(本文翻譯自 陳冲 冰淇淋的ESG精神 餘波盪漾 2022.07.06.)
A few days ago, global media reported that the world’s consumer goods giant company U sells Ben & Jerry’s ice cream business in Israel. Past events about ESG flashed across my mind again.
I still remembered that in 2007, on the 40th anniversary of the Economic Daily News, I was invited to give a speech titled “Eating Ice Cream Makes You a Good Citizen”, talking about corporate social responsibility. I started the speech with the story of the geek corporate, Ben & Jerry's (no business in Taiwan then), and introduced its “doing good while doing well” history as well as its self-request high standard of social responsibility. Saying that Ben & Jerry is a geek corporate is not just talking nonsense. It only uses ingredients from small farmers, strictly requests environmental protection of containers, sets the annual Free Cone Day, and even stops purchasing from the raw material supplies whose parent company turns to be tobacco dealer. These are why people call it the socially responsible ice cream. In 2000, when Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry, the contract stated that Ben & Jerry remained in charge of its own “social mission” and retained an independent board that Unilever could only appoint just two seats out of 11 board members. The rare merger clause caused a lot of discussion and attention at the time.
Last year, I delivered a speech titled More than ESG in Taiwan Impact Investing Association. Coincidentally, right after I received the invitation to speak, Ben & Jerry announced that it will end sales of ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory because it is “inconsistent with our values”. The statement caused an uproar not only because it is a world-renowned company but also because the two founders are Jewish so being involved in the controversial issue showed an indicative meaning. Not only did the Israeli prime minister warned but the American mainstream media severely rebuked. The anti-semites dispute came to the fore. There was even one Bloomberg news headlined Finally, Something Unites Israeli Politicians: Ice Cream. I cited this case as the example in the speech to illustrate the conflict between social responsibility and political issues. People turned to put the blame on its parent company who helplessly replied that it had no control over the social mission of this subsidiary. Under diplomatic, political and litigate pressure, it took a whole year for the case to calm down.
This time, company U made an unexpected move, claiming that it had sold its Ben & Jerry’s ice cream business in Israel to its local licensee partner. The legal reason is that although the original contract stated that the subsidiary remained in charge of its own social mission, the parent company still got decision-making powers over finance and operations. In order to avoid the lawsuit for compensation from dealers and consider occupied area consumers’ rights as well, the parent company finally made this trilaterally beneficial decision.
Over the week, the news got both praise and blame. The Israeli government welcomed it, and the new prime minister Lapid even twitted " Anti-Semitism will not defeat us, not even on to ice-cream." On the other hand, Ben & Jerry just twitted that it disagrees with the move. On the one hand, it maintains its own social mission, and on the other hand, it respects the legal position of the parent company. It’s believed that both parent and subsidiary company will be glad that this thorny situation could be resolved as affection, rationality and legality are all taken into account. And interestingly, some western media joked that the biggest winner are the consumers in the occupied area, especially in the scorching summer.
From the ebb and flow of its history, the story of Ben & Jerry ice cream, at least ESG matters, must continue. I particularly admire the company’s Fifty Ways to Promote Peace. Some people may ask, what’s the relation between selling ice cream and world peace? Well, that’s the ESG spirit! It suddenly occurs to my mind that bringing out such solution to break the deadlock between Israel and BDS might be also wisdom we Taiwan can learn.
(2022/7/6 United Daily News)