• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, October 11, 2011

As Hans Eisenbeis, senior editor of financial services for Iconoculture, recently noted: “Smart brands that care about teen and 20-something markets are looking past the ‘kids these days’ headlines to ponder the real personalities behind Occupy Wall Street. Because if there’s anything really surprising or confusing about the movement, it’s this: What took them so long?”

Meanwhile, one brand is expressing public support for the protests, at least in words.

The board of directors of Unilever subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s has posted a statement supporting the Occupy Wall Street protests on the brand’s Web site.

The post also manages to work in many of the company’s social stances and actions, and messaging with strong appeal to younger consumers.

The headline: “To those who Occupy, we stand with you.” The message: “We, the Ben & Jerry’s Board of Directors, compelled by our personal convictions and our company’s mission and values, wish to express our deepest admiration to all of you who have initiated the non-violent Occupy Wall Street Movement and to those around the country who have joined in solidarity. The issues raised are of fundamental importance to all of us.”

The issues raised, in the board’s assessment, include:

“*The inequity that exists between classes in our country is simply immoral.
*We are in an unemployment crisis. Almost 14 million people are unemployed. Nearly 20% of African American men are unemployed. Over 25% of our nation’s youth are unemployed.
*Many workers who have jobs have to work two or three of them to scrape by.
*Higher education is almost impossible to obtain without going deeply in debt.
*Corporations are permitted to spend unlimited resources to influence elections while stockpiling a trillion dollars rather than hiring people.”

The message goes on to point out that the company has been “actively involved with these issues for years, but your efforts have put them out front in a way we have not been able to do.” And then it lists Ben & Jerry’s’ actions: “We have provided support to citizens’ efforts to rein in corporate money in politics, we pay a livable wage to our employees, we directly support family farms and we are working to source fairly traded ingredients for all our products.”

However, the board “realizes that Occupy Wall Street is calling for systemic change” and supports “this call to action and [is] honored to join you in this call to take back our nation and democracy.”

The post also provides links to the bios of the board members; to its long-standing, three-part (social, product and economic) mission statement; and to its specific positions on economic, environmental, trade and other issues. In addition, there is a list of 11 lobbying efforts/activist causes to which Ben & Jerry’s has made contributions over the past four years.

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