Ben & Jerry's Joins Facebook and Instagram Boycott, Pushes for Transgender Rights The socially conscious ice-cream brand will stop running ads on the social platforms as part of #StopHateForProfit and speaks out in favor of Equality Act.
By Kenny Herzog
The burgeoning #StopHateForProfit social media campaign, which calls on businesses to cease advertising on Facebook and Instagram throughout July in an effort to "provide more support to people who are targets of racism, antisemitism and hate," has its latest big-name endorsement. Ben & Jerry's has declared that it, too, will pause all ad placement on the sister sites beginning July 1, joining the likes of Eddie Bauer, REI and Patagonia.
In a statement on its website, the Unilever-owned, Vermont-based ice-cream giant announced: "We call on Facebook, Inc. to take the clear and unequivocal actions called for by the campaign to stop its platform from being used to spread and amplify racism and hate."
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The Mark Zuckerberg-led conglomerate has taken heat dating back to at least the 2016 election for permitting hateful and often misleading and inaccurate content to permeate its public and private pages, viewing its role as more of an open forum than a moderated news platform. But, with the killing of George Floyd compounding anxieties surrounding a months-long public-health crisis, the voices echoing similar sentiments to #StopHateForProfit have grown louder in recent days and weeks.
Ben & Jerry's, for its part, released a separate statement on the same day, imploring more universal protections for transgender Americans and specifically admonishing police for their failure to bring perpetrators of hate crimes to account, as well as correctional institutions for systemic mistreatment of trans prisoners.
"Trans visibility is at an all-time high, and yet these persistent injustices remain — in police departments, in the courts, in detention centers, in jails and prisons and throughout daily life," the statement read, including a link to information on how to support the Equality Act currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate. "The criminal justice system is broken. It's failing our transgender neighbors, friends and family members. But we can make a difference. Stand with us and the National Center for Transgender Equality as we push for transgender rights."
