As I'm sure most have heard by now, Ben and Jerry's started a frozen yogurt line. One of their flavors in particular is called, Lin-Sanity, after the New York Knicks rising star, Jeremy Lin. The biggest problem that Ben and Jerry's faced was their original idea of putting fortune cookies into the frozen yogurt. This caused a slight public disturbance due to the association with being Asian and the stereotype surrounding fortune cookies.
For me, I'm impartial to the problem-- I can see how both sides could be offended. In a world that is becoming increasingly more politically correct, it seems like more of a PR move to keep the public happy which is understandable. It just seems like everyone gets offended by everything in this day and age.
BUT, when I was reading this, I wondered how wise is it to put all your eggs in one basket. As of now, Lin is a great athlete and has put up good numbers to support his fame, but what happens when his fame runs out? Not only could Lin be a one time wonder, but also Ben and Jerry's is stuck with a product name of a one hit wonder too. Does the company keep the name? Or drop it?
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I think they could keep the name because it's not something that they would have to carry on for forever. Ben and Jerry's has an "ice cream graveyard" which is where they put flavors that are no longer popular after a certain amount of time. Therefore, I think that they should go through with making the frozen yogurt. And I agree with the statement that someone is always going to think that something is offensive, so it's ultimately the company's decision to add the fortune cookies or not. I don't think it should be seen as offensive. I think it should be seen as a tribute to his roots, not as an insult.
ReplyDeleteI come from the same perspective as someone who “can see a problem” however the situation doesn’t bother personally. However, I feel that Ben and Jerry’s should have seen this coming, and this “racey” move may not have been the way to bring attention back to the company. This is especially interesting because for a long standing company with a focus on it’s customers and giving back to the community, they would pull a move like this. What sort of bothers me though is that the decision for this flavor of ice cream probably went through a board voting process, and somehow passed. Enough people should have seen this as too close to the edge for being a plausible name for a product on the market.
ReplyDeleteThe company definitely drops the name eventually because Lin is already beginning to decline. However I like the proactive approach of coming out with the flavor and trying to grab the lin-sanity money bag. The fortune cookies is a little much and who knows whether they were trying to get more asian's to eat it or adding the ingredient strictly because Lin is asian.
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