America has gone linsane over NY Knicks underdog phenomenon Jeremy Lin. Taking advantage of the marketing opportunity, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream released a special edition “Taste the Lin-Sanity” fro-yo. The vanilla frozen yogurt, with swirls of lychee honey and fortune-cookie pieces was only sold at the Harvard Square location in Cambridge, Massachusetts in honor of Lin’s alma mater.
But now Ben & Jerry is under scrutiny by Asian Americans because the ice cream perpetuated stereotypes. The company has released a statement apologising, “Our intention was to create a flavor to honor Jeremy Lin’s accomplishments and his meteoric rise in the NBA, and recognize that he was a local Harvard graduate. We try to demonstrate our commitment as a Boston-based, valued-led business and if we failed in this instance, we offer our sincere apologies.”
