Today is Ben & Jerry’s “Free Cone Day”, where it will be “giving away free ice cream at a host of locations between 12pm and 8pm”.
“Don’t forget to tell your friends!”, it adds.
It all sounds rather lovely until you realise Ben & Jerry’s true agenda, which is to encourage young people to register to vote.
Indeed, Ben & Jerry’s is giving out free ice cream as part of a campaign with My Life My Say, a youth democracy charity with plenty of Labour links.
An Instagram post by My Life My Say explains: “We’re one week away from National Voter Registration Day which means there are only 7 days left to register to vote in time for the upcoming May elections 🗳️”
“On our mission to get all young people registered and ready, we’ve got a huge week ahead 👀”
“🍦Tomorrow – Catch us at Free Cone Day with @benandjerrysuk at their Edinburgh, London and Peterborough locations!”
Another post from five days ago reads:
“#GiveAnX at FREE CONE DAY 🍦
“Ben & Jerry’s UK are celebrating their Free Cone Day on April 14th and once again, My Life My Say and the Give an X campaign will be there to help spread the word about the upcoming local and devolved elections 📣
”We’ll be in Soho, Peterborough & Edinburgh (they’re also doing Free Cone Day at their Brighton and Windsor Scoop Shops 👀) on April 14th! Come by for some free ice cream and support our mission to get young people into polling booths at the May elections 🗳️
It should leave people in no doubt about the nature of Ben & Jerry’s generosity.
On its own Instagram page, Ben & Jerry’s has been encouraging people to register for local elections.
“Want to live in a place that takes proper care of refugees, or people experiencing homelessness or mental health? Your vote gives the cues”, reads one of its graphics.
The volume of posts about voter registration suggests it’s quite concerned about the results…
Nothing a free ice cream can’t sort out, ey!
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