Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield has quit the brand, accusing Unilever of having “silenced” the brand on social justice issues.

“It was always about more than just ice cream; it was a way to spread love and invite others into the fight for equity and a better world,” Greenfield wrote in a statement shared by fellow co-founder Ben Cohen on X (formerly known as Twitter).

In recent years, this has become impossible under Unilever ownership, Greenfield argued, adding the brand has been “silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power”.

Greenfield said himself and Cohen had negotiated a “unique” merger deal when Ben & Jerry’s became part of the consumer goods giant in 2000, which was specifically designed to protect the brand’s independence.

“It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that our independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone,” Greenfield said.

The ice cream brands owned by Unilever, which include Magnum and Wall’s as well as Ben & Jerry’s, are set to be demerged in November into a new standalone company The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC). The standalone company has already begun its own operations separate to the wider Unilever business.

Ben & Jerry’s founders call for brand to be ‘freed’ after being ‘silenced by Unilever’

Last week, in an open letter to prospective investors and the board of The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC), Cohen and Greenfield asked for the brand to be “freed” and spun out into its own standalone business. The founders argued that despite being a new entity, TMICC will “retain the legacy, leadership and investment of Unilever’s ice cream business and the history of its actions against Ben & Jerry’s”.

A week later and Greenfield has decided his position is untenable.

“I can no longer, in good conscience, and after 47 years, remain an employee of Ben & Jerry’s,” he wrote in his statement shared today, calling the decision “one of the hardest and most painful” he has ever made.

While the Ben & Jerry’s founders have been clear in their belief Unilever promised the firm independence, the brand’s stance on various social issues has increasingly become something of a thorn in the side for a parent company looking to move away from purpose-led brands.

For example, in 2021, Ben & Jerry’s halted sales in Israel-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in protest against an Israeli policy of evicting Palestinians to make way for Jewish-only settlements. The move triggered a legal battle after Unilever sold the Israeli licence to a local operator to continue sales. Ben & Jerry’s argued the deal breached its 2000 acquisition agreement and undermined the authority of its independent board.

Earlier this year, the ice cream giant accused Unilever of demanding that it stop publicly criticising Donald Trump. In November 2024, Ben & Jerry’s took legal action against its parent firm, accusing the company of trying to block it from making public statements supporting Palestinian refugees in the conflict in Gaza, something Unilever rejected.