Unilever and Ben & Jerry's: A Marketing Case on Food Contamination

This case study analyzes the issue of food contamination, specifically focusing on Ben & Jerry's ice cream, a brand owned by Unilever. The research explores the presence of harmful chemicals like pesticides and herbicides in the product, contradicting the company's mission of providing high-quality, safe food. It examines the social impact of food contamination, referencing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's findings on related health issues and financial losses. The study critiques Ben & Jerry's management's response to the contamination issue, highlighting their perceived lack of responsibility and its effect on Unilever's reputation. The case then proposes a digital marketing strategy to address the problem, emphasizing the role of social media in raising consumer awareness and influencing purchasing decisions. Ultimately, the study suggests strategies for Ben & Jerry's and Unilever to mitigate the issue and regain consumer trust.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
The Issue of Harmful Chemicals in Branded Products
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................1
Context of the research and aim:.................................................................................................1
Structure:......................................................................................................................................2
Scope or boundaries of the research:...........................................................................................2
Body case content:...........................................................................................................................2
The company- Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc, and its owner Unilever Plc:....................2
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc......................................................................................2
Unilever Group:...........................................................................................................................3
The product- Ben & Jerry’s Ice cream:.......................................................................................4
Social cause (issue) pertaining to Ben & Jerry’s Ice-cream- the chosen product:..........................4
Digital marketing case strategy to solve the issue:..........................................................................7
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................8
Recommendations:..........................................................................................................................8

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Marketing of food products made from organic raw materials:..................................................9
Innovation:...................................................................................................................................9
Monitoring and controlling the operations of subsidiaries very strictly:.....................................9
Questions:......................................................................................................................................11
References:....................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction:
Context of the research and aim:
The issue of food products contamination is a serious issue facing the food and beverage
industry in the United States of America. As per the findings of the USDA as high as 70% of the
food produced in the country are contaminated with pesticides and chemicals. Even ground
water, which is largely consumed by the Americans, contains pesticides and herbicides. These
chemicals are so harmful they can cause diseases like asthma and even certain types of cancers
(Zanolli 2019). The consumers usually look upon brands as parameters of quality and usage of
superior quality ingredients in products. The consumers usually presume that branded food
products have less or no harmful chemicals like pesticides (Magnier, Schoormans and Mugge
2016 ). This trust of consumers in brands has enabled the transnational food manufacturing
companies market food products among an immense customer base around the world. However,
the products of these companies often after being tested reveal to contain high levels of
pesticides and herbicides. Thus, one can establish that these multinational food manufacturing
companies actually breach the trust which the consumers and the society in general embody in
their products as well as their quality. Thus, one can establish that this presence of harmful
chemicals in the branded food products has emerged into a matter of great social concern. One
such products which revealed presence of high pesticides and herbicides was Ben & Jerry’s, the
premium brand of ice cream marketed by the American frozen dessert company Ben & Jerry’s
Homemade Holdings Inc, which is owned by Unilever Group, the second largest business
conglomerate in the world (Strom 2017). The aim of the paper would be exploring the social
issue of food contamination with the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream food contamination as its base.

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Structure:
The research would at first introduce the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc, the
owner of the ice cream brand by the same name and its present parent company, the Unilever
Group (Benjerry.com. 2020). Then researcher would then introduce the product under research
namely, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The third section of the research would shed light light on the
social issue of food contamination through the lenses of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The fourth
section would explore the use of social media to deal of the issue of food contamination
following a digital market strategy to solve the issue. The discussion would be concluded after
by summarizing the findings from the analysis. The research would ultimately recommend
strategies which the management of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. and its parent
company could adopt to deal with the issue of food contamination in food products.
Scope or boundaries of the research:
The scope of the research would mainly revolve around the product chosen namely, Ben
& Jerry’s ice cream. However, the research may also contain mentions of other food product
brands owned by Unilever like Magnum ice cream. The country of research would be the United
States of America, the home country of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc.
Body case content:
The company- Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc, and its owner Unilever Plc:
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc.
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. is an American company which manufactures,
owns and markets Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in the United States of America. The company also

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markets other frozen dessert products like frozen yogurt and sorbets. The mission of the
company stands on three pillars. The first pillar of the mission is the economic mission according
to which the company aims to operate in profitable ways. The second mission of the company is
that it aims to bring about innovations in its operations so that it helps in bringing about
improvement in the lives of the communities of people, both in the US as well as internationally.
The third and last leg of the mission of the company is product mission. The product mission of
the company is ‘To make, distribute and sell the finest quality ice cream and euphoric
concoctions with a continued commitment to incorporating wholesome, natural ingredients
and promoting business practices that respect the Earth and the Environment.’
(Benjerry.com. 2020). The company is owned by the global FMCG conglomerate, Unilever
Group since 2000. The present CEO of Ben & Jerry’s is
Jostein Solheim.
Unilever Group:
The Unilever Group is one of the leading global FMCG companies operating under the
leadership of Unilever Plc., based in London, the United Kingdom and Unilever N.V., based in
Rotterdam, Netherlands. Unilever operates under the leadership of Alan Jopem the CEO and Nils
Andersen, the chairman. The company operates in more than a 100 countries in the world.
Unilever Plc. is primarily listed on the LSE while Unilever is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam.
The company owns several top brands in the FMCG market like Dove, Bru and Magnum ice
cream (Unilever.com. 2020). Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry’s in 2000 and is its present parent
company (WSJ.com. 2000).

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The product- Ben & Jerry’s Ice cream:
Ben & Jerry’s is a premium brand of ice cream marketed by Ben & Jerry’s Homemade
Holdings Inc., based in the US. The ice cream is marketed in more than twenty countries. The ice
cream is sold in different variants like chocolate, yoghurt based and non-dairy based. The ice
cream products are made available to customers through retail chains and through the chains of
franchisees.
Social cause (issue) pertaining to Ben & Jerry’s Ice-cream- the chosen product:
Food contamination with chemicals like pesticides and herbicides is one of the main
social issues facing the food and beverage industry in the United States. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Government of the United States mentions that as high as 1 person out
of 6 persons in the US suffer from diseases owing to food contamination. The body further
mentions that a whopping 3000 people die owing to food contamination in the US. The issue
leads to a loss of $ 15.6 billion annually in the American society (Cdc.gov. 2020). The presence
of pesticides and herbicides in the food products causes severe health problems to the extent of
cancer (Zanolli 2019). Thus, it can be established on the basis of this finding that presence of
chemicals in the food products in the US is a severe social issue.

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Figure 1. Graph showing multistate food borne diseases outbreak in the US from 1998 to 2015
(Source: Cdc.gov. 2020)
The issue of food contamination is not listed to the local brands but even renowned
brands like Ben & Jerry’s, the brand of ice cream marketed and owned by Ben & Jerry’s
Homemade Holdings Inc., subsidiary to Unilever. The frozen dessert products marketed under
the brand name of Ben & Jerry showed concentration of glyphosphate, a herbicide which is used
in the crops. The contamination of the frozen dessert products were so high that as many as 10
samples out of even 11 samples tested showed the presence of the chemical (Strom 2017). An
analysis of the case shows that this discovery of widespread presence of chemicals in the ice
cream marketed under the brand of Ben & Jerry’s actually contradict with the very product
mission and social mission of the company. The social mission of the mission says that it aims to
operate in ways to improve the living standards of the local communities. However, taking into
account the several health problems which pesticides and herbicides cause to humans, one can

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establish that the company has failed to live up to its social mission (Cdc.gov. 2020). One can
also point out that the company has failed to uphold its product mission, which says the company
aims to market superior quality ice cream.
The response of the management of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. was
extremely irresponsible and slack when the issue was brought into its notice. The management of
the company in a press release mentioned that it was, ‘Concerned, but not totally surprised.’ to
gain knowledge about the contamination. The slack approach of the company to issue was
further highlighted by the fact that it pointed out food contamination is ‘everywhere’. The
management of the company reinstated that the food products it markets are safe to consume
(Benjerry.com. 2020). This showed that the management of the company exhibited a very slack
approach towards its responsibility of marketing superior quality food products to consumers.
One can point out that the management of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. did not only
damage its own image by this slack approach it showed in the case of food contamination in its
products but also the image of its parent company, Unilever. Unilever, being the parent company
would ultimately be responsible for business misconducts of its subsidiaries. Thus, in this case,
the unethical practice of using ingredients containing herbicides in the ice creams which Ben &
Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. has indulged into would make Unilever responsible before its
stakeholders like consumers and governments. The values and principles of Unilever aim to
benefit the stakeholders including consumers and the environment by operating in responsible
ways like marketing superior quality products sans harmful chemicals (Unilever.com. 2020).
Thus, by marketing ice creams containing glyphosate, Ben & Jerry’s has actually contradicted
the very values of Unilever.

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Digital marketing case strategy to solve the issue:
Digital marketing strategy could be used to solve the issue namely, contamination of food
products with chemicals like glyphosate. The case study shows that the company namely, Ben &
Jerry’s showed a very slack and irresponsible response when the issue of food contamination in
its products came to the forefront. Thus, one can point out from the response of the company to
matter that one cannot have total faith the companies would take steps to deal with these issues.
However, the harmful effect of the chemicals on the health of the consumers cannot be ruled.
This means that steps should be taken to ensure that cases of food contamination are reduced to
the feasible extent. The stakeholders of the food manufacturing companies like the consumers
can use social media to create and spread awareness about the issue. They can in fact put
pressure on the companies concerned to take action against contamination of food products they
market, if any. For example, the consumers of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream can spread awareness
about the case of contamination of food products on the social media platforms like Facebook
and Instagram. This means that the prospective consumers would be able to gain information
about the issue of food contamination in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and would consider against
buying the product. They would instead buy other brands of ice cream like Magnam, also owned
by Unilever. Thus, in this case Ben & Jerry’s would lose its customers to Magnum, its fellow
subsidiary. As far as Unilever is concerned, the company would gain more revenue from
Magnum and incur losses from Ben & Jerry’s (Unilever.com. 2020). The company would as
result invest more capital in the former compared to the latter. If the losses incurred by Ben &
Jerry’s falls below the breakeven point owing to losing its customers owing to food
contamination, Unilever may divest in its shares, thus rendering it financially weak. The
customers may also purchase ice creams owned by other companies like Nestle. Thus, in this

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case, Unilever would entirely lose its customers to its competitors owing to Ben & Jerry’s. The
FMCG giant may in this case totally divest in Ben & Jerry’s in order to retain its customers and
strengthen its goodwill. These steps which Unilever may taken against Ben & Jerry’s would not
be favourable for the latter. The management of Ben & Jerry’s in order to avoid losing support of
the customers and support of Unilever would automatically be compelled to take steps against
the cases of food contamination. Thus, one can establish that customers in the United States can
utilise social media strategically to solve the issue of contamination of food products marketed
by companies to a great extent, especially in the situations when the company concerned
exhibits a very slack response to the issue.
Conclusion:
One can conclude from the analysis above that food contamination owing to presence of
herbicide and pesticide is a very serious social issue in the United States of America. The
pesticides and herbicides have dire consequences on the health of the consumers. This means
that the companies manufacturing the food products should take strong steps in ensuring that the
food products they market contain either no or very little chemicals to the extent avoidable. As
far as Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. is concerned, the response of the management of
the company to the discovery of glyphosate in products marketed by it was extremely slack. The
discussion finally pointed out that consumers can utilise social media to deal with the issue of
food contamination especially in the event when companies concerned show slack responses.
Recommendations:
The following are the recommendations which can be placed before the management of
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. and Unilever, its parent company in order to ensure that

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the issue of food contamination in the finished products they market are minimised to the extent
feasible:
Marketing of food products made from organic raw materials:
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. and Unilever should market food products
which are made from organic raw materials like organically cultivated wheat. The companies
should acquire the raw materials like milk and wheat from suppliers using organic techniques to
produce them. This would ensure that the products made from these raw materials are sans
harmful chemicals and pesticides. This measure to a large extent to enable reduction of
contamination in the food products marketed by these firms owing to presence of chemicals.
Innovation:
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. and its parent company namely, Unilever should
carry on innovation to manufacture food products, which contain minimum chemicals. The
company should acquire more advanced machine and technology, which would enable
separation of chemicals right at the raw materials stage. The manufacturing process which the
companies would adopt would also enable them there is no further scope of contamination of the
products at any subsequent stage. Thus, one can establish that innovation in the food production
technique would enable the companies to reduce the incidence to a great extent.
Monitoring and controlling the operations of subsidiaries very strictly:
Unilever should control and monitor the operations of its subsidiaries very strictly. The
slack response which the management of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. gave to the
contamination case to some extent shows the lack of control which Unilever exercises on its
subsidiaries. The management of Unilever should maintain very strong supervision in every

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aspect of operations of its subsidiaries including Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc.. It
should take immediate actions in case any subsidiaries act unethically and illegally.

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Questions:
1. Why is food contamination a social issue?
2. Was the response of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc. acceptable?
3. How can social media be used by consumers to tackle food contamination issues?
4. How can failing to deal with food contamination effect the concerned companies?
5. What steps can Unilever take to ensure minimising food contamination?

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References:
Benjerry.com. 2020. Benjerry.Com. [online] Available at:
<https://www.benjerry.com/values/how-we-do-business#ingredients> [Accessed 12 March
2020].
Cdc.gov. 2020. Cdc.Gov. [online] Available at:
<https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/images/Multistat-eOutbreaks-byYear.jpg> [Accessed 14
March 2020].
Magnier, L., Schoormans, J. and Mugge, R., 2016. Judging a product by its cover: Packaging
sustainability and perceptions of quality in food products. Food Quality and Preference, 53,
pp.132-142.
Strom, S., 2017. Nytimes.Com. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at:
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0az7/25/dining/ben-and-jerrys-ice-cream-herbicide-
glyphosate.html> [Accessed 14 March 2020].
Unilever.com. 2020. Unilever.Com. [online] Available at:
<https://www.unilever.com/news/press-releases/?
monthFrom=1&yearFrom=2001&monthTo=12&yearTo=2020&page=6> [Accessed 14 March
2020].
WSJ.com. 2000. WSJ.Com. [online] Available at:
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB955522850788928066> [Accessed 14 March 2020].

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Zanolli, L., 2019. Theguardian.Com. [online] Theguardian.com. Available at:
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/29/pesticides-everyday-products-toxics-
guide> [Accessed 12 March 2020].