US ice cream firm Ben and Jerry ignore plea from grieving family to change name of brand
The American ice cream firm Ben & Jerry’s have turned down a plea from a grieving family to rename its “Hazed & Confused” ice cream, defying anti-hazing activists who say the name is insensitive to victims of the dangerous college tradition.
Ben and Jerry: The brand name stays
Lianne and Brian Kowiak's 19-year old son, Harrison Kowiak, died of a head injury during a fraternity “hell week” hazing ritual at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, in 2008.
The company found nothing in its marketing for the chocolate and hazelnut flavor that “condoned hazing, supported hazing, or even inferred hazing,” said Sean Greenwood, a spokesman for the Vermont-based company, which is owned by Unilever NV.
Executives also took into account that Internet responses were mostly favorable, he said.
“It didn’t make sense for us to change the name,” Greenwood said. “We named it because it’s a pop culture reference.”
The name of the flavour, which includes fudge chips and a hazelnut fudge core, was a play on “dazed and confused,” the company has said. That phrase was made famous by a Led Zeppelin song and a 1993 coming-of-age film comedy.
The Kowiaks from Florida sued for wrongful death and won an out-of-court settlement. Harrison Kowiak was a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream fan, Bloomberg reported.
“The company completely avoided and didn’t take into consideration what are the unintentional implications of this chosen name,” Brian Kowiak said in an interview following a call he had yesterday with officials at Ben & Jerry’s.
‘The Kowiaks noticed an advertisement for the ice cream and sent an e-mail to Ben & Jerry’s on Sept. 5. The flavour had been in stores since February. Criticism also came from anti-hazing activist Hank Nuwer at Stophazing.org, who urged readers to contact Ben & Jerry’s.
“I just paused, and I was shocked and we were dismayed,” Lianne Kowiak said last month. “I was just upset about it.”
After the complaints, the company condemned hazing and later said it would consider changing the name. The company received 11 complaints, which were mostly e-mails, said the Ben & Jerry’s spokesman.
“The flavor Hazed & Confused and Ben & Jerry’s as a company in no way condone –- nor support in any manner –- the act of hazing or bullying,” the company said in a statement at the time. “Ben & Jerry’s believes that hazing and bullying have no place in our society.”