Ben & Jerry's, founder leaves company in dispute with Unilever over Gaza

Israel's plan to occupy the West Bank causes an earthquake in the ice cream industry. Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of the American brand Ben & Jerry's after almost 50 years in the business is leaving the company, according to a disclosure in X by long-time 'partner' Ben Cohen. The reasons for the split are said to be that the company, founded in the state of Vermont in 1978, had lost its independence from its Anglo-Dutch parent company Unilever, which restricted its social activism.

Greenfield, in a letter to consumers, said he could no longer 'in good conscience' continue to work for a company that had been 'silenced' by Unilever, despite a merger agreement dating back to 2000 that was intended to safeguard the brand's social mission. "This independence existed in large part because of the unique merger agreement" that he and co-founder Ben Cohen had negotiated with Unilever, Greenfield wrote.

Ben & Jerry's, according to the letter, has always 'stood for peace, justice and human rights, not as abstract concepts, but in relation to real events that are happening in our world'. The brand has always had a pacifist, even hippie orientation, which has also translated into very special marketing choices, such as the 2008 Imagine whirled peace ice cream dedicated to John Lennon.

Last week, Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen stated that, due to tensions with Unilever, the brand had attempted to arrange a sale to investors at a fair market value of between $1.5 and $2.5 billion, but the proposal had been rejected. Unilever and Ben & Jerry's have been at odds since at least 2021, when the ice-cream manufacturer of the famous greedy cow declared that it would stop selling its products in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Ben & Jerry's sued its owner over alleged attempts to silence him and called the conflict in Gaza a 'genocide', which is unusual for a major US brand.