The inside story of the Kamala Harris-inspired ice cream from Ben & Jerry's co-founders

Less than two months before November’s presidential election, Ben & Jerry's cofounders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are releasing a special ice-cream flavor inspired by Vice President Kamala Harris called Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee. 

For those not “coconut-pilled” — supporting the Democratic candidate or at least knowledgeable of memes starring her — the name references Harris’ viral story of her mother’s saying that young people sometimes seem to think they “fell out of a coconut tree.”

Edward Erikson, founder and president of Erikson Communication Group, emphasized that the ice cream has no connection to Ben & Jerry’s the corporation, which is going over the heads of some news outlets and consumers. Erikson’s firm has worked with Cohen since 2012. 

“Reporters like to use Ben & Jerry’s in the headline because it is a good hook and connection, and then people assume that Ben & Jerry’s is involved,” he said. 

Erikson said his firm is not helping Ben & Jerry’s field complaints or questions about the flavor and deferred to the company for comment. 

"We’ll just reiterate for clarity that this is not a Ben & Jerry’s company initiative or product. It is a project of our company’s cofounders acting in their personal capacity and as such are not representing Ben & Jerry’s,” a spokesperson for the brand said. “Nothing else to add outside of that."

Ben & Jerry’s, Erikson said, has always been “great” at comms and customer service.

“Every once and a while, [Cohen] has done things that have caused controversy for the company,” said Erikson. “Ben & Jerry’s has been true to its values and is good at communicating them.”

Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee was created after progressive PAC MoveOn Political Action reached out to Cohen, Erikson said.  

The progressive public-policy advocacy group and political action committee is doing a get-out-the-vote tour called Scoop the Vote, starting on Monday in Philadelphia. It will travel to swing states and districts in an ice-cream truck handing out free ice cream with special guests to reach and engage voters.

“They asked us if we would participate and if [Cohen] would make a flavor to support the tour,” said Erikson. “We are excited to support [Harris] so we thought this was a great idea to do with them.”

MoveOn is partnering with Cohen and Greenfield to raffle off free, limited-edition, autographed pints of Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee. 

The ice cream was launched with an exclusive in USA Today on Thursday, arranged by MoveOn, Erikson said. MoveOn and Cohen are following this up with a social media campaign to promote the tour and flavor. 

To kick off our #ScoopTheVote campaign, we're raffling off free, limited-edition pints of Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee, a coconut ice cream with a caramel ripple and confetti stars, made by Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield!

Enter here for your chance to win: https://t.co/eKnQlI4Mvh https://t.co/tu29tb7DOO pic.twitter.com/BAjgZTtuOw

— MoveOn (@MoveOn) September 12, 2024

At the event on Monday in Philadelphia, Cohen and Greenfield will be “scooping ice cream, getting volunteers and getting people excited to go vote,” Erikson said.

This isn’t the first time Ben & Jerry’s cofounders have unveiled a political ice-cream flavor. In 2016, Cohen created Bernie’s Yearning to support Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Before the 2020 election, he created Bernie’s Back, referring to Sanders’ second run for president.

MoveOn’s Scoop the Vote Tour will also hold events in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada that will feature elected officials, activists and other special guests. At each stop, MoveOn will help attendees make a plan to vote by November 5 and show voters how they can get their friends and family to vote, according to a MoveOn statement. 

MoveOn is also collaborating with Jeni Britton, founder of Jeni’s Ice Creams, and Malai Ice Cream in New York City on the tour. MoveOn will serve electorally themed ice-cream flavors that include, Unburdened by What has Vanilla Bean, Inauguration Celebration Birthday Cake, Fight For Our Rights Sorbet and MoveOn Mobilizer Milk Chocolate. They are also collaborating with local scoop shops along the tour.

The Scoop the Vote tour will support the organization’s $32 million 2024 election program, which aims to persuade and mobilize infrequent “surge” voters in key districts to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot.

Ben & Jerry’s is part of Unilever’s ice cream unit, which the CPG giant is spinning off to reduce costs and simplify its portfolio of brands. The spinoff is expected to be completed by the end of next year.