Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand, has stepped down from the company he started 47 years ago citing a retreat from its campaigning spirit under parent company Unilever.
Greenfield wrote in an open letter late Tuesday night — shared on X by his co-founder Ben Cohen — that he could no longer “in good conscience” remain an employee of the company and said the company had been “silenced.”
He said the company’s values and campaigning work on “peace, justice, and human rights” allowed it to be “more than just an ice cream company” and said the independence to pursue this was guaranteed when Anglo-Dutch packaged food giant Unilever bought the brand in 2000 for $326 million.
Cohen’s statement didn’t mention Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza, but Ben & Jerry’s has been outspoken on the treatment of Palestinians for years and in 2021 withdrew sales from Israeli settlements in what it called “Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Companys that were evil back when they sold didnt seem as evil compared to nowadays. I think thats the missing nuance. But i agree wholeheartedly with you.
lyrics to a Chumbawamba song about Unilever from 1986
When you don′t want to feed the world When you just want to feed your bank balance Wash your guilt away (whitewash) Unilever washes whiter (whitewash) Soap to clean those dirty hands And a slap for the people who work the land chorus Unilever (whitewa-, whitewash) Man-made hunger (wh-wh-whitewash) Soap in our eyes (whitewa-, whitewash) John West is the best (wh-wh-whitewash) Old soap opera (whitewa-, whitewash) No soap-reality (whitewash) Legal slave trade (whitewa-, whitewash) Domestos kills all known truths deadhttps://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Chumbawamba/Unilever