Häagen-Dazs thanks the Daily Bruin for offering this space when we feared our message of corporate social responsibility might have been lost in the debate over the blurring line between editorial and advertising. That debate is a worthy one, and should continue. The message
Häagen-Dazs had hoped to share is also important.
Honeybees are dying, and we don’t know why. One out of every three bites of food we eat exists only because of honeybee pollination. And, in fact, half of all our Häagen-Dazs flavors rely on “bee-built” ingredients. This is why Häagen-Dazs is tackling this critical food and environmental issue.
We’ve donated $500,000 to support bee research at UC Davis and Pennsylvania State University. We’re also campaigning to raise awareness nationally. We’ve testified before Congress, and have inspired others to join us in saving the honeybee.
Twelve colleges and universities throughout the country agreed to participate in our “World Without Bees” campaign wherein we created spoof newspaper pages that contained only news about honeybees, with all the letter Bs missing from the copy. We adjusted where the ad appeared in each publication based on feedback from each college or university.
In the case of the UCLA Daily Bruin, the paper agreed to place the ad as a front-page wrap and accepted payment without mentioning any concerns. It felt good to pay for the ad placement in your paper, in view of our respect for the role of newspapers, which we understand to be struggling right now. The negative editorial was very much a surprise to us.
It was not our intent to offend, nor to challenge The Bruin’s advertising policies. We make ice cream ““ the best ice cream, we think. Your purchase of
Häagen-Dazs ice cream helps us fund bee research.
Please join our cause on behalf of our littlest farm workers. To learn more, visit helpthehoneybees.com/campusbuzz. The bees thank you for reading this, and so do we.
Your friends at Häagen-Dazs