Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the co-founders behind the famed ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, have cast their votes ahead of the November election with a brand new frozen dessert.
The duo recently teamed up with MoveOn, a political advocacy group and action committee, to launch an ice cream inspired by Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee features coconut ice cream with swirls of caramel and red, white and blue star-shaped sprinkles. The flavor is inspired by a viral meme, in which Harris, during a speech at the White House, uttered the now-viral quote, “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” The internet went berserk, lightly poking fun at Harris with pictures of coconuts and coconut trees (like this edited COVID test with a coconut emoji and a tree emoji) and remixes of her saying “coconut” on repeat (like this brat summer-themed remix).
@xcx.archive 360 the coconut remix #charlixcx #xcx #brat #kamalaharris #360 ♬ original sound - xcx archive 💚
Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee will be available to enjoy via MoveOn’s “Scoop the Vote” ice cream truck, which will travel to key swing states and districts in an effort to reach more voters nationwide. MoveOn’s Scoop the Vote Tour will include stops in more than 20 cities in battleground states, along with rallies that will be held in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada. The tour’s first stop was in Pennsylvania, where Cohen and Greenfield were in attendance to hand out their ice cream.
“They say, ‘Bloom where you’re planted.’ Jerry and I are kind of planted in a freezer. We make ice creams,” Cohen told PBS’ WHYY-TV. “So, we’re making ice cream for Kamala.”
When asked if they’d ever consider making a flavor after Donald Trump, Cohen told the outlet, “I don’t think it’s proper in polite society for me to talk about what would be in that flavor.”
As for facing potential backlash from customers with different political viewpoints, Cohen and Greenfield said they aren’t worried.
“Joy is on our side, and we know every presidential election these days has been super close and it's very, very possible that this election is one and lost on the margin,” Cohen told CNN. “So we have to earn every vote.”
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He continued, “Let's face it, voters are inundated with political ads, text messages, and phone calls. And there's a good chunk of folks that are just tuning out. It's too much. And so, we're taking the Scoop the Vote tour on the road to leverage that joy and turn vibes.”
This isn’t the first time that Cohen and Greenfield have released an ice cream flavor in support of a political candidate. In 2009, the duo reintroduced one of its classic flavor — butter pecan — as “Yes Pecan!”, which paid homage to then-President Barack Obama’s campaign mantra. All proceeds went to the Common Cause Education Fund, a nonpartisan and nonprofit advocacy organization encouraging U.S. citizens to get more involved in politics.
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Cohen and Greenfield also promoted Bernie Sanders amid his presidential run in 2016 with an ice cream called “Bernie's Yearning.” The pint, which is adorned with Sanders’ face, features mint-flavored ice cream topped with a giant chocolate chip that “represents all the wealth that's gone to the top 1% of the population over the past ten years,” Cohen told CNN's Carol Costello.
“And the way you eat it is that you whack it with your spoon, then you mix it around. That's the Bernie's Yearning,” he explained.
In 2019, Sanders’ eponymous ice cream was revived as “Bernie’s Back” in support of the Vermont senator’s second run for president. The flavor, released under Cohen’s private label Ben’s Best, contains “Hot Cinnamon Ice Cream with one very large chocolate disc on top and a (very stiff) butter toffee backbone going down the middle,” according to Eater.
“The chocolate disc represents all the wealth that has risen to the top 1%. The backbone represents Bernie’s steadfast determination to un-rig our economy,” per a description of the ice cream. “And the hot cinnamon is our political revolution holding politicians’ feet to the fire to make America work for working people of all races and genders.”
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