Jerry leaves Ben & Jerry’s, saying parent company ‘silenced’ activism

Jerry Greenfield resigned from Ben & Jerry's, citing Unilever's silencing of the brand's activism. Photo / Getty Images

Jerry Greenfield, one of the co-founders of the ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, has said that he was resigning because parent company Unilever has “silenced” the pair’s core mission of liberal activism and reneged on the independence the founders negotiated for their business before a merger more than two decades ago.

In a statement posted by his partner, Ben Cohen, on social media, Greenfield said that his decision to step down from the business they founded in 1978 was one of his “most painful” but that he could “no longer, in good conscience, and after 47 years, remain an employee of Ben & Jerry’s”.

“From the very beginning, Ben and I believed that our values and the pursuit of justice were more important than the company itself,” Greenfield said in the statement. “If the company couldn’t stand up for the things we believed, then it wasn’t worth being a company at all.”

Cohen and Greenfield have repeatedly been arrested at protests in Washington and have been outspoken about a range of issues, including climate change and racism, building a reputation of social activism for the Vermont-based brand. They served ice cream at Occupy demonstrations in 2011 and came up with flavours such as “Save Our Swirled” in support of climate talks in Paris, “I Dough, I Dough” to celebrate same-sex marriage, and “Yes Pecan”, a riff on the campaign slogan of President Barack Obama, “Yes, we can”.

In 2021, the brand’s decision to no longer sell ice cream in the occupied West Bank drew condemnation from Israeli leaders. Three years later, Ben & Jerry’s sued Unilever, alleging that the company was silencing its effort to express support for Palestinians. A later court filing alleged that Unilever threatened and then ousted chief executive Dave Stever for defending the brand’s social mission.

Greenfield said in the statement announcing his resignation that before agreeing to the merger with Unilever in 2000, he and Cohen negotiated the right to maintain their independence and continue supporting “peace, justice and human rights” through the brand.

“It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone,” Greenfield said. “And it’s happening at a time when our country’s current administration is attacking civil rights, voting rights, the rights of immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ community.”

A spokesperson for the Magnum Ice Cream Company, Unilever’s ice cream unit, said in an emailed statement that the company disagreed with Greenfield’s “perspective” and has “sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position in the world”.

Over nearly half a century, Cohen and Greenfield grew Ben & Jerry’s from the small ice cream shop they opened out of a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont, into a global confectionary giant, with store locations and pints sold around the world. Along with its corporate activism, Ben & Jerry’s has become known for unique flavours – the company says it was the first to come up with cookie dough ice cream – and kooky, often hippie-inspired names like Cherry Garcia, Phish Food and Wavy Gravy.

In the social media post with Greenfield’s statement, Cohen said his partner’s legacy “deserves to be true to our values”.

Greenfield’s resignation comes as companies across the United States are facing pressure fuelled by the Trump administration to ditch diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, such as anti-racism training and Pride Month festivities. In January, Amazon removed its commitment to helping Black people live “free from fear”, while Missouri’s attorney general sued Starbucks in February in federal court, alleging that the coffee chain’s DEI practices have made its workforce “more female and less white”.

Following Ben & Jerry’s 2021 decision to stop selling ice cream in the occupied West Bank, Unilever shares dropped, prompting US investors to sue for damages the following year. Unilever announced in 2022 that the ice cream brand had been sold to an Israeli licensee and that sales in Palestinian territory occupied by Israel would continue. The ice cream brand wrote on X that it did not agree with the sale and that it still views its operations in those disputed areas as “inconsistent with Ben & Jerry’s values”.

“Standing up for the values of justice, equity and our shared humanity has never been more important, and yet Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power,” Greenfield said in his resignation statement. “It’s easy to stand up and speak out when there’s nothing at risk. The real test of values is when times are challenging and you have something to lose.”

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