Jerry Greenfield, right, alongside Ben Cohen at a Bernie Sanders event
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Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Jerry Greenfield is quitting the company because he says its corporate owners have muzzled the Vermont-based ice cream maker from advancing its social justice mission.
Greenfield announced his protest resignation in a letter posted to social media by fellow cofounder Ben Cohen early Wednesday.
“Standing up for the values of justice, equity, and our shared humanity has never been more important,” Greenfield wrote, “and yet Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power.”
“The real test of values is when times are challenging and you have something to lose,” he added.
The move escalates an ongoing battle between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever, the multinational conglomerate that purchased the company 25 years ago. The deal contained an unusual provision that gave an independent board of directors the authority to oversee Ben & Jerry’s advocacy for progressive causes, but tensions have arisen with Unilever over the war in Gaza. Ben & Jerry’s board sued Unilever in federal court earlier last year, and has since alleged that the company ousted Ben & Jerry’s CEO, Dave Stever, as part of its corporate crackdown.
“If the company couldn’t stand up for the things we believed, then it wasn’t worth being a company at all,” Greenfield wrote in Wednesday’s letter.
Unilever is working to spin off its ice cream brands, including Ben & Jerry’s, into a new, Netherlands-based umbrella called the Magnum Ice Cream Company.
The Ben & Jerry’s cofounders recently launched a public campaign to pressure Magnum to sell off the Vermont brand so it can become independent and owned by “values-aligned investors,” Cohen and Greenfield wrote in an open letter to prospective Magnum investors.
“Unilever is expected to remain one of its largest shareholders, and as such it likely has significant influence over Magnum’s governance and the selection of its executive team,” the pair wrote. “We believe decisions made by Unilever which affected Ben & Jerry’s advocacy cannot be separated from Magnum — including on issues such as Gaza, indigenous rights, the Trump administration, and DEI.”
They’ve set up a website to boost their “Free Ben & Jerry’s campaign.”
Magnum’s leaders have reportedly said they’re not interested in selling Ben & Jerry’s brand. Greenfield’s resignation ups the ante by signaling that the brand’s namesakes are ready to disavow it if they don’t get their way.
“We disagree with his perspective and have 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 told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
Ben & Jerry’s is the most popular ice cream brand in the U.S., with sales extending around the world. Greenfield and Cohen created the original ice cream parlor in Burlington in 1978.
“This is one of the hardest and most painful decisions I’ve ever made,” Greenfield wrote in his resignation letter.
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