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6. SOCIAL MISSION CAMPAIGNS & FLAVORS
At Ben & Jerry’s, we’ve long believed that we should use our products and our communications about them to raise awareness about serious issues, from Climate Change to Fair Trade. Here’s a quick rundown of the campaigns we mounted and the unique products we sold in 2008 with a Social Mission flavor.
Climate Change College (Europe) 2008 was the third and final year of a Ben & Jerry’s initiative to help raise awareness of climate change and to inspire young people in Europe to imagine and develop creative ways to address it. Climate Change College was a collaboration between Ben & Jerry’s, polar explorer and environmentalist Marc Cornelissen, and the World Wildlife Fund. Young people across Europe applied to be Climate Change Ambassadors, and we selected eight winners in 2008 from France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Winners studied climate change with a research trip to Alaska and participated in a nine-month business mentoring program to prepare to launch projects of their own conception, which Ben & Jerry’s supported with funding.
Projects launched in 2008 included
In addition, Climate Change College alumni from previous years have gone on to start their own eco-entrepreneurial businesses, work for climate change campaign organizations, and integrate sustainability into their work or school. Imagine Whirled Peace Campaign (US) In 2008, we launched a Peace campaign in the United States with the nonprofit group Peace One Day and The John Lennon Estate, with a new flavor, Imagine Whirled Peace® leading the way. We paid homage to the peace efforts of John Lennon and Yoko Ono by re-creating their 1969 “Peace Bed-In” by creating a bedroom in a large clear box truck and driving around New York City. Several people got “in bed” to raise awareness including Jeremy Gilley (founder of Peace One Day), Walt Freese (CEO of Ben & Jerry’s), actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Roy Kerwood (the original photographer of the Bed-In in 1969). We also launched a search to find modern-day peace ambassadors — a ‘Peace Pioneer’ Contest — for which more than 150 applications were submitted. We ultimately awarded $10,000 grants to Aaron Voldman, co-founder of the Student Peace Alliance — a national student and youth movement for a Department of Peace and Nonviolence; and Robert Kent, founder of the Peace Camp Initiative — a program that provides summer camp experiences for children in war-torn areas in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Finally, we made a two-year commitment of funding to Peace One Day for the development of curriculum materials on the subject of peace and nonviolent conflict resolution to be disseminated in U.S. schools in 2009. Millenium Development Goals and ONE Campaign As part of our launch of the ONE Cheesecake Brownie flavor, Ben & Jerry’s partnered with ONE.org in the United States and the Millennium Development Campaign in Europe and elsewhere to bring attention to the global effort to eliminate extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. We created a global campaign website designed to educate consumers on the campaign and drive membership in ONE, launched through a media event in Burbank, California in April. Co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield both spoke at the event, which included performances by the band Daughtry and the African Children’s Choir. As a part of the campaign, Ben & Jerry’s also participated in a global Stand Up Against Poverty event from October 17-19. All told, 116,993,629 million people (almost 2% of the world’s population!) ”Stood Up“ to take action against poverty, according to event organizers. Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road (US) On July 15, 2008, Ben & Jerry’s launched Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road™, a limited-release flavor intended to honor singer Elton John and his first-ever show in Vermont and to raise money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Leading up to the concert, we worked with Sir Elton’s camp to design the flavor profile and creative artwork. Sir Elton was welcomed to Vermont through an offering of the limited-batch flavor in local scoop shops and at the concert. All proceeds from the flavor were donated to the artist’s global foundation. 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 2008 contributions) include:
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