By 1996 it had become a new flavour of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and the title on a Newsweek cover.

ECONOMIST: Nothing is sadder than trying too hard to be cool

Popular chocolate goods such as Cadbury's Dairy Milk, Maltesers and Kit Kat are now fair trade, while ice cream producers Ben and Jerry's will switch to exclusively fair trade ingredients this year.

CNN: British shoppers lead world in fair trade

Colbert, whose tongue-in-cheek public-relations coups have included having a Virgin America airplane and a flavor of Ben and Jerry's ice cream named after him, followed the exploits of his "adopted daughter" on his nightly show.

CNN: Endangered turtles race to save their future

Like Paul Newman, and ice-cream makers Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the founders of Give Something Back, Michael Hannigan and Sean Marx, have figured out that charity can be an effective marketing tool.

FORBES: The Profit Givers

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.

CNN: Stamp stampede on your dollar -- for democracy

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield say they worry about a possible accident.

FORBES: Magazine Article