PRPG:

Scandal at Ben & Jerry’s!

September 23, 2014

Even ice cream can be controversial.

Ben & Jerry's Hazed and ConfusedIn February, Ben & Jerry introduced a line of “core” ice creams, in which a pillar of fudge, chocolate, or jam runs through the middle of a carton of frozen dessert. The “Hazed & Confused” variety combined hazelnut (the “haze”) and chocolate ice creams with a core of Nutella-like fudge. However, the company may rename the hazelnut dessert after receiving several complaints that it’s offensive. Is it because it conjures up the phrase “dazed and confused” and so implicitly endorses the teenage drug use depicted in the popular 1993 movie Dazed and Confused? No—anti-hazing advocates say the name makes light of hazing, which many colleges have banned because it can so often turn violent.

Ben & Jerry's Satisfy My BowlThis Ben & Jerry’s flavor, however, does make use of drug humor. This fall, the company introduced “Satisfy My Bowl,” a flavor inspired by reggae icon—and noted marijuana user Bob Marley. While “bowl” is a drug term (it’s what marijuana users call part of a pipe), the ice cream itself is drug-free: it’s banana ice cream with chocolate peace sign cookies.

 

Ben Jerry's Schweddy BallsIn 2011, the conservative parents group One Million Moms asked its members to write letters of protest to the ice cream company for two of its flavors. The first was “Schweddy Balls,” which OMM said was a very profane name for an ice cream…unaware that the dessert was named after a popular double-entendre-filled Saturday Night Live skit about a baker named Dave Schweddy who was famous for his baked goods, which he called his “Schweddy Balls.” The OMM also took offense to “Hubby Hubby”—a brief run of cartons of Ben & Jerry’s Chubby Hubby flavor sold to commemorate the same-sex marriage movement.