Ben & Jerry’s bans same flavour scoops until same-sex marriage is legal
By Ross Semple
Ben and Jerry’s have launched a unique campaign to protest the Australian government’s failure to introduce marriage equality.
The ice cream giant, a favourite of cinematographers and the recently heartbroken, are refusing to serve two scoops of the same flavour to customers in Australia until the country has marriage equality.
Same-sex marriage is popular among Australia’s population. Research shows that 72% of the population support the legalisation of equal marriage.
In a statement on their website, Ben & Jerry’s said: “Imagine heading down to your local Scoop Shop to order your favourite two scoops of Cookie Dough in a waffle cone. But you find out you are not allowed – Ben & Jerry’s has banned two scoops of the same flavour. You’d be furious!
“But this doesn’t even begin to compare to how furious you would be if you were told you were not allowed to marry the person you love. So we are banning two scoops of the same flavor and encouraging our fans to contact their MPs to tell them that the time has come – make marriage equality legal! Love comes in all flavours!”
Tony Abbot, the country’s Prime Minister, previously promised to hold a plebiscite on marriage equality during the last election campaign. However, nothing has come to pass after months of debate, and the ice cream company has called the events “an expensive and unnecessary exercise that could endanger the LGBTQI community and wouldn’t even guarantee marriage equality.”
Ben & Jerry’s want the government to take action before the end of the current session on June 13. The company will have post boxes at each of their Australian outlets where customers can send postcards to their MP urging them to support marriage equality.
The statement continues: “At Ben & Jerry’s we love love, and we think most Australians do too. More Australians than ever before believe everyone should have the right to love who they love – and marry them too, if that’s what makes you happy. Let’s make it happen”
In 2015, the company launched a phone box designed to allow people to show their support for same-sex marriage. It was made available for use during a Mardi Gras event in Australia.