{"id":872411,"date":"2025-09-12T01:12:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T06:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/12\/ben-jerrys-has-been-silenced-by-unilever\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T01:12:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T06:12:25","slug":"ben-jerrys-has-been-silenced-by-unilever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/12\/ben-jerrys-has-been-silenced-by-unilever\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s has been \u2018silenced\u2019 by Unilever"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"pn_rw\" data-clarity-region=\"article\">\n<h2>The scoop on Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s ice cream<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s co-founders want to sever ties with TMICC ownership<\/li>\n<li>TMICC is Unilever\u2019s soon-to-be-demerger ice cream business, led by Peter ter Kulve<\/li>\n<li>Founders accuse Unilever of censorship on social justice and war issues<\/li>\n<li>Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s seeks independence to protect its social mission and voice<\/li>\n<li>TMICC insists brand is profitable, integrated and not currently for sale<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unilever\u2019s soon-to-be-demerged ice cream business was preparing to pitch to potential investors at its Capital Markets Day \u2013 under its new name: The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC).<\/p>\n<p>As CEO Peter ter Kulve took to the stage, Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s made its own move. Via an open letter to TMICC board members, the brands\u2019 co-founders announced they want to sever ties. After 25 years of ownership, Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s wants out. <\/p>\n<h2>Unilever again accused of shushing Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s <\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s a cultural clash at play. \u201cWe feel compelled to speak out,\u201d writes Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s co-founders Ben Cohen &#038; Jerry Greenfield. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor years now, the voice of Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s has been silenced by Unilever, particularly when the brand has tried to speak out about social justice and unjust wars.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The two businesses have a long history of disagreements. Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s has repeatedly accused Unilever of shushing its support of peace in Gaza, and from blocking its endorsement of US college campus protesters. <\/p>\n<p>Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s also sued Unilever over the sale of its intellectual property rights in Israel to a distributor. Although they reached a settlement, their frosty relationship remained unresolved.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s launched another lawsuit against Unilever \u2013 this time around censorship. The brand had been planning to publish a statement, in which it mentioned \u201cseveral social issues Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s believed would be challenged during the Trump administration, including minimum wage, universal healthcare, abortion, and climate change\u201d. Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s claims it was muzzled. The lawsuit is ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>The strength of Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s lies in the authenticity of its values and its voice, say the founders. \u201cWhether in opposing crimes against humanity, speaking out against white supremacy, supporting marriage equality, demanding climate justice, or insisting that businesses have responsibilities beyond profitability.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Magnum Co tarnished with the same brush<\/h2>\n<p>Of course, it\u2019s normal for the big boss to approve what communications go out and when. <\/p>\n<p>The issue here is the way Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s was acquired back in 2020. At the time, an acquisition agreement was inked guaranteeing Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s autonomy \u2013 both in retaining an independent board and its \u201cfreedom to pursue its social mission\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>The co-founders suggest it was this \u201cvital agreement\u201d that got Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s over the line. And now, Unilever\u2019s being accused of not standing by its word.<\/p>\n<p>But Unilever is not TMICC. And come mid-November, the latter is expected to completely demerge from its parent company to be listed in Amsterdam, London and New York. Unilever will retain a stake of just under 20%.<\/p>\n<p>However, Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s does not expect any change under TMICC ownership. The company is made up of existing Unilever employees, and headed up by ice cream chief Peter ter Kulve, who now takes the reins as CEO.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMagnum may be a new company, but it retains the legacy, leadership and investment of Unilever\u2019s ice cream business and the history of its actions against Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s,\u201d write the co-founders.<\/p>\n<p>And so, just as TMICC is splitting off from Unilever, Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s wants to split off from TMICC. The co-founders are urging the board to be decoupled, so it can operate as an \u201cindependently owned company, supported by socially-aligned investors and free to honor its mission without compromise\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s is not for sale (and it\u2019s doing \u2018phenomenally well\u2019)<\/h2>\n<p>TMICC was quick to react. \u201cWe remain committed to Ben &#038; 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 business,&#8221; noted the company in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>From TMICC\u2019s perspective, the Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s brand has been performing well under Unilever leadership, and it doesn\u2019t expect that to change once TMICC demerges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBen &#038; Jerry\u2019s is doing phenomenally well,\u201d ter Kulve told potential investors yesterday. \u201cWe grew the business by a factor six from a business that was hardly profitable. It\u2019s now a very profitable business.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He acknowledges he hasn\u2019t always seen eye-to-eye with co-founders Cohen and Greenfield. \u201cYou don\u2019t always want to agree with them, but you always want to hug them. They\u2019re really good people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He reiterated that Ben &#038; Jerry\u2019s is \u201cfully integrated\u201d in Unilever and TMICC. \u201cIt\u2019s a proud part of our portfolio and we know how to operate it. Its factories, its sales, its marketing, and we do so with big success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The final word from TMICC on this? \u201cThe business is not for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Flora Southey <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Article\/2025\/09\/10\/ben-jerrys-wants-to-split-from-unilever-ice-cream-now-magnum\/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&#038;utm_medium=RSS&#038;utm_campaign=RSS\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The scoop on Ben &amp; Jerry\u2019s ice cream Ben &amp; Jerry\u2019s co-founders want to sever ties with TMICC ownership TMICC is Unilever\u2019s soon-to-be-demerger ice cream business, led by Peter ter Kulve Founders accuse Unilever of censorship on social justice and war issues Ben &amp; Jerry\u2019s seeks independence to protect its social mission and voice TMICC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":872412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37763,35103],"tags":[9234,119984],"class_list":["post-872411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jerrys","category-silenced","tag-jerrys","tag-silenced"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}