Say I DOugh to Marriage Equality

Ben & Jerry’s ‘Say I DOugh’ is a campaign calling on Australians to show their support for marriage equality by making their voice heard to their local politicians. In partnership with Australian Marriage Equality, ‘Say I Dough’ encourages supporters to let their local politicians know they want to see equality in Australia by dialing the ‘Equality Calling’ number and leaving a message of support. The campaign will be brought to life at the 2015 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, of which Ben & Jerry’s is an official sponsor. The campaign will also be supported online through social media and in selected Australian press and radio.

Equality Calling is a mass-voicemail petition facilitated by Ben & Jerry’s and Australian Marriage Equality to share the Australian publics’ messages of support for marriage equality with local politicians. The cutting-edge phone system allows anyone in Australia to call and leave a voice message supporting marriage equality that will then sent via a phone call to the relevant local MPs and Senators. You can leave your message of support by dialing 1300 663 679 today.

From the beginning of the company’s 36-year-history, Ben & Jerry’s has supported equal rights for all people.  We were one of the first companies in the early 90s in the US that offered all employees the same company benefits irrespective of their sexual orientation. We believe our campaign, including the symbolic renaming of Cookie Dough to ‘I DOugh, I DOugh’ is a great way to show our support for marriage equality as well as aligning with our company’s values.

In the spirit of equality, something very close to our hearts here at Ben & Jerry’s, we feel everyone should be able to celebrate and enjoy marriage – without having to settle for a separate label for their committed relationship. We champion equality and social justice – meaning marriage, along with civil partnerships, should be available to all – allowing couples to choose how they would best like to mark their commitment to each other.

Great question! Some politicians tell us that they don’t think marriage equality is a very important issue because they don’t receive many phone calls from their voters supporting it.

Ben & Jerry’s and AME developed Equality Calling to change that! We wanted to facilitate a system where the public could literally have their voice heard by their local politicians. Not only do we want to increase the number of calls politicians receive regarding the issue of Marriage Equality, but by creating our Equality Calling phone system, we can capture these calls in a quantifiable way so we can show just how many people believe this is an important issue.

Equality Calling represents a new style of public demonstration; it’s the first time anyone has done something like this in Australia! We hope that because of the unique style of this campaign all MP’s will accept our voicemails, we know they understand that the views of their constituents are important and should be heard.