Source: Kevin Dietsch / Getty
Aside from being sellers of delicious ice cream, Vermont-based company Ben & Jerry’s is known for its activism. Though founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield sold the company to Unilever in 2000, they remain the faces of the brand, and the company continued its activism.
In 2018, the flavor Pecan Resist was created in opposition to Donald Trump’s presidency. Ben & Jerry’s donated $25,000 to four social justice groups in conjunction with the new flavor. They also created a flavor, Lights, Caramel, Action! with film director Ava DuVernay who donated proceeds to her non-profit and Changed the Whirled, a flavor with Colin Kaepernick.
But on the Fourth of July, Ben & Jerry’s made a rare misstep. On that day, they posted an image that read, “The United States was founded on stolen Indigenous land. This Fourth of July, let’s commit to returning it.” And in the caption, the company added, “It’s high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it.”
However, social media warriors quickly condemned the post, calling it virtue signaling at its worst. Vermont’s indigenous people are the Abenaki, who were first decimated by European diseases and then forced off their land by the British, who claimed it as the conquering army in the French and Indian War.
Calls for a boycott of the company followed the post as users mocked its stance on native affairs.
“If you want to impress me build a factory on Native lands and share the profit with the tribe. But no, you’re using a minority as a political tool to sell ice cream instead,” a user named Moni posted.
Another user likened Ben & Jerry’s to the “Bud Light” of ice cream, referencing the backlash Anheuser Busch faced after a promotion with transgender influence Dylan Mulvaney.
Yet another asked, “Will Ben and Jerry’s give their land back to the Machican and Pennacook people? Or are they just virtue signaling as always?”
On Thursday, the New York Post reported a 0.8% drop in Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever’s stock value after the controversial post. Though it’s hard to say if it’s directly related to the post, some people have suggested this is a Bud Light moment for the brand, which has long been a voice in social justice issues.
Bud Light is said to have lost billions after the Mulvaney post as conservatives, who are the biggest consumers of the brand, stopped buying the beer in protest.
Per The Street, their tweet has generated 24.5 million views and 40,000 retweets. Neither Ben & Jerry’s nor Unilever has publicly responded to any backlash thus far.
See Twitter’s reaction to Ben & Jerry’s latest move below.
Ben & Jerry’s Urging The US To Return “Stolen Indigenous Land” On July 4th Sparks Backlash On Twitter was originally published on cassiuslife.com
