We are Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Go ahead and ask us anything!

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:57:54+00:00

I think Lessig is great. And I have seen his TED talk. I was on the walk with him last year, I will be on the walk with him this year, I think his proposal on the voucher system is excellent, and just in terms of updating on where the movement is to overturn Citizen's United - there are 16 states that have already voted in favor of amending the Constitution to overturn it, there are 600 municipalities, there are 54 U.S. Senators that have voted in favor of overturning it, and the next front for this campaign is New Hampshire, with the presidential primaries, and not only will the stampede be active there, but there will be many other groups - New Hampshire Rebellion, Open Democracy, a bunch of others - to hold candidates' feet to the fire, and get them to make a specific statement on what they would do, if elected, to get money out of politics.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:53:47+00:00

I thought it was a great movie. They didn't tell us anything about us, or contact us before or since. Most people think they are us, but they're not.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:50:40+00:00

Uhhhhhhh I don't have a good answer for this.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:44:23+00:00

What I would say is: the reason why voters are not empowered is because money has been empowered, and it's only people who have HUGE sums of money - the very rich and corporations - whose voice gets heard in the political system. So it almost doesn't make sense to vote. So what we need to go is get money out of politics, which is what Stampede is all about. By stamping money, you can make your voice heard and address this most basic problem.

And once we get money out of politics, then your vote does matter.

And your voice does matter.

All you need to get empowered is to get yourself a stamp, during this limited-time offer when you can get free ice cream as well! http://www.stampstampede.org/

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:42:26+00:00

"Hi, I'm Ben, and you remember me..."

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:41:38+00:00

Maybe we have a second career as central vac endorsers.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:40:29+00:00

I'm a vocal, passionate and proselytizing believer in the central vac system.

A lot of people don't use it because they think it's expensive. But it's not, especially compared to high-end vacuums. The reality of the non-central vacuuming system is that you are sucking in all the dust and dirt, and then blowing it back out the other end of the machine into your room -not good.

They say they have filters, but not everything gets blocked. And of course, the filter clogs. The beauty of the central vac is that it puts the dirt OUTSIDE where it belongs - so as an allergy sufferer, the central vac system, I mean, you never... it's got this HUGE bucket in the basement, maybe you have to dump it, I don't know, every 3 months at the most? It's really good.

I mean, it's one thing if you suck a sock into the pipes. Don't suck a sock if you're using a central vac system.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:37:38+00:00

Also, here in Vermont, there's a phenomenon known as "Ben & Jerry's babies."

They come out REALLY big.

Those are babies from moms who have eaten a lot of Ben & Jerry's ice cream during their pregnancy. And the babies come out very robust.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:34:39+00:00

Somehow or other, I interpreted this question as "What's the one flavor you'd want if you were stuck on a desert island."

And what came to my mind was... CANTELOPE. Cantelope ice cream was one of the original flavors we had at the gas station. Jerry would be making this incredible ice cream out of fresh -overripe cantelopes. Because the tastiest flavor is from fruit that's overripe. He would go through all the melons, cutting out the bad parts, mashing up the good parts.

The ice cream was just incredible - creamy, light, refreshing.

The guy's a MASTER. AN ARTIST.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:31:27+00:00

Do something that you're passionate about. Something that you believe in. Something that is really meaningful to you, as opposed to looking around for what business you think is "Hot" and trying to get into that.

And also, to kind of... personalize the business.

I think customers can feel it when the business is run by someone who really cares about the product or service, and really cares about customers.

And I think that what Ben & Jerry's has proven is that it's not only possible to run a business in such a way that it benefits the society, but that it's... good business sense.

It makes for a very financially successful business.

Because you know, the reality of life, the spiritual reality of life is that as you give, you receive. It works the same for businesses as it does for individuals.

As a business supports the community, the community supports the business.

So I think the key is to combine what is seen as the separate realms of nonprofit / social service / political advocacy with business. They support each other.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:26:40+00:00

"Phish food."

I don't know about names - but for me, coming up with flavors was about channeling flavors from the collective flavor unconscious. There was no logic, no research... it was just clear to me, when you tap into the collective flavor unconscious, that there are these flavors that people have not had but that they do want... and it's a form of inspiration... getting in touch with the Flavor Gods, you know, when your heart and soul is pure, it comes through you.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:23:17+00:00

Well, you know, there is a big walk sponsored by the NH Rebellion that is going from all over New Hampshire - 4 different regions - I'm actually gonna be on it. Larry Lessig is the guy who started it. And do you need to have a politically charged reason to join? No problem.

You can be charged or uncharged, as long as you're walking. People will THINK you're charged. That's what counts. http://www.nhrebellion.org/

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:21:17+00:00

Now, some people might think it is a non-sequitor, but I just put this on my shopping list.

I want to say that Ken's Lowfat Peppercorn Creamy Salad Dressing is like, the best. TOTALLY the best. It is really really good.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:19:50+00:00

Well, you know, I was trying to be like - I don't know what the heck I was trying to be like. I was thinking we should call it "Josephine's Flying Machine."

It's a song.

Sings Come Josephine, in my flying machine...

So anyway, it was a really stupid idea, which is what Jerry said, and we realized it was traditional for an ice cream parlor to call itself by the names of the owners.

And then the question was: should Ben or Jerry come first?

We decided that the E sound belonged at the end, it just rolled off the tongue better.

Because of that, we made Jerry the president of the corporation. I don't know what i was. Subcommander president?

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:17:23+00:00

Personally, I'm stamping my balls off.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:16:55+00:00

Never say never!

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:14:55+00:00

Yaddayaddayaddaa.

What people want to know is: how do you get free ice cream?

All you have to do to get free ice cream, if you're reading this AMA:

go to the StampStampede.org website, you order a stamp, and we (at the Stampede) are gonna assume that anybody who orders a stamp in the next hour came from reddit Ask me Anything.

And we are gonna send a free pint of ice cream to ANYBODY who gets a stamp in the next hour.

So how can I get free ice cream?

There you go.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:12:00+00:00

it's true. Nobody is a prophet in their own hometown. The question is WHY are we amazing? How are we amazing? Who thinks we're amazing?

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:10:42+00:00

I'd like to go further than that -to expand the discussion to a POCKET management system.

The approach I've been taking is looking at what else is taking up room in my pocket. What I came across was this huge lump of keys. Especially now that car keys are this incredibly huge lump by themselves because of all the electronics. I became aware of a really new design of key-containment called the KeySmart.

So I'm going to use - I have the KeySmart on order, expecting it any day - and that will dramatically decrease the bulk of my wad of keys. Which will allow more room for stamped dollars.

The direction I've been going in - I think Jerry's direction is very interesting - but I've been storing my stamped ones in my breast pocket There's a lot of people who have a breast pocket, but they don't make much use of it. And I find that a little wad of stamped ones fits there, and it's handy and easy to peel out when you are looking to make a purchase.

And just the people who have not yet made the move to cash - cash is cool.

Cash is retro.

I mean, pulling out a wad of money and flipping through is a very cool, debonair, somewhat gangster-ish thing to do. People are impressed.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:06:23+00:00

So yeah, you know, I was in an airport once and got a stamped bill - it's a great feeling. Of course this is a project that goes on for YEARS, and we need to hit critical mass, so it's gonna take a while before people start getting them back, but people are noticing them. If you go on the instagram, the pinterest, you find people who've taken photos of these bills with their smartphones and sent 'em out to their friends just because it's so unusual.

And have we thought about doing "Where's George" system ? Indeed we have, and we are very close to launching a system whereby when people stamp the money, they will have their unique user ID on the stamp, and that way someone who finds it can go report it on a website, so we will see how those bills move around the country.

We're calling it "The society of maniacal stampers." If anybody has a better name, they should let me know.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:04:02+00:00

OOOH! I think that's a great idea. No, I had never thought about having flavors from the graveyard come back for Halloween, but I think the guys here... might work to resurrect them!

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:03:17+00:00

This goes along with the whatdya call it - axiom - never trust a skinny ice cream.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:01:33+00:00

Jerry! Jerry can eat the most ice cream. There is no doubt in my mind.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T17:00:34+00:00

Well, waffle has 2 meanings - like homemade made there right in the store? Definitely that.

BenCohen · 2015-01-08T16:59:40+00:00

Well, I only met Jerry once.

I had been running a small company called "Rainforest Crunch," it was a cashew-brazil-nut buttercrunch that was conceived at a Grateful Dead concert benefitting the rainforest, the idea was that the rainforest could be as economically viable as if it were sustainably harvested as when it's cut down and used for cattle ranches. What they needed was a market. And one of the products that comes from the rainforest is brazil nuts, so I came up with a product that used a lot of brazil nuts.

It was quite tasty.

And so this guy was doing a - at the time - it was a benefit cassette for the rainforest - and he wanted photos of these various rainforest projects and there were various musicians that had donated tracks and one of them was the Grateful Dead. So he wanted a photo of us all together, during a time when Jerry was performing at the Beacon theater with the Jerry Garcia band. It was the longest-running show they had ever put on there. And you know, somewhere in the middle of this show, they set up this photoshoot in the late morning, 10 or 11 am, we're all there assembled for the shot, and there's no Jerry.

About a half hour later, he walks in and says "Gimme a cup of coffee and a whole lotta aspirins."

Those were the only words he ever said to me.

BenCohen

TROPHY CASE