Jerry Greenfield and Ben Cohen, the founders of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, have by no means been quiet in regards to the causes they consider in. Again in 2000, Choen and Greenfield offered Ben & Jerry’s to the demonstrably unethical and financially sketchy firm Unilever to the tune of $326 million. Although one of many situations of the sale was that Ben & Jerry’s continued to function as its personal entity, the chilly dessert-loving pair and their staff have locked horns with their guardian firm quite a few occasions. For instance, Ben and Jerry did not need to see their ice cream offered within the occupied West Financial institution, as a result of ethics. Unilever wasn’t down with that. In 2024, the pissing match between the 2 events resulted in Ben & Jerry’s submitting a lawsuit towards their very own guardian firm. They alleged that Unilever had tried to silence their activism towards the Genocide in Gaza, the next minimal wage for American staff, and common healthcare.
Principally, Unilever was giving Trump a rim job.
This was adopted earlier this yr by Unilever’s illegal dismissal of the corporate’s CEO. Allegedly, Unilever’s board of administrators was butthurt by Ben & Jerry’s social activism and fired the CEO as a punishment. Because the ice cream maker was supposed to have the ability to function independently, this was prohibited beneath the phrases agreed upon within the days main as much as their sale. After 25 years of this type of nonsense, plainly Greenfield has had sufficient. He introduced that he would depart the corporate he helped to construct, in a letter posted by Cohen on social media:
It is with a damaged coronary heart that I’ve determined I can now not, in good conscience, and after 47 years, stay an worker of Ben & Jerry’s. I’m resigning from the corporate Ben and I began again in 1978. This is without doubt one of the hardest and most painful selections I’ve ever made.
This is not as a result of I’ve misplaced my love for the individuals at Ben & Jerry’s. Fairly the other. The parents who present up
daily in our factories, scoop outlets, and places of work are among the most passionate, caring, and values-driven individuals you may ever meet. They’re the soul of Ben & Jerry’s. What has made their work so vital to me — and what allowed the corporate to be extra than simply an ice cream firm — was the independence to pursue our values which was assured when Unilever purchased the corporate. For greater than twenty years beneath their possession, Ben & Jerry’s stood up and spoke out in assist of peace, justice, and human rights, not as summary ideas, however in relation to actual occasions occurring in our world.That independence existed in no small half due to the distinctive merger settlement Ben and I negotiated with
Unilever — one which enshrined our social mission and values within the firm’s governance construction in perpetuity. It is profoundly disappointing to come back to the conclusion that that independence, the very foundation of our sale to
Unilever, is gone.And it is occurring at a time when our nation’s present administration is attacking civil rights, voting rights, the
rights of immigrants, ladies, and the LGBTQ neighborhood. Standing up for the values of justice, fairness, and our shared humanity has by no means been extra vital — and but Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced, sidelined for worry of upsetting these in energy. It is simple to face up and communicate out when there’s nothing in danger. The actual check of values is when occasions are difficult and you’ve got one thing to lose.Love, fairness, justice — they’re a part of who Ben and I are, they usually’ve at all times been the true basis of Ben &
Jerry’s. From the very starting, Ben and I believed that our values and the pursuit of justice had been extra vital than the corporate itself. If the corporate could not rise up for the issues we believed, then it wasn’t
price being an organization in any respect.It was at all times about extra than simply ice cream; it was a method to unfold love and invite others into the struggle for
fairness, justice and a greater world. Coming to the conclusion that that is now not attainable at Ben & Jerry’s means I can now not stay a part of Ben & Jerry’s. If I can not carry these values ahead inside the corporate right this moment, then I’ll carry them ahead exterior — with all of the love and conviction I can.With Love,
Jerry
“We disagree along with his perspective and have sought to interact each co-founders in a constructive dialog on the way to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s highly effective values-based place on the earth,” Magnum mentioned.
In an announcement from Magnum Ice Cream—the little bit of Unilever that lords over Ben & Jerry’s—the corporate’s media relations drones swore that they’d completely tried to speak to Greenfield and Cohen about “the way to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s highly effective values-based place on the earth. They by some means continued with out being struck by lightning, saying “We stay dedicated to Ben & Jerry’s distinctive three-part mission – product, financial, and social – and stay centered on carrying ahead the legacy of peace, love, and ice cream of this iconic, much-loved model.”
Certain.
