\n<\/p>\n
The co-founder of Ben & Jerry\u2019s has accused its owner of being part of a movement of \u201ccorporate butt kissing\u201d of Donald Trump and says management blocked the ice-cream brand from producing a flavour in support of peace in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Ben Cohen told the Guardian that Unilever was pursuing a \u201ccorporate attack on free speech\u201d by blocking the development of a special flavour in solidarity with the Palestinian people. It is understood the flavour had been approved by Ben & Jerry\u2019s independent board and first mooted about a year ago.<\/p>\n
Magnum, the group\u2019s ice-cream arm, confirmed it had not gone ahead with the board\u2019s suggestion for a Palestine product this summer.<\/p>\n
Cohen has mounted a \u201cFree Ben & Jerry\u2019s\u201d campaign to persuade Unilever to sell the brand to a group of socially minded investors who he says have pledged to allow it to continue its \u201csocial mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
With an increasingly authoritarian Trump in the White House, Cohen says now is the time that \u201ccompanies and anyone who believes in justice, freedom and peace stands up. This is the moment when it is most needed for Ben & Jerry\u2019s to be able to raise its voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like since Trump got elected anything that Trump is against, DEI, black history, protesters\u2019 rights to free speech, all those things got censored.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previous Ben & Jerry\u2019s flavours with an activist bent have included \u201cSave Our Swirled\u201d to highlight the need for action at the 2015 Paris climate meetings, \u201cI Dough, I Dough\u201d to celebrate the legalisation of same-sex marriage at a US federal level, and \u201cHome Sweet Honeycomb\u201d in support of resettling refugees in Europe.<\/p>\n
Cohen\u2019s criticisms, which he has backed up with a video posted on Instagram, are the latest blow in the acrimonious spat between the brand\u2019s founders and owners. Unilever is planning to spin off the Magnum Ice Cream Company into a separate business, which it hopes to list in Amsterdam with secondary listings in London and New York.<\/p>\n
Those plans were this week delayed because of the US government shutdown, although they could proceed by the end of the year. Unilever said remained confident of implementing its demerger plans this year.<\/p>\n
Unilever and Magnum said Ben & Jerry\u2019s was \u201cnot for sale\u201d.<\/p>\n
Magnum said: \u201cThe independent members of Ben & Jerry\u2019s board are not, and have never been, responsible for the Ben & Jerry\u2019s commercial strategy and execution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Referring to the proposed pro-Palestinian flavour, a spokesperson said: \u201cRecommendations are considered by Ben & Jerry\u2019s leadership, and management has determined it is not the right time to invest in developing this product.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company said Ben & Jerry\u2019s was focused on \u201ccampaigns close to its communities\u201d such as improved conditions in refugee accommodation in the UK and campaigning in defence of the first amendment and freedom of speech in the US.<\/p>\n
Magnum added: \u201cWe remain committed to Ben & Jerry\u2019s unique three-part mission \u2013 product, economic and social \u2013 and look forward to building on its success as an iconic, much-loved brand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unilever, the British owner of consumer brands ranging from Dove soap to Hellmann\u2019s mayonnaise, bought Ben & Jerry\u2019s in 2000 for $326m, but agreed an unusual deal for the ice-cream brand to preserve an independent board with the ability to speak out on social justice issues.<\/p>\n
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Sign up to Business Today<\/span><\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The founders argue that Unilever has reneged on that promise, particularly in relation to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the Israeli government destroyed much of the territory.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Unilever said: \u201cWe have always sought to work constructively with the Ben & Jerry\u2019s teams to make sure we stayed true to the original agreement around the progressive, non-partisan social mission.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben & Jerry\u2019s was founded in 1978 by Cohen and Jerry Greenfield after the friends took a $5 correspondence course in ice-cream making. They opened their first store in a renovated petrol station in Burlington, Vermont, with a mission to \u201cadvance human rights and dignity\u201d.<\/p>\n Under Unilever, the pair have officially been paid employees with no formal role in the business beyond promoting its values as \u201cbrand ambassadors\u201d. Cohen remains in that role, but Greenfield resigned from Ben & Jerry\u2019s in September, saying it had lost its independence.<\/p>\n Cohen said Ben & Jerry\u2019s was being blocked from \u201cmaking ice-cream with purpose\u201d, and pledged to create a Palestine solidarity flavour in his own kitchen.<\/p>\n Members of the public are being asked to name and help create the flavour in a two-week competition. He suggested it would be based on watermelon, itself a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n The ice-cream, which would be created as a small batch under his personal Ben\u2019s Best brand, will not be for sale, but is intended to draw attention to the cause of \u201crebuilding, and peace and dignity for the people of the region\u201d. He has previously used the Ben\u2019s Best brand, first created in 2016 to back leftwing Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, to support a number of causes.<\/p>\n Ben & Jerry\u2019s has clashed repeatedly with its parent company over Palestinian rights. It refused to sell ice-cream in territories occupied by Israel, took legal action against Unilever when it sold the brand\u2019s Israeli division to a local operator. In May the brand called Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza a genocide, a description used last month by a United Nations independent international commission of inquiry.<\/p>\n