Another chapter in the dispute in the field of values and purposes between the founders of the ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s and the giant Unilever, which bought the company in 2000. Co-founder Ben Cohen went public to denounce that the multinational committed a “corporate attack on freedom of expression” by interrupting the launch of an ice cream flavor that would support peace in the Gaza region,
About a month ago, , explaining that the brand’s freedom to take a stance on social issues was being stifled by the parent company Unilever.
This time, Cohen claimed that the new flavor had been approved by Ben & Jerry’s independent board and first discussed about a year ago. But Magnum, the ice cream arm of the Unilever group, announced that it would not go ahead with the plan.
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Cohen, who recently created the “Free Bem & Jerry’s” campaign to encourage Unilever to sell the brand to some group of socially minded investors, took to Instagram this Tuesday (28) to say that Unilever and Magnum prevented the brand from creating a flavor for Palestine, so he decided on his own to create this variety, inviting the public to contribute to the recipe, as a challenge.
“I have a watermelon and an empty ice cream container — I need your help. Comment ideas on what ingredients you would like to see in this flavor, and suggestions for a name.
Are you a creative person? Send a design for the packaging of the pot”, he explained.
“We must continue to use our voice when Ben & Jerry’s cannot — to ensure peace, justice and dignity in Palestine,” he argued.
Social values
Ben & Jerry’s has always positioned itself as a pioneering super-premium ice cream maker, with a three-part mission focused on social values that would be incorporated into the business.
“The Vermont-based company pursues prosperity tied to these values, which has led to many firsts, including a significant commitment in 2010 to sourcing ingredients and supporting the global Fair Trade movement. This has led to sourcing ‘fairtrade’ bananas, coffee, cocoa, sugar and vanilla across its businesses globally,” says the brand’s website
In this statement of purpose, the “fair trade” advocated by the company means that farmers must get a fair price for the products they make, which helps combat the root causes of social injustice – poverty in particular – in supply chains.
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The brand has a history of creating flavors with an activist proposal, such as “Save Our Swirled”, during climate meetings in 2025, in Paris. Then came “I Dough, I Dough”, which celebrated the federal legalization of same-sex marriage in the USA. The company also created “Home Sweet Honeycomb” in support of refugee resettlement in Europe.
Regarding the relationship with the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, the brand announced in the past that it would no longer sell its ice creams in the occupied territories, although it continued to maintain a presence in Israel.
Marca’s official explanation was that, as a values-driven company with a long history of defending human rights and economic and social justice, it was “inconsistent with our values for our product to be present in an internationally recognized illegal occupation.”
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Regarding the accusations of anti-Semitism that the company faced after this decision, the official explanation was that Bem & Jerry’s repudiated all forms of hatred and racism. “Speaking and acting in accordance with our values is neither anti-Israel nor anti-Semitic,” the company statement said.
In an article published in The New York Times, the co-founders said that “the company’s stated decision to more fully align its operations with its values is not a rejection of Israel. It is a rejection of Israeli policy, which perpetuates an illegal occupation that is a barrier to peace and violates the basic human rights of the Palestinian people living under occupation.”
“As Jewish supporters of the State of Israel, we fundamentally reject the notion that it is anti-Semitic to question the policies of the State of Israel,” they concluded.
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Brand story
The story of Ben & Jerry’s began more than 45 years ago, when the two high school friends – with a mutual dislike of exercise classes and a $5 ice cream-making correspondence course at Penn State, opened their first Scoop Shop in a converted gas station in Burlington, Vermont.
In 1986, Ben and Jerry opened their first manufacturing facility in Waterbury, Vermont. By the end of the 1980s, they had more than 80 Scoop Shops in 18 US states. It was in 1988 that the friends decided to put their beliefs in writing, creating the three-part mission statement that the company still lives by today.
Over the next decade, Ben & Jerry’s went global, appearing in the UK in 1994, then Ireland in 2000, followed closely by the rest of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. The company was acquired by Unilever in 2000, which allowed Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to reach 42 countries.
