Each year, the YouTube Works Awards honour the best advertising work in the Netherlands. The award recognises brands that champion inclusivity, diversity, sustainability or other social issues. Ben & Jerry's campaign - 'Half trays of ice cream against half-baked policy' - is a collaboration between Ben & Jerry's, Radboud University and NGO DELITELABS, and revolves around the government's policy that prescribes that an asylum seeker is only allowed to work after six months in the asylum procedure, and then for no more than 24 weeks a year.
Radboud researchers Tesseltje de Lange and Ricky van Oers spearheaded the Ben & Jerry's campaign. Based on research from 2020, De Lange and then student assistant Ezgi Özdemir, in collaboration with Ben & Jerry's, created a toolkit for employers to apply for work permits for asylum seekers. In early 2023, a collective of academics, experts, employers and civil society organisations launched a petition.
Ben & Jerry's made the video accompanying this petition. ''A fine example of impact and cooperation!" says De Lange proudly. ''The petition was presented to the House of Representatives where initiative legislation is now in the pipeline. After courts and eventually the highest administrative court drew a line under the 24-week requirement, because it is contrary to EU law, the UWV has since been able to grant work permits to six times more people in the asylum procedure.''
The video Ben & Jerry's made accompanying the campaign can be seen on YouTube.