Unwarranted!

Huh, tastes kind of like lies, doesn't it?

So maybe lavishing so much importance and prestige on someone because of some outmoded system most countries have long since abandoned is a questionable practice? I mention this because last week King Charles III withheld the royal warrant from a couple of companies who've been enjoying the hoity toitsity that comes with it. The companies in question are the candy company Cadbury, and Unilever which makes a lot of things including Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Evidently the titular hippies from Vermont sold out back in 2000.

Oh Hyacinth, will they ever
pronounce your name correctly?

But what even does that mean? Welp, because I grew up watching British sit-coms on PBS--specifically Keeping Up Appearances--I happen to know that in the UK, the monarch grants certain companies the warrant which is a sort of coat-of-ams they can put on their products. I don't think we have anything similar in America outside of sweetheart deals for government contractors, but that's more like graft. Having The Royal Warrant means that the Royal family, or at least the Palace actually uses your goods or services, but it also seems to work something like a seal of approval.

A seal of approval granted to your company by someone able to trace their lineage all the way back to the conquest. 

Above: it was at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 that
the future of product endorsements would be decided.

Sorry, just kidding. He worked very
hard to get where he is today...

Monarchy is, and I don't think I'm alone on this, objectively ridiculous-although we're swearing in a felon in a couple of weeks, so who are we to talk? But what makes Charles III any more qualified than say you or I to decide which flavor of ice cream has the cleverest name or which cloyingly sweet chocolate egg is the most...easter-y? He's just some guy. A guy who was born into wealth, privilege, and power, but still. What gives him the right to withhold the warrant and potentially cost these companies millions of dollars in lost sales?

The unwritten constitution of the United Kingdom, the divine right of kings, and I don't know, Magna Carta? Look, I'm not an expert. But it's also true that while Buckingham Palace makes it a policy not to explain, well, anything, the consensus here is that both companies have been doing business in Russia whom you might recall in moving past the decade mark in its war with Ukraine? So, I'm kind of with Chuck on this one. 

International policy on this is clear: no ice cream for you
until you withdraw your forces from Ukrainian territory.