Jerry Greenfield, 74, the Jewish businessman who co-founded the Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream brand in 1978, has quit his role as “brand ambassador” after a public rift with parent company Unilever over the war on Hamas.
In an open letter shared on Wednesday to social media by business partner Ben Cohen, Greenfield said the Vermont-based company had been prevented by Unilever from promoting its progressive agenda.
“It’s with a broken heart that I’ve decided I can no longer, in good conscience, and after 47 years, remain an employee of Ben & Jerry’s,” Greenfield, who took on a salaried brand ambassador position at the firm following the 2000 acquisition by Unilever, wrote in the missive.
The Ben & Jerry’s co-founder argued that the brand’s independence to promote progressive issues, which he said formed “the very basis of our sale to Unilever” had been systematically undermined by the food giant.
Accusing the Trump administration of “attacking civil rights, voting rights, the rights of immigrants, women and the LGBTQ community,” Greenfield claimed in the letter that “Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power.”
A spokesperson for Unilever and its Magnum Ice Cream Co told Reuters that it “disagrees with Greenfield’s perspective” but had “sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position in the world.”
Unilever shares rose by 0.9% on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
In November 2024, Ben & Jerry’s sued Unilever for allegedly blocking its efforts to voice support for Palestinians in Gaza. The lawsuit, filed in the United States, claimed Unilever threatened to dismantle Ben & Jerry’s board and pursue legal action against its members over this issue.
The lawsuit highlighted the ongoing tensions between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever that began in July 2021, when Ben & Jerry’s announced that it would no longer sell its products in Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. Doing so ran contrary to Ben & Jerry’s values, the firm said. This decision prompted some investors to divest from Unilever.
Ben & Jerry’s also took legal action against its parent company after it sold the brand’s business in Israel to a licensee, allowing the continued sales in Israel and Judea and Samaria. That lawsuit was settled in 2022.
In addition to Palestinian nationalism, Ben & Jerry’s supports a string of left-wing political causes, including abortion, gun control, immigration, ending the production of fossil fuel, transgenderism and “dismantling white supremacy,” as the company outlines it on its official website.
