Ontario-based Chapman's Ice Cream was elevated to corporate folk hero status in November 2021 when the company announced a $1 raise to all employees who were fully vaccinated, a move meant to balance out the costs of doing the rapid tests at company expense.

Like any corporation that appeared to take a stance on vaccines, Chapman's became a polarizing topic, the company hit with a boycott from anti-vaxxers and a counter-movement of support from the pro-vaccine camp.

But with mandates over, unvaccinated Chapman's employees are now getting that same raise, and not everyone is loving the move.

To those who have been misinformed. pic.twitter.com/c14AoczjtJ

— Chapman's Ice Cream (@Chapmans_Canada) May 9, 2022

In a statement released on Monday afternoon directed at "those who have been misinformed," the Markdale, Ontario-based company clarified that "unvaccinated employees were not fired" and that "the $1 difference in pay was to offset the costs of rapid testing for unvaccinated employees, as those expenses were covered by the company."

The statement adds that "Since the rapid testing program was modified at the end of the 5th COVID wave, all unvaccinated employees have been given the $1 raise."

It could be interpreted as an admission that this mass raise may have been less about promoting health and safety, and more a matter of incentivizing vaccination because it was cheaper than paying for rapid tests of unvaxxed employees.

I'd actually have been more comfortable without the clarification... The idea that unvaxxed people are working for Chapman's (whose products I purchased as recently as this week) makes me VERY uncomfortable.

— Danielle Russell CAE (@Dani__Russell) May 10, 2022

The statement appears to be undoing some of the good PR Chapman's created by giving vaccinated employees a raise, at least based on the Twitter responses.

Other than medical reasons for not being vaccinated, they should have been terminated for putting their fellow employees at risk. The very same reason you can't smoke or be intoxicated at the workplace. It's really that simple.

— adrianhobbs44 (@adrianhobbs44) May 9, 2022

It's a move that not everyone is happy about, but those who are quick to anger should consider that Chapman's, while coughing up raises for unvaxxed employees, has taken an unequivocally pro-vaccine company stance in both its policies and actions.

I will never forget you storing vaccines in your freezers, that was enough for me and thank you.

— theirishking (@theirishking) May 9, 2022

So if your frozen dessert choices are based purely on your political ideology and adherence to/denial of scientific beliefs, maybe don't switch brands just yet.