Like many people, I am partially sustained by the sweet, creamy goodness of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. However, it’s not just their delectable creation that steals my heart. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the founders of the company, have been activists for a better world from day one, and their company reflects their values. Since its inception, the Ben & Jerry’s company has been an advocate for social justice, from its “Hubby Hubby” marriage equality flavor to its current campaign finance reform movement, the Stamp Stampede.

I find that phrases like “campaign finance reform” almost automatically cause one’s eyes to glaze over and rarely even inspire a Google search, but it is a term of vital importance to our nation. Cohen and Greenfield seem to have realized this, for they have employed a brilliant method of activist marketing: If you want to get someone interested in a political movement, just add ice cream.

People all over the political spectrum, whether they are Republicans, Democrats or otherwise, have recognized that our country faces a massive threat in the form of money-based corruption. The wealthiest one percent of political donors hold a disproportionate amount of power in our government. This is because the political candidates who raise the most money are overwhelmingly the candidates who win their elections. The role money now plays in our government has made it so politicians only have to meet the needs of the citizens who will give them the biggest donations in order to stay in power, not the American people at large.

Approximately 96 percent of the nation wants money to hold less power in politics, and one of the most vocal members of this group is Ben Cohen. He is not only one of the founders of Ben & Jerry’s, he is the Head Stamper for Stamp Stampede, an organization dedicated to putting an end to money-based corruption in politics through rubber stamps, spirited volunteers, and the occasional free pint of Half Baked.

Cohen described the Stampede as a “tactic” that supports multiple groups all working toward putting an end to money in politics. Its goal is to “return our Democracy to the people,” and “to help people compete with all the money being spent in politics.”

Their approach is quite literal. The Stampede’s main action is stamping campaign finance reform messages directly onto dollar bills, truly making the money talk. The phrases include “Stamp Money Out Of Politics,” “Not To Be Used For Bribing Politicians,” and my personal favorite, “The System Isn’t Broken, It’s Fixed.”

Some may worry that this is defacing currency and therefore a crime, but the stamps are totally legal, and the Stampede has lawyers to prove it.

I asked Cohen if stamping money in any way affected its value, to which he replied, “Yes, it increases the value, because now you have changed your money into media.” Creating media is the epicenter of the Stampede.

“The amazing thing is if you take a rubber stamp, and stamp three bills a day for a year, you create a million impressions,” Cohen said. It is a miraculous truth that every bill stamped will be seen by 875 people, certainly building awareness, but as Cohen explained, the meaning is bigger than that.

“It’s kind of two fold. One is making people’s voices heard. The other is awareness… letting people who really aren’t focused on this issue know that this is a big issue.”

It definitely succeeds in both sectors. The Stampede is an ingenious awareness campaign, but simultaneously it is giving the money of the 99 percent a new kind of power, one that can compete with the influential millions of the top political donors.

Cohen’s method to fight the defeatist yet common mindset that the goal to get money out of politics cannot be achieved is simple and optimistic. “By repetition and by stamping dollar bills.”

Cohen’s businessman side shown through as he described the power of repetition in marketing and advertising. “When people start seeing more and more dollar bills that are stamped with this message they start getting the idea that lots of people are working on this, and yeah, it is possible.”

Repetition is clearly one of the Stampede’s strategies. It encourages supporters to stamp as many bills as possible, have stamping stations, host stamping parties, and drive around trucks attached to billboards designed to look like stamped dollar bills. Besides the dollar bill stamps, the group offers magnets, stickers, static cling signs, and bumper stickers. They even have a bumper sticker contest, where anyone spotted with a Stamp Stampede bumper sticker is given a free pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Weekly winners are entered in a raffle to win a year’s supply of free ice cream. (Now that’s marketing.)

I asked Cohen how he, someone who has advocated for a number of different causes in the past, got involved in campaign finance reform.

“I think that campaign finance reform is the root cause of so many problems that our country is experiencing. It’s the reason why there is this increasing spread between rich and poor. It’s the reason why environmental issues are not being dealt with. It’s the reason why the Wall Street banks are essentially screwing the country, and it’s the reason why student debt is so high.”

He said that corporations are paying politicians to protect their business interests, regardless of whether or not they are in the best interest of the rest of the country, and this is preventing us from addressing important issues.

As a businessman, Cohen said there have been occasional conflicts between his business decisions and his morals.

“We weren’t totally pure,” he chuckled. However, he said, there was always a conscious effort to do good. “Sometime you make a decision that’s environmentally beneficial and it saves you money, and sometime you do environmentally beneficial stuff and it costs you money. I personally think it evens out.”

Cohen said he thought the company’s activism actually helped business, and that any harm it did never outweighed the value of giving back. The key, it seemed, was doing good for the world in ways that also improved business.

After a long life of success and activism, Cohen still chooses to stay involved. “In order for me to be happy, I need to be working to end injustice.” This dedication is a principle he has clearly lived by throughout his career.

Cohen says the ideal end product to the Stampede’s efforts would be a system for publically funding campaigns. “So the only people the politicians are beholding to are the tax payers.”

Once this is accomplished, he joked, his plan is to “hang out in a hammock and eat mangos.”

The Stampede is growing at 100% per year, he said, but the organization is still in need of supporters. “The first thing is to get a stamp, and stamp all the money you can get your hands on.”

Stamp other people’s money, give stamps as presents, stick a bumper sticker on your car, host a stamping party; in Cohen’s words, “stick everything that can be stuck.”

The best thing you can do is pay attention to your representatives on both the state and national level, find out which ones support getting money out of politics, and vote for them.

“The Stampede is a tool. If people choose to use it, we can get money out of politics.”

The Stampede represents a much larger tool: our voices as citizens. Being vocal and involved in government and holding our representatives accountable are the best ways to put a stop to corruption. We the people still hold the ballots, and thus the power. We just need to use it.