• 1. 2009 Highlights
• 2. A letter from our
      CEO
• 3. Social Mission
      Goals
  • 3.1 Peace & Justice
  • 3.2 Harmonize Global
           Supply Chain
  • 3.3 Lead on
           Sustainable Dairy
• 4. Our Company
      (Profile, Mission,
      Governance)
• 5. Values-Led
      Sourcing
• 6. Social Mission
      Campaigns
      & Flavors
• 7. Scoop Shops
• 8. Environment
• 9. Workplace -
       Compensation,
       Benefits, Diversity
       & Culture
• 10. Giving Back -
        Community
        Service
        & Donations
• 11. The Ben & Jerry’s
        Foundation
• 12. Consumer
        Services
• 13. Auditor’s Opinion
• 14. Past SEAR
        Reports

 

6. SOCIAL MISSION CAMPAIGNS & FLAVORS

 

At Ben & Jerry’s, we believe that we should use our products and our brand recognition to raise awareness about serious issues, from Climate Change to Fair Trade.

Here’s the short story on the campaigns we mounted and the unique products we sold in 2009 with a Social Mission flavor.

 

Yes, Pecan! (US)

To celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama as President, we switched the name of Butter Pecan to “Yes, Pecan!” in our scoop shops in the United States for the month of January. In collaboration with the nonprofit group Common Cause, we used the media attention we attracted, as well as our Facebook and web presence, to call for more transparency and accountability in government in the new administration. Ben & Jerry’s made a cash contribution to the Common Cause Education Fund for every person who made a donation to Common Cause through our appeal – and we also kicked in a little bit for everyone who friended Common Cause on Facebook at our urging. Altogether, we gave $20,000 to the Common Cause Education Fund in 2009 as a part of this campaign.

Hannah Teter’s Maple Blondie (US)

For the first time ever, Ben & Jerry’s paired up with an athlete for a product promotion in 2009, when we made a flavor to honor native Vermonter and snowboard wizard, Hannah Teter. Hannah Teter’s Maple Blondie was inspired by Hannah’s love for maple syrup and her family’s long history of making syrup every winter. The flavor also pays a royalty to World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization helping communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. Hannah’s project through World Vision brings clean water and better sanitation to the rural community of Kirindon in Kenya.

Hubby Hubby (US)

Ben & Jerry’s has long been a champion of full civil rights for everyone, regardless of gender, race, religion, capabilities or sexual orientation. In 2009, we lobbied legislators in our home state of Vermont to support a bill allowing same-sex marriage – and we shared our excitement when the new law took effect by unveiling the flavor Hubby Hubby – actually a symbolic renaming of our iconic flavor, Chubby Hubby, for one day. We took a scoop truck to the state capitol to give away the new flavor. Hubby Hubby got more media attention than anything else we did in 2009. We’ve continued to look for opportunities to support similar efforts in other states with the help of the nonprofit group Freedom to Marry.

Royalties paid to nonprofit organizations

Every day around the globe, in scoop shops, shopping centers, and grocery stores, a percentage of sales of certain Ben & Jerry’s products are directed to nonprofit charitable organizations, including Fairtrade organizations. These products (and their 2009 contributions) include:

• NEW in 2009! Hannah Teter’s Maple Blondie (US) – $5,589 to World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization helping communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. (See above.) Hannah’s project through World Vision brings clean water and better sanitation to the rural community of Kirindon in Kenya.


• Fairtrade Certified Vanilla, Chunky Monkey®, Chocolate Macadamia, and Vanilla Toffee Crunch (EU) – contribute funds that support the work of Fairtrade labeling organizations in Europe and around the world – in addition to Fairtrade premiums paid to farmers for the ingredients they grow for us.
• Stephen Colbert’s AmeriCone Dream™ (US) – $143,669 to the Stephen Colbert AmeriCone Dream Fund and its mission to benefit children, veterans, and the environment.


• Dave Matthews Band’s Magic Brownies® (US) – $22,491 to Bama Works, a nonprofit organization that supports charitable programs in the Charlottesville, Virginia area including those serving disadvantaged youth, the disabled, protection of the environment, and the arts and humanities.


• Butter Pecan (US) – $2,852 to The Tom Joyner Foundation and its efforts to help students continue their education at historically black colleges. We ended this nonprofit royalty payment in early 2009 when we used the Butter Pecan flavor for the Yes, Pecan! promotion in honor of the inauguration of Barack Obama as President. (See above.)


• Phish Food® (global) – $41,879 to the Waterwheel Foundation’s Lake Champlain Initiative, which protects the health of this beautiful lake on Vermont’s western border, and its surrounding watershed.


• Willie Nelson’s Country Peach Cobbler™ (US) – $59,855 to Farm Aid and its ongoing mission to support family-farm centered agriculture in America and to keep family farmers on their land.


• Bohemian Raspberry™ (EU) – €66,043 to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, an AIDS awareness charity set up in memory of the late Freddy Mercury, the one-of-a-kind leader of the rock band Queen.


• Peace of Cake™ (Netherlands only) – €40,000 to War Child, a Dutch nonprofit group that works to rehabilitate child soldiers from war-torn countries and to help them re-integrate into society.


• Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road™ (US) – Following on the success of our 2008 limited release of this flavor in honor of singer Elton John’s first visit to Vermont, we decided to whip up a limited batch of the flavor to sell in pints in 2009. We gave a portion of the proceeds to the Elton John AIDS Foundation, totaling $17,154.