The co-founder of Ben and Jerry resigned with criticism of parent cum. Unilever, Trump Administration
Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry, is leaving the ice cream brand after 47 years, saying that independence has once said the original company Unilever to speak on social issues.
The message was told in a letter that co-founder Ben Cohen posted on the social media platform X by Greenfield.
“This freedom Ben and I had no small part due to the unique merger agreement of the interaction with Unilever, a one who contained our social missions and values ​​forever in the company’s governance structure. It is deeply disappointing to reach the conclusion that freedom is a very basis for our sales to Unilever,” he said.
In November, Ben & Jerry’s trial in the Federal Court in New York, Unilever accused of silenceing Ben & Jerry’s statements in support of Palestinians in the Gaza war.
In his complaint, the said Unilever of Ben & Jerry also refused to release a social media post to the company, which is believed to have recognized issues that President Donald Trump included minimum wages, universal health care, abortion and climate change during the second term of Donald Trump.
In May, Cohen was detained after obstructing the Capital Hill Committee hearing, where Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior was testifying, shouting, “Congress sent bombs killing children in Gaza and paid the Medicid with cuts before it was out of hearing.
‘We disagree with his perspective’
A Unilever Division, Magnum Ice Cream Company said in a statement on Wednesday that it would always be grateful to Greenfield for the contribution of Ben & Jerry and thanked him for his service.
The spokesperson said, “We disagree from his perspective and have demanded to attach both co-founders in a constructive conversation about strengthening the powerful values-based positions of Ben and Jerry in the world.”
Magnum said it is still committed to Ben & Jerry’s mission and “focuses on pursuing the legacy of peace, love and ice cream of this prestigious, very preferred brand.”
Cohen and Greenfield, Long Island’s childhood friends in New York, founded their company in Vermont in 1978. While many businesses spread lightly in politics for fear of isolating customers, the company received a reputation to spy progressive reasons and donate income to charitable organizations.
While his original eight tastes are no longer available, the ice cream manufacturer of the chocolate chip cookie flour was launched in the mid-1980s, and he drew attention to the flavor in the name of high-profile figures such as Jero Garcia of the Great Dead and Sen Berney Sanders.
Recent struggle
Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry in 2000 for $ 326 million US. At the time, Ben & Jerry said the partnership would help the progressive worker-based ice cream company expand its social mission, but Greenfield expressed the idea in a 2020 interview with the New York Times magazine that “for the first years,” Unilever appreciated the mission.
At that time, Greenfield credited the new leadership and said that Ben and Jerry “discovered his soul again,” Occupai Wall Street and the company’s initial support for the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Cracks began to appear soon between the comment.
In 2021, Ben and Jerry announced that he would stop serving Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and would compete with Eastern Jerusalem. The following year, Unilever sold its Israeli business to a local company, stating that it would sell Ben & Jerry under his Hebrew and Arabic names throughout Israel and West Bank.
In May 2024, Unilever said she plans to shut down her ice cream business – including Ben & Jerry – as part of a large reorganization.
In March, Ben & Jerry said its CEO was illegally removed by Unilever in vengeance of the ice cream manufacturer’s social and political activism.
In a federal court filing, Ben and Jerry said Unilever informed his board on March 3 that he was removing and changing Ben & Jerry CEO David Stever. Ben & Jerry said that its merger agreement with Unilever has been violated, stating that any decision on the removal of the CEO should come after consulting a advisory committee from the board of Ben & Jerry.
London -based Unilever, who owns individual hygiene brands such as dow soap and Helman’s mayonnaise, said in a statement that it was expected that Ben & Jerry’s board would engage in the process of agreeing.
Greenfield said in its letter this week that he quoted the loss of freedom, “At a time when the current administration of our country is attacking civil rights, voting, immigrants’ rights, women and LGBTQ community.”
He said, “Standing for the values ​​of justice, equity and our shared humanity has never been more important, and still bes silent to Ben & Jerry, ignoring those in power for fear of harassing them,” he said. “It is easy to stand and speak when nothing is at risk. The actual test of values ​​is when the time is challenging and you have something to lose.”
