The cofounders of Ben & Jerry's published an open letter this week demanding that their parent company allow Ben & Jerry's to operate independently, saying that the ice cream brand's founding commitments to social justice are being undermined.
In 2000, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield sold their company to Unilever, which is now spinning off the ice cream brand, along with other businesses, to The Magnum Ice Cream Company. The open letter comes after a complaint filed by Ben & Jerry's against Unilever last year detailed a yearslong battle between the companies on Ben & Jerry's advocacy for Palestine.
"Magnum's spin-off from Unilever shouldn't include @benandjerrys," cofounder Ben Cohen posted on X. "Our right to speak out was core to our merger deal 25 years ago, but now it's being silenced. Same execs, same censorship, new name and logo."
The founders allege in their letter to The Magnum Ice Cream Company that Unilever has violated the terms of the sale which "guaranteed the company's autonomy, including via an independent board, with the freedom to pursue its social mission."
They added that "the commitments made to us, our employees, and our customers are being eroded."
Magnum CEO and former Unilever executive Peter ter Kulve told Reuters, "Ben & Jerry's is not for sale."
The founders say Unilever has repeatedly silenced Ben & Jerry's pro-Palestine advocacy.
"Ben & Jerry's has been trying to speak out to support the student protesters. They wouldn't let us do that," Cohen said outside Magnum's London headquarters this week, holding a protest sign that read, 'Yo, Magnum. Free Ben & Jerry's.'
"We've been trying to speak out against the genocide in Gaza," he continued. "They wouldn't let us do that."
Cohen told Sky News that he would return the money from the Unilever sale if it meant the company could be independent.
Last year, Ben & Jerry's sued Unilever, alleging that the company had failed to adhere to its contractual obligations.
In 2021, Ben & Jerry's announced that it was ceasing the sale of its products in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. But in 2022, Unilever announced it had sold the company's intellectual property to a distributor who would sell Ben & Jerry products in the settlements.
Ben & Jerry's and Unilever subsequently entered into a settlement agreement, which required the company to "[r]espect and acknowledge the Ben & Jerry's Independent Board's primary responsibility over Ben & Jerry's Social Mission and Essential Brand Integrity" and "work in good faith with the Independent Board to ensure that both are protected and furthered."
However, Ben & Jerry's alleged in its complaint that, "months after the parties entered the Settlement Agreement, Unilever had already begun its efforts to undermine it."
Then, in 2023, shortly after Israel began its attacks on Gaza, Unilever attempted to block Ben & Jerry's from releasing a statement calling for a ceasefire.
"Unilever threatened to dismantle the Independent Board and sue the board members individually if Ben & Jerry's -- with its decades-long motto of 'peace, love, & ice cream' -- issued the statement supporting 'peace' and a 'ceasefire,'" the complaint says.
The suit alleged that ter Kulve, who was then Unilever's president of ice cream, and Jeff Eglash, the global head of litigation, also "attempted to intimidate Ben & Jerry's personnel with professional reprisals if the company issued the ceasefire statement."
In 2024, Ben & Jerry's Board publicly called for a ceasefire.
Unilever also prevented Ben & Jerry's U.K. from posting a statement on social media saying, "So just like the UK did for the Ukrainians, we ask that the Government urgently create a Visa Scheme allowing Palestinians to reunite SAFELY with their loved ones in the UK."
When the chair of Ben & Jerry's independent board confronted ter Kelve about the incident, he insinuated that the statement would be perceived as antisemitic. Supporters of Israel's genocide frequently lob baseless and absurd accusations of antisemitism at pro-Palestine activists, many of whom, like Ben & Jerry's founders, are Jewish.
The company says Unilever also blocked them from releasing a statement in support of pro-Palestine student protesters in 2024, and a statement in support of Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vermont) legislation to block arms sales to Israel.
The settlement agreement required Unilever to give $5 million to human rights and humanitarian organizations selected by Ben & Jerry's.
Unilever objected to the company's choices, which included Jewish Voice for Peace and the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Their opposition, the complaint says, "boiled down to the same issue: the organizations were advocating for human rights, namely Palestinian human rights."
Cohen, Ben & Jerry's cofounder, has been an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights. Earlier this year, he was arrested after he interrupted a Senate hearing to protest the billions of dollars in military aid that the U.S. has sent to Israel to kill tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.
As an officer hurried Cohen down the hallway with his wrists ziptied, a woman asked Cohen why he was getting arrested.
"Congress kills kids in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid in the U.S.," he replied, urging Congress to let food into Gaza.