Ben and Jerry's Co-Founder Jerry Greenfield Resigns, Criticizes Parent Company Unilever for Stifling Activism

Share and Follow

Key Points

Jerry Greenfield started the company alongside business partner Ben Cohen in 1978.
It has long advocated for progressive issues.
A spokesperson for Unilever said it “disagrees with Greenfield’s perspective” behind his decision to quit.

Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of the popular United States ice cream brand Ben and Jerry’s, has resigned after a rift and public feud with parent company Unilever over the conflict in Gaza.

In an open letter shared by his business partner Ben Cohen on social media, Greenfield said that the Vermont-based company — well-known for its social activism on progressive issues — had in recent years been “silenced” by Unilever, which is currently spinning off its Magnum ice cream subsidiary, which includes the Ben and Jerry’s brand.

The brand was founded by Greenfield and school friend Cohen in 1978, and acquired by Unilever in 2000.

“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,” wrote Greenfield, 74, who had taken on a salaried brand ambassador role at the firm.

“Standing up for values like justice, equity, and shared humanity has never been more important, yet Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced and sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power.”

Greenfield said it came at a time when the current US administration is “attacking civil rights, voting rights, the rights of immigrants, women and the LGBTQ community”.

Ben and Jerry’s has in recent months been a lonely voice among well-known brands speaking out on issues like Gaza and US President Donald Trump’s immigration stance, while other US companies back away from diversity pledges, and their executives largely refrain from commenting on the White House’s policies.

Ben and Jerry’s independent social mission board, which Greenfield and Cohen do not sit on, has led the activism.

The sale of Ben and Jerry’s to Unilever in 2000 allowed the brand to maintain the board, with authority over the social mission but not business operations.

Two men holding a tub of ice-cream that has Kamala Harris' face on it. They're standing in front of a light blue van.

Ben Cohen (left) and Jerry Greenfield at an event during the 2024 election campaign in support of Kamala Harris. Source: Getty / Lisa Lake

In Greenfield’s statement, he said it was “profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone”.

A spokesperson for Unilever and its Magnum Ice Cream Co said that it “disagrees with Greenfield’s perspective and has sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position in the world”.

Ben and Jerry’s has long combined selling ice cream and activism, launching one ice cream in 2019 to build awareness about racial justice, and renaming a flavour in 2009 in support of gay marriage.

But the relationship between Unilever and Ben and Jerry’s has eroded since 2021, when the ice cream maker said it would stop sales in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as it would run counter to their values — a move that led some investors to divest from the London-based parent.

At the time, Greenfield and Cohen wrote in the New York Times that they supported the move.

But the company failed to block Unilever from selling the ice cream in West Bank settlements after Unilever ultimately sold the business in Israel to a local licensee, a move the brand sued over, but later settled.

Two men holding ice cream cones in their hands.

Jerry Greenfield (left) co-founded Ben and Jerry’s alongside friend Ben Cohen in 1978. The company was sold to British multinational Unilever in 2000. Source: AAP / AP / Toby Talbot

The brand has sued Unilever a second time over alleged efforts to muzzle it and dismantle the social mission board.

In March, the company said in a court filing that Unilever had unlawfully removed CEO Dave Stever due to his support of the brand’s progressive social activism.

Greenfield’s departure comes as the Ben and Jerry’s founders have been calling for its own spin-off, ahead of a planned listing of Magnum Ice Cream in November.

Last week, Cohen held a protest in London as the new Magnum Ice Cream Company presented its growth plans, demanding Unilever “free Ben and Jerry’s” to protect its social values.

That was rebuffed by new Magnum CEO Peter ter Kulve.