Ice Cream Helps Keep Homeless Warm

The homeless people of Amsterdam could soon be sporting logos on their backs such as Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Phish Food and Chunky Monkey. Nuns running a charity in the city centre have done a deal with the US ice cream company Ben & Jerry's.

In return for financial help for the centre, the nuns have offered to have Ben & Jerry's logos stuck on the backs of new warm jackets for homeless people. A pilot project began last week, with 50 homeless volunteers wearing the jackets.

The nuns' centre provides help for homeless people, alcoholics, drug addicts and prostitutes.

It is a risky venture for the Vermont-based ice cream company, which offers 50 varieties of ice cream, frozen yoghurt and other products. It may win it points as caring capitalists, or it could come to be seen as further demeaning an already vulnerable group in society.

Erwin van der Laan, a spokesman for the media company behind the project, Bizon Media Group, denied that it was demeaning for the participants to wear the advertisements.

He told the Associated Press news agency: "You have to see this as something that they're doing to repay the nuns, something that they're proud of."

He said other companies were also interested in funding similar advertisements.

Johan Gortworst, a spokesman for the Netherlands Shelter Federation, an umbrella organisation for homeless charities which was not involved in the project, said he did not find it offensive. "Most Dutch homeless people are very outspoken and willing to stand up for themselves, and they won't do something like this if they don't support it," he said.

"But you do have to be careful you're not taking advantage of one of the most vulnerable groups in society."

Ben & Jerry's was founded in 1978 by childhood friends, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. Its mission statement is "to operate the company in a way that actively recognises the central role that business plays in society by initiating innovative ways to improve the quality of life locally, nationally and internationally". It makes ice cream and other products "that respect the Earth and the environment".

Mr Gortworst said: "It can be difficult to find companies that are willing to be associated with the homeless."

Amsterdam can be bitterly cold in the winter but Mr Gortworst said that jackets for homeless people were not usually difficult to find. He added that there was a chance they might be traded, though it is not clear who he thought might want them. He said he hoped participants had been screened for psychiatric problems, adding that Ben & Jerry's meant well with the project.