Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand, has stepped down from the company he started 47 years ago citing a retreat from its campaigning spirit under parent company Unilever.
Greenfield wrote in an open letter late Tuesday night — shared on X by his co-founder Ben Cohen — that he could no longer “in good conscience” remain an employee of the company and said the company had been “silenced.”
He said the company’s values and campaigning work on “peace, justice, and human rights” allowed it to be “more than just an ice cream company” and said the independence to pursue this was guaranteed when Anglo-Dutch packaged food giant Unilever bought the brand in 2000 for $326 million.
Cohen’s statement didn’t mention Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza, but Ben & Jerry’s has been outspoken on the treatment of Palestinians for years and in 2021 withdrew sales from Israeli settlements in what it called “Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
I mean, the first mistake was trusting a pinkie promise from a megacorp like Unilever. Maybe they shouldn’t have sold their brand?
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More like if you mind your own business jizzrael will swoop in to ethnically cleanse, steal your land and cry victim.
Why are so many people here mad at Ben and Jerry while they tried to do the best they could?
The decision to sell sounds a lot more grey than comments are playing it off as. If people want to debate if they ever should have taken the company public that’s one thing, but B&J seem to have tried to make the best of their financial and legal situations while being beholden to shareholders, and laws that would have helped prevent being sold to Unilever didn’t exist in Vermont until over a decade after the sale.
Instead of being forcefully bought out, removed by Unilever, and had all their social agendas canceled immediately, they made a deal to continue to be able to serve in some capacity after the acquisition. They remained active with the company for 25 years, so they seemed to do a lot with their “empty promise” they were given by Unilever.
This is the summary I read on the story of their sale to Unilever. It doesn’t really support one side or the other, so take what you will from it, but treating them like jerks really doesn’t feel called for.
Unfortunately all good things come to an end in America. They get bought out by a company who only cares about the rich and their shareholders and hate their customers.
We are all stuck in a cycle that will never change unless a giant meteor hits or something. No good deed goes unpunished in a capitalist country.
you wrote that like you know about -the meteor- which is strange because I didn’t think anyone else knew about it.
Dabbling in stocks and as I grow older and working longer under a corporation, I realised it’s hard to be ethical in a capitalist system.
Yup. Chase what’s right and moral or chase money. They don’t overlap often.
They sold out. They can wipe their tears with cash.
Every time you buy the ice-cream you vote for the company to exist - if you are not happy about the company’s actions in Palestine or elsewhere the next step should be very easy to figure out.
In fact Unilever has a t least another couple of brands you can try to resist to show that maybe this shit show isn’t what you want in the world.
Nothing says “let’s change” to a capitalist like a dripping sales.
With a net worth of 150 million dollars, maybe he could go make his own ice cream store and campaign from that platform? And then not sell out to a giant megacorp and act surprised then they do mega corpo stuff.
Unilever the never-left-russia-still-there-today Unilever?
I’m sick and tired of this clown. He keeps rambling about how he values “independence” and his “values”, but if that’s the case why the fuck did he decide to sell his independent company and it’s founding values to a giant soulless corporation like Unilever? He and Ben sold the company 25 years ago for a nice fat paycheck, and haven’t looked back since. Interestingly enough, the vast majority of their “moral consciousness” only started becoming public after they sold out and cashed out. They willingly gave up their independence and values for money, and now they’re acting shocked that they don’t have as much control over the company they sold as they imagined.
just Bens now.
Told you so.
You didn’t have to sell it to them asshole
This post’s comments showcases the bad part of the left. The part thats no difference from MAGA, ugly and pointing fingers at something for a distraction. But instead theyre MALA, make America left again with even more political correctness.
I feel it more wanting to see it as a black and white issue than something with a ton of nuance. This deal had to have been complex, and for whatever reason they willingly sold to Unilever, I doubt any of us commenting here will ever understand. I wouldn’t want to be in their situation.
If people want to point out areas where they think they could have done better, let’s discuss it. But all we tend to get is “rich people bad.” I won’t totally disagree with that statement, but it seems like they have also done a lot of good for Vermont and beyond. They’ve given over 70 million in grants, but so what, right? Why not 71 million?!
I just think we’ve got better people to be mad at now than some hippies that went corporate. To just write off what they did because they got personal benefits as well is likely hypocritical. I never see these screen names talking about what direct action they’re part of or what solutions they’ve got. A little funny how that is.
If they want to complain or downvote, that’s their prerogative, but I bet it won’t accomplish as much good as what Ben and Jerry have done. 😉
Companys that were evil back when they sold didnt seem as evil compared to nowadays. I think thats the missing nuance. But i agree wholeheartedly with you.
