The latest American overreaction is over ice cream, of all things.
Anti-hazing activists complained to ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s because of the name of their chocolate and hazelnut concoction “Hazed & Confused.”
The name had nothing to do with risky behavior of college students, Ben & Jerry’s spokesman Sean Greenwood told Bloomberg News.
The outcry stems from concern over hazing, a serious problem in American universities. College organizations, fraternities, sororities and sports teams can require students to engage in dangerous activities in order to be initiated into their group. Common types of hazing include forcing students to consume alcohol, do humiliating activities, not sleep or perform sex acts, according to insidehazing.com.
Five percent of college students admit to be hazed, but nine out of 10 students who have experienced it do not consider it to be hazing, according to insidehazing.com. Hazing is illegal, according to lawyers.com.
So hazing is a serious problem, and the upset at Ben & Jerry’s does come from a family who has experienced pain from it. Tampa residents Lianne and Brian Kowiak were affected personally after their son Harrison Kowiak died of head injury. The injury occurred Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, NC., where Harrison was participating in a hazing ritual.
The ice cream flavor was on the market for six months before the Kowiaks said anything, according to Bloomberg News.
While the Kowiaks have a reason to be upset, it just seems that their actions are typical of our American culture. We deal with serious issues, but we decide to pick our battles over things like ice cream flavors.
The ice cream name debate may have been a greater concern if it actually had something to do with hazing. The name a playful interpretation of “dazed and confused,” the pop culture phrase made famous through a Led Zeppelin song and a comedy from 1993, according to Greenwood.
The hazelnut flavor played nicely into the word “hazed,” we think.
Rather than walking into a grocery store and getting upset over what we think an ice cream brand is trying to say, we should be active in a cause we care about. Let’s be active in organizations working to stop hazing, rather than complaining to an ice cream company that is against hazing anyway.
This isn’t to say that the Kowiaks’ actions were uncalled for. No, we should complain if we think companies are blatantly naming their products with poor taste. This doesn’t mean that the company should be legally required to change the name. It just means that we can use our freedom of speech to express how we feel. And then the company can have the freedom to change the name as they wish.
We just don’t think Ben & Jerry’s product endorses hazing in any way.
We should say one thing: the Kowiaks did advance the conversation of hazing by expressing their anger. Now everyone who reads this editorial knows a little more about hazing.
