Ben & Jerry’s's Co-creator Jerry Greenfield Steps Down, Claiming Unilever Muzzled Activist Vision
Ben & Jerry’s's co-creator Jerry Greenfield has stepped away from the beloved brand after almost five decades, according to a post from his fellow founder Ben Cohen.
Cohen’s post included what he described as a letter from Greenfield, in which the departing co-founder called it one of the “toughest and most painful decisions” of his career.
Greenfield stated that the company had been silenced by its corporate owner and that its independence to speak out on social causes was now “gone.”
“Unless the business was willing to advocate for the things we cared about, then it no longer deserved to exist as a company at all,” Greenfield said.
This move came despite a merger agreement meant to safeguard the brand’s social mission, Greenfield added.
“This autonomy was preserved largely because of the special merger agreement” which both founders had negotiated with the conglomerate, Greenfield explained.
The ice cream maker and Unilever declined to comment to a request for comment from the news agency.
Recently, Cohen revealed that amid disagreements with Unilever, the brand had tried to engineer a transfer to buyers at a reasonable price of $1.5 to $2.5 billion, but the offer was rejected.
Unilever and the ice cream brand have been in conflict since at least 2021, when the ice-cream maker said it would halt sales in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The brand has also sued its owner over accusations to silence it and has called the conflict in Gaza “atrocities.”
