Ben & Jerry’s Co-founder Jerry Greenfield Resigns, Citing Disagreements Over Companyโ Values
Burlington, VT – Jerry Greenfield, co-founderโ of the iconic American โice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, announced Wednesday his departure from the company, stemming from disputes over its direction under parent โcompany Unilever. Greenfield,โฃ who sold his stake in Ben & Jerry’s to โUnilever in โข2000, stated he could no longer remain with the company โ”in all โขconscience” after 47 years.
The resignation follows ongoing tensions regarding Benโ & Jerry’s commitment to its โstated values of socialโข and โฃenvironmentalโข activism. In 2022, the brand unsuccessfully attempted to prevent Unileverโข from โselling its ice cream in West โขBank settlements, a moveโ Greenfield and โคco-founder Ben Cohen viewed as a betrayal of those principles.
“It was with โa broken heart that โคI decided that I could no longer, in all conscience, and after 47 years, remaining an employee of Benโข & Jerry’s,” Greenfield wrote in a letter posted Tuesday on X by Ben Cohen.
Founded in 1978, Ben & Jerry’s built a reputation for advocating for issues like environmental protection, human rights, and socialโข equality. The 2000 acquisition by Unilever included provisions designed toโ protect the brand’s “integrity” through an autonomous board of directors. However, Greenfield asserts that this independence โฃhas eroded.
“The company has been reducedโ to silence, sidelined โby fear of annoying โpower,” Greenfield’s letter continued, โadding hisโ disappointment withโข the US governance’s policies regarding civil rights, voting rights, immigrant rights, women’s rights, and the LGBTQ+ community.
Unileverโ is currently preparing to spin off its ice cream division, “The Magnumโ Ice Cream Company,” as a separate entity based โin Amsterdam, slated for November.
This is โคnot the first instance of friction between Unileverโข and Ben & Jerry’s. Cohen and Greenfield โrecently called for the brand toโฃ regain its independence in another open letter.
A Unileverโ spokesperson responded, stating, “We โขdo not share the point of view of Jerry Greenfield and wanted to initiate a constructive โฃdialog with โthe two co-founders on the way of โstrengthening the strong position of Ben & โขJerry’s in the world, based on itsโ values.”
Notably,Ben Cohen was recently removed from a parliamentary hearing in Washington D.C. in May after criticizing the American government’s support for israel’s actions in Gaza.