communities of colour. In 2016 Ben & Jerry’s made a public statement about why Black Lives Matter. It called upon society not to be complicit in supporting systemic racism and injustice. “I think Ben & Jerry’s is probably the most prominent ... for-profit corporation that has such an active and strong stance on racial justice,” said Stephanie Creary, an assistant professor specializing in identity and diversity at the Wharton School of Business. “They set the bar really high, that’s the reality.”
2. Ben & Jerry’s is ready to act. One of the reasons why Ben & Jerry’s was able to issue such a powerful statement in the days following the death of George Floyd was because Ben & Jerry’s already has the talent within its organization to respond as well as partnerships with the right external organizations.
Ben & Jerry’s has an in-house 20 person activist team with a budget in the millions of dollars. Ben & Jerry’s even has a Head of Global Activism Strategy a position held by Chris Miller, one of the most senior positions at Ben & Jerry’s, a role you would be hard pressed to find in another organization. “We set off on this work, specifically focused on issues of racial justice, about five years ago,” said Miller. “We gather every year as a company in what we call our global franchise meeting. And at one of those meetings in the wake of Ferguson, and the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others, our cofounder Ben Cohen came to the stage in a ‘hands-up, don’t shoot’ t-shirt. It sort of spurred a bit of controversy in the room at the time. But for those of us who are charged with the advocacy and activism work in the company, his message resonated with us.”
Prior to the killing of George Floyd Ben & Jerry’s had a working relationship with Color of Change a civil rights advocacy organization and the NAACP. It was these organizations Ben & Jerry’s called upon to help craft its powerful message which called for the dismantling of white supremacy. “We [Ben & Jerry’s] supported Black Lives Matter four years ago when no businesses would go near it,” said Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Greenfield last year.
Once Color of Change and the NAACP signed off on the statement about the killing of George Floyd it went to Ben & Jerry’s board for final approval before it was released.
It would have been impossible to turnaround a statement like that so quickly if Ben & Jerry’s was not working on social justice issues for a number of years or if it didn’t have a direct line to organizations that could help to ensure its messaging had the right tone and impact. As Bloomberg writes: Ben & Jerry’s statement against white supremacy was: “lauded as the most detailed and powerful message from any corporation seeking to condemn the latest high-profile homicide in a chain of abuse Black people have suffered at the hands of White people across centuries.”
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3. Ben & Jerry’s is authentic in ways others are not. Many diversity and inclusion initiatives are criticized for being lip service. A corporation issues a press release stating they support underserved communities but it lacks specifics about what it is going to do to help. Then when you check in with the organization months later you realize that nothing has been done. With Ben & Jerry’s there is a level of authenticity in its social justice initiatives because it is not stepping into the arena for the first time, it has a history.
“We know that the credibility of a track record matters. And that’s not only ‘how many posts did you put out?’ or ‘did you create a nice film that made everybody well up?,” says Ben & Jerry’s CEO Matthew McCarthy. “It’s being there, being there, being there. The NGO partnerships that Chris and his team have cultivated for years inform what we do. These are people at the grassroots living and breathing these issues, whether it’s criminal justice reform or access to safe voting. And, when we call, they want to help us because they know we’re trying to use the power of our business to get stuff done.”
4. Ben & Jerry’s is not afraid to make bold moves. It’s easy to post a black square on Instagram but the real test is what an organization is actually doing to advance an important cause. Ben & Jerry’s knew when it issued its statement following the killing of George Floyd there would be backlash but it did it anyways. Ben & Jerry’s felt it was more important to fight for a cause than to sit on the sidelines too afraid to ruffle any feathers. Real change is not easy and if everyone feels comfortable with how you are trying to affect change, you are unlikely to make a difference.
“There are lots of people who disagree with our positions, of course. Our statement last summer [following the death of George Floyd] generated thousands and thousands of phone calls and emails from people who accused us of being anti-law-enforcement or promoting looting and rioting,” says McCarthy. “But we have the courage to feel okay about getting some of that heat, and in some ways, it reinforces that what we’ve done is meaningful. After George Floyd, I think the companies and brands that tried to navigate the mushy middle — feeling the need to say something but getting concerned about upsetting folks — got the criticism and backlash. It wasn’t companies like ours.”
5. Ben & Jerry’s employees are aligned with the cause. One of the reasons companies fail at their diversity and inclusion initiatives is because there is resistance to the effort. If there isn’t true alignment to the cause especially at the top of an organization it can be impossible to affect change. The founders of Ben & Jerry’s have always been committed to making a real difference in society and that commitment has permeated through the organization down to Ben & Jerry’s products which are often named after progressive movements.
Speaking about what advice Greenfield would give his younger self as he built Ben & Jerry’s Greenfield said: “I would also put even more time into making sure we put the right people in place, too, ones who believed in our social mission but also had the necessary business skills. Those don’t always go together. And we knew that’s what would separate Ben & Jerry’s — even more than the great flavors, it was important for us to make our social mission a central part of the company.”
6. Ben & Jerry’s takes a stand with its products. Ben & Jerry’s is notorious for making statements with its products. 1988 was the first year in which it tied a product to a social cause. It created an ice cream bar called “Peace Pop” and on the packaging was a demand that the United States’ federal government use 1% of its defence budget for peace projects. This was during the cold war when the United States and Russia were building their nuclear arsenal and Ben & Jerry’s believed the government should spend more money on activities that promoted peace. While there was some backlash customers loved the ice cream bar.
Ben & Jerry’s didn’t stop there, there’s its Justice ReMix’d ice cream flavour which it launched in 2019 to increase awareness of criminal justice reform. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Justice ReMix’d went to the Advancement Project National Office to support its Free & Safe campaign. In 2018 Ben & Jerry’s launched its Pecan Resist ice cream flavour to rally against policies issued by former President Donald Trump which the brand sees as “regressive and discriminatory.” Ben & Jerry’s isn’t afraid to launch these initiatives even if they might impact sales. “Our former CEO, Jostein Solheim, was fond of saying, ‘the more people we piss off, the more ice cream we sell’,” says Miller.