Delicious Irony: Foot-shooting philanthropy.

• Author: MacDonald, Sam
• Position: Citings - Capital Research Center finds large corporations often give money to social movements working against them - Brief Article

WHY IN THE world would an enormous multinational corporation give millions of dollars to pesky anti-globalization groups? It's all about the ice cream.

On October 16, Britain's Financial Times ran an almost humorous piece on how consumer products giant Unilever lavishes piles of cash on vocal street marchers such as Global Exchange, the Ruckus Society, and United for a Fair Economy. The bizarre subsidy began last year, when Unilever took over Ben &Jerry's, the famously left-wing ice cream company. It seems the hippies at BaJ mustered one last socially conscious gasp before bolting with the cash.

According to the Financial Times, "When Unilever was courting Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield last year, the Anglo-Dutch group agreed to contribute [$5 million] to Ben & Jerry's Foundation, another ($5 million] for a venture capital fund for ethical start-ups called Hot Fudge, to be run by Mr. Cohen, and a minimum [$1 million] a year commitment to grants for social change groups."

Unilever isn't the only corporate masochist...