One co-founder of the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream firm has quit the business after 47 years, citing the loss of the firm’s independence under parent company Unilever to support social campaigns.
Only last week, Ben & Jerry’s released a statement asking to be freed from its ownership to be able to focus on its “social justice mission”.
Unilever are spinning off their ice cream businesses under the brand of the Magnum Ice Cream Company (MICC), which Ben & Jerry’s is set to remain a part of – but they will now be so without one of their original members, with Jerry Greenfield announcing he had made “one of the hardest and most painful decisions I’ve ever made.”
Sharing Mr Greenfield’s departure message on social media, fellow co-founder Ben Cohen said “Jerry has made the difficult decision to step down from the company we built together. I’m sharing his words as he resigns from Ben & Jerry’s. His legacy deserves to be true to our values, not silenced.”
The departure of Mr Greenfield marks the most significant escalation of the row between the ice cream firm and its parent company, which has been ongoing for years despite an original independence clause signed when Unilever bought the brand.
Earlier this year Ben & Jerry’s accused Unilever of forcibly removing their CEO without permission to do so, while last year they brought a lawsuit against Unilever for silencing them from speaking out in support of Palestinians.
