Ben and Jerry's

This week's assignment is to pick a socially responsible retail company and outline how that stance is incorporated into their marketing strategy. This week is a home run! I picked Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Company. Their entire structure top to bottom is all about incorporating their ethical socially responsible practices into their marketing!

Just a quick visit to their website and you'll know first hand that it seems that ice cream is almost an afterthought to their socially responsible vibe. They post every step they use to be socially responsible such as fair trade, a caring dairy, cage free eggs, and a section to read more about their values. They might trumpet their social responsibility more than any other business I've ever seen.

Just by reading about the company you can tell they are (more specifically were since they sold to another company in 2000) very conscious about their social image. For example in 1985 The Ben & Jerry's Foundation is established with a gift from Ben and Jerry & 7.5% of the company's annual pre-tax profits to fund community-oriented projects.

I've read a lot of articles and I can find no situation, scandal, or case of any unethical practices by the original owners, Ben Cohen or Jerry Greenfield. I'd say they are definitely on the up and up about how they ran their business and were honest about it all. The company pioneers the pursuit of business with a double bottom line—profits and people—that Cohen and Greenfield called the “double dip.” (Page & Katz, 2012) Clearly they were concerned about their people and their profits which they tended to funnel back into the business and the community.

Page, A., & Katz, R. (2012, October/November). The Truth About Ben and Jerry's (SSIR). Retrieved from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_truth_about_ben_and_jerrys