One of Ben & Jerry’s founders has launched a campaign against the brand’s owner, claiming it blocked the creation of a flavour in support of Palestine.
In an Instagram post, a defiant Ben Cohen announced he will create a watermelon sorbet flavour in support of Palestine through his independent company, Ben’s Best.
While Ben & Jerry’s has been owned by Unilever since 2000 through its ice cream arm, Magnum, which will soon become its own company, the co-founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, have an acquisition agreement that allows independent activism through the board.
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Cohen’s latest message to the ice cream brand’s owner is to “set the company free”, a further development of tension between the two parties since the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Speaking from his kitchen, Cohen said, despite the ceasefire, Palestinians were still suffering under “occupation”.
“A while back, Ben & Jerry’s tried to make a flavour to call for peace in Palestine, to stand for justice and dignity for everyone,” he said.
“But they weren’t allowed to, they were stopped by Unilever Magnum, the company that owns Ben & Jerry’s.
“So I’m doing what they couldn’t, I’m making a watermelon flavoured ice cream that calls for permanent peace in Palestine and calls for repairing all the damage that was done there.”
Watermelon has become a symbol of the people in Gaza and the West Bank thanks to the similarity between the fruit’s colours and the Palestinian flag.
In 2021, the ice cream brand refused to sell its products in areas of the West Bank occupied by Israel, but Unilever sold its arm to a local licensee to make the products available in the region.
Ben & Jerry’s has filed multiple court actions against Unilever, alleging that Unilever has restricted its ability to campaign against Donald Trump and Israel.
In September, Greenfield announced he was stepping down from the company after almost 50 years with the brand, citing concern that Unilever was curbing its social activism.
Cohen and Greenfield have since had a public campaign calling on Unilever and Magnum to “set the company free” to be privately owned.
“The campaign mission is simple: to call for The Magnum Ice Cream Company to allow Ben & Jerry’s to become an independently owned company, with socially-aligned investors and once again free to honour its social mission and live by its brand values, without compromise,” the activist page says.
Cohen told the BBC at the time that Greenfield had a big heart and the Unilever conflict was breaking it.
“My heart leads me to continue to work inside the company to advocate for its independence so that it can actualize the social mission, the values that it was founded on and has maintained for over 40 years,” he said.
Unilever said in a statement that independent members of Ben & Jerry’s board made a proposal for but it was rejected.
“The independent members of Ben & Jerry’s board are not, and have never been, responsible for the Ben & Jerry’s commercial strategy and execution,” the spokesperson said.
“Recommendations are considered by Ben & Jerry’s leadership, and Ben & Jerry’s management has determined it is not the right time to invest in developing this product.”
Ben & Jerry’s has been contacted for comment.
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