Who Knew Ice Cream Could Enact Social Change?

Last night, I had the privilege of attending the SU PRSSA event, which was a conversation with Sean Greenwood, the self-proclaimed Grand Poobah of PR for Ben & Jerry's, and Cedric Brown, a digital campaigns strategist for Advancement Project along with a tasting surrounding Justice ReMix'd, a Ben & Jerry's and Advancement Project limited batch ice cream flavor that “hopes to put a whole lot more justice in the criminal justice system.”

The flavor is described as “cinnamon & chocolate ice creams with gobs of cinnamon bun dough & spicy fudge brownies.” Brown further explained the flavor profile as the representation of the mix of people of color in the U.S., and the spicy kick in the brownies is “the fight” we all need to have to fight for rights.

From previous visits to Ben & Jerry's website and Scoop Shops, I know they care deeply about making great ice cream, but also giving back and working to enact social change. As Greenwood stated, the founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield wanted to run business “in a unique way” from the very beginning. Their mission statement includes three parts, product, social, and economic, which are all equal of importance. I found this fact cool because most companies’ mission statements aren’t as complex and put improving social issues on the same tier as economic growth.

Before this event, I had never heard of the Advancement Project. As stated by Brown, the main issues they are working to remedy are voter’s rights, the school-to-prison pipeline, policing and criminalization, immigration justice, and education justice. They are currently working in St. Louis, Missouri to close the detention center referred to as the Workhouse, where primarily innocent people are kept, simply because they can’t afford bail. In a partnership with Ben & Jerry's, which involved ice cream vans driving around the city, handing out ice cream and information about the mistreatment of people at the Workhouse, a judge has ordered a preliminary injunction requiring the City of St. Louis to give a fair bail hearing to every person arrested within 48 hours of their arrest.

In terms of public relations and campaigning results, social media, website content, and in-store placement of product where the ways utilized to spread the message. Greenwood, emphasized the importance of the flavor "being in pints, reading about criminal justice on the sites, and seeing it on the shelf in stores." A three-pronged approach was extremely effective in terms of engagement, they received 2 million organic social impressions, 106,000 campaign actions, and 464 PR placements. Brown reported that the Advancement Project from September 1st- October 31stgained 1,000 new followers, 200 new e-advocacy subscribers, and received 835 media mentions. All of the attention made have been boosted by the placement of Jesse Williams in video piece about the partnered product and its impact.

Personally, this has been one of my favorite Newhouse events I have attended. Although I am extremely interested in the entertainment and music industry, I also have considered working for a non-profit that tackles social and political issues. A project like this is a perfect example of how a business can positively change the world and I think that’s refreshing to see. This project also shows me that I may be able to combine things I love through public relations campaigning if I find a company that wants to push towards progress.

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