As rumors loom over the potential sale of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc., several grassroots campaigns are popping up trying to block it, reflecting the near-cult status that has grown around the company.
The gourmet ice cream manufacturer that is as well known for its corporate social activism as its Rainforest Crunch ice cream, has been long considered a model for corporate responsibility.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, company founders and former hippies with liberal backgrounds, have long been embraced by liberal America, grassroots activists and proponents of socially responsible business practices.
“Ben & Jerry’s was a groundbreaker in raising consciousness that capital can, in fact, be caring,” said Judy Wicks, owner of a cafe in Philadelphia and a part of the Coalition to Save Ben & Jerry’s.
The Coalition is in the process of organizing rallys across the nation in support of Cohen and Greenfield maintaining control of the company.
Ben and Jerry’s donates 7.5 percent of their pre-tax company income each year to charitable organizations and uses organically-produced milk grown on local farms.