Photos courtesy of Ben & Jerry's
While famous for their delicious ice cream, Ben & Jerry’s has long been involved in social and environmental justice. Their latest campaign finds them partnering with Advancement Project National Office on a new campaign called “Justice ReMix’d.” Justice ReMix’d is a new flavor concoction described as cinnamon and chocolate ice cream with chunks of cinnamon bun dough and spicy fudge brownie. It was created to help spotlight structural racism in a broken criminal legal system. To spearhead the campaign, Ben & Jerry’s tapped actor Jessie Williams, of Grey’s Anatomy fame, to help announce the new ice cream flavor. Aside from acting, Jessie Williams is a prominent voice on the social activism front and is a member of Advancement Project National Office.
Advancement Project National Office is a multi-racial civil rights organization that has been involved in community work for over a decade. Recently, criminal justice reform has become a hot topic thanks to a handful of documentaries like Ava Duvernay’s “The 13th,” sparking conversation amongst mainstream culture. While tackling social injustice is an up-hill fight, the Justice ReMix’d campaign presents a fun way to connect over a complex subject. Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Ben Cohen had this to say:
“Our approach to creating social change is to raise up the work non-profits are doing on the ground. We bring every resource we have to support them — our business voice, our connection with fans, our Scoop Shop community and of course, ice cream. Somehow, it’s easier to talk about difficult issues over a scoop or two.”
Judith Browne Dianis, Advancement Project National Office’s Executive Director added, “Our country needs to invest in services that build up communities rather than those that tear them down. That means ending a wealth-based pre-trial detention system that locks people up because they are poor, black or brown. It means dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, divesting from criminalizing students and investing in the creation of high-quality education and services. It’s time to reimagine safety and justice.”
Justice ReMix’d can be found at grocery stores and Ben & Jerry Scoop Shops nationwide with a portion of the proceeds going towards Advancement Project National Office to support their Free & Safe campaign. In addition to tasty ice cream, Ben & Jerry’s will be sending its Scoop Truck around several states to start conversations, activate members of the community, and give away ice cream. Everyone enjoys ice cream, but now you can enjoy it and show your support for criminal justice reform by purchasing Justice ReMix’d at your local grocery store.
