Ben & Jerry’s CEO: democracy is on the ballot, and business must show up

It’s clear to me, as one of the stewards of this business, that we have a responsibility to help uphold democracy and empower communities to participate in it. It’s the right thing to do, and no business thrives where democracy doesn’t. Any slide toward authoritarianism threatens the economic environment every business depends on.

Ben & Jerry’s is built on the model of Linked Prosperity, the belief that the success of a business should not be measured solely by the economic value it creates, but also by the value it creates for the communities it serves. This philosophy is embedded in how we operate because businesses do not exist in a vacuum. They rely on strong, stable communities, and those communities depend on institutions like free and fair elections, which ensure people’s voices are heard and their votes respected.

Now, those institutions are under threat, freedom of expression is under attack, and the right to vote is under pressure. Many people feel disconnected from the politics that are supposed to represent them, shut out of decision-making and uncertain if their voices even matter.

This work goes back a long way for Ben & Jerry’s. In 2016, our Empower Mint flavor supported voting rights alongside Rev. William Barber II and the North Carolina NAACP; in 2018 we backed Florida’s Amendment 4 campaign to restore voting rights to people with prior felony convictions. More recently, Change Is Brewing and Churn Out the Vote have supported Black voter participation and practical voter information.

We have learned a lot along the way from people and organizations who understand these issues better than we do. That has shaped our approach; we’re smart enough to know we don’t know everything, so we work with incredible partners who are working day in and day out on the issues at a grassroots level. The ambition then is to put the reach and resources of Ben & Jerry’s behind their work and bring our fans to it too.

I won’t pretend that balancing a social mission with a product and economic mission is easy. Since the beginning there has been debate about what our social mission asks of us and how we put it into practice. Sometimes that tension is uncomfortable, but I have come to believe that there is no progress without tension.

The genius of our governance model is that it gives the social mission an equal role. We can balance each part of our three-part mission because it is baked into how we make decisions. That model can sometimes surface and create that tension, but I would rather have that debate than let the mission become something we talk about without really testing ourselves against it.

This year, we have worked with our long-term partners at the American Civil Liberties Union to educate voters, help people get ready to vote, and protect their right to do so. Millions have viewed our content and over 175,000 people have taken action with Ben & Jerry’s this election season. Our midterms campaign, supported by our flavor Razz Up!, uses our voice and our ice cream to bring attention to the work of our partners. Following the lead of Black Voters Matter, Community Change and the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, we have shown up in communities where restrictive voting laws are reinforcing inequality, reaching nearly 10,000 people through Step Razz Up! events in Detroit and Houston and supporting voter engagement events across North Carolina.

We have put financial resources behind the work too. Our Scoop Shop initiative, Waffle Lotta Good, raised nearly $100,000 in October for grassroots groups working to protect democracy. Our commitment also stretches beyond this election: our $3 million unrestricted investment in People’s Action Institute will support community organizing well beyond Election Day.

In August, on the anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, we took a pointed pun, ‘Fudge Fascism,’ to Washington, D.C. When the stakes are so high, hedged language isn’t going to cut it, and we have always believed that serious issues don’t have to be communicated in ways that feel distant or inaccessible.

Razz Up! and our broader pro-democracy work is part of a social mission that has been built into Ben & Jerry’s over decades. We’re able to do this work because of colleagues and partners who challenge us, bring expertise we don’t have, and keep pushing us to live up to the values of this company.

Whatever happens on Tuesday, I hope more businesses wake up to the role they can play. We shouldn’t wait until the next election is around the corner. For businesses wondering where to begin, Civic Alliance is a good place to start. It brings businesses together around a nonpartisan commitment to democracy and gives companies a way to learn from others already doing this work.

The work begins now. Local elections happen every year and play an important role. Plus, 2028 will come around quickly. Our responsibility to the ideals of democracy does not end at the ballot box. Business has a long-term role to play in its success, because democracy is a habit, not a one-time act.

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