Ben and Jerry's Celebrates Fair Trade Ice Cream in San Francisco

The Ben and Jerry’s What’s Inside Tour hit San Francisco last week, bringing free ice cream to happy recipients at Justin Herman Plaza, Union Square, and Golden Gate Park. The nationwide tour, which stayed in San Francisco from June 17-20, has aimed to celebrate and publicize Ben and Jerry’s Fair Trade Certified flavors and the company’s commitment to converting all of their ice cream to 100% Fair Trade Certified status by 2013. This conversion will benefit producers of ice cream ingredients like coffee, cocoa, vanilla, and sugar.

Volunteers at the ice cream giveaway events saw large crowds (it’s hard to resist free ice cream, especially Ben and Jerry’s ice cream) and distributed information on Fair Trade to the people who lined up for ice cream. One brochure included both facts about Ben and Jerry’s Fair Trade practices and a coupon for a reduced-price pint of ice cream, motivating passerby to take the brochure and sparking a dialogue on Fair Trade between volunteers and those in line. Many people could be heard discussing fair trade with their friends and asking questions like, “I’ve heard of Fair Trade, but what exactly does it mean?” In this way, the event proved to be a great way to get people talking about Fair Trade and learning about how it benefits farmers and workers.

While participants took advantage of opportunities to take free pictures with mock cows and partake in various games, the focus was definitely on the ice cream. Many people raved about its high quality, telling friends about the event and asking volunteers about Fair Trade flavors. One of the Fair Trade flavors on offer was Milk and Cookies, which uses Fair Trade Certified cocoa and vanilla and got positive reviews from almost everyone who tried it. Other Fair Trade Certified flavors include classics like chocolate, vanilla, and coffee, so make sure to look for the Fair Trade Certified label the next time you’re browsing the frozen foods aisle!