Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has waded into the redefining marriage debate by symbolically renaming one of its ice creams in support of gay marriage.
The Westminster Government is set to launch a consultation on rewriting the definition of marriage later this week.
Ben & Jerry’s has teamed up with Stonewall, a homosexual lobby group, and is renaming its apple pie flavour ice cream ‘Apple-y Ever After’.
Irritated
According to the company’s website, the stunt is an attempt to “raise awareness” about the issue.
But Will Heaven, an assistant comment editor at The Telegraph, criticised the move, saying: “Reading that PR announcement made me want to bulk-buy Häagen-Dazs.
“Why? Not because I’m a crazed homophobe, but because I’m so irritated by my food telling me what I should believe.”
Scoop
Mr Heaven also warned that people were likely to be unimpressed by “ice cream that says, ‘buy me, or you’re a bigot'”.
Apple-y Ever After will only be available in selected scoop shops. It will not be sold in pint size tubs.
Ben & Jerry’s and Stonewall have also launched a Facebook app that asks users to ‘marry’ each other online.
Redefine
And they have drafted a template letter to encourage people to lobby their MPs to redefine marriage.
Ilaria Ida, the company’s European Social Mission Manager, said: “This is a proud day for Ben and Jerry’s when we can show our support for a cause that’s at the core of our values.”
In 2009 Ben & Jerry’s renamed its Chubby Hubby to ‘Hubby Hubby’ to celebrate gay marriage legalisation in the US state of Vermont.
Accused
A petition supporting the current definition of marriage has been signed by more than 190,000 people in just over three weeks. It is being run by the Coalition for Marriage.
Earlier this week, UKIP’s openly gay London Regional Chairman cautioned that people who believe in traditional marriage could find themselves accused of ‘hate crimes’ if marriage is redefined.
Last month homosexual celebrity Christopher Biggins said he is happy with civil partnerships but doesn’t want to redefine marriage because “we can’t just get rid of everything”.