Why a brand would want to wade into the political messaging arena is beyond me. Shut up and sell ice cream. You can voice your opinion as an individual outside the firm.
If the lefty boys at Ben and Jerry's wanted to use the brand to promote their causes, they should not have sold the company in the first place.
Personally, I'm horrified with the stupidity that Bibi's shown in Gaza. Hasn't furthered the interests of Israel and has fucked up 2 million most innocent people. The point is, I don't allow my beliefs to influence my company the Report! Hey ...errr...
Ben & Jerry’s Sues Unilever, Alleging It Was Censored Over Gaza
In escalation of long-running tensions, ice-cream brand says its parent company blocked statements in support of Palestinian rights
By Saabira Chaudhuri, WSJ
Updated Nov. 14, 2024 3:01 pm ET
Ben & Jerry’s has been a Unilever brand for more than two decades.
Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever are headed back to court.
The ice-cream brand on Wednesday sued its parent company, accusing the consumer-goods giant of silencing its attempts to speak out in support of Palestinians and threatening to dismantle its independent board.
The complaint marks an escalation of long-simmering tensions between the two sides and comes as London-based Unilever pursues a spinoff of its broader ice-cream business, which also includes the Magnum and Breyers brands.
The lawsuit was instigated by Ben & Jerry’s independent board. It alleges Unilever breached agreements allowing the board to make decisions about the brand’s social mission. Ben & Jerry’s has an independent board because of an unusual deal Unilever struck to woo the brand when it acquired it in 2000. The rights of the board were reaffirmed two years ago as part of a deal to settle an earlier lawsuit.
Unilever said it rejects the claims made by Ben & Jerry’s independent board and would defend itself “very strongly.”
Social activism has been part of Ben & Jerry’s identity since at least 1988 when it launched Peace Pops, a chocolate-covered ice cream on a stick that it used to advocate for cuts to U.S. military spending. Since then it has backed causes such as Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ rights and put money toward environmental issues like climate change.
Ben & Jerry’s previously sued Unilever in 2022 after the parent company sold the brand’s Israel business to a licensee without its permission.
Unilever decided to sell the business after Ben & Jerry’s in 2021 said it would stop selling its products in Jewish settlements located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and contested East Jerusalem. The brand said selling there was inconsistent with its values.
Ben Cohen, wearing brown shirt, and Jerry Greenfield co-founded the ice-cream brand in 1978. Photo: Oliver Parini for The Wall Street Journal
The parties settled that dispute in 2022 after six months of negotiations. As part of the settlement, Unilever agreed to respect Ben & Jerry’s “primary responsibility” over the brand’s social mission and brand integrity.
The new lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that Unilever has since broken that agreement on four separate occasions.
In December 2023, Ben & Jerry’s says it told Unilever it was going to put out a statement about Gaza saying, “Ben & Jerry’s calls for peace and a permanent and immediate ceasefire.” In the suit, the brand says Unilever threatened to dismantle its independent board and sue the board members individually if the brand proceeded with the statement.
Ben & Jerry’s also alleges in the suit that Unilever’s head of ice cream, Peter ter Kulve, and its head of litigation, Jeff Eglash, “attempted to intimidate Ben & Jerry’s personnel with professional reprisals if the company issued the ceasefire statement.”
The merger agreement makes no provision for Unilever to dismantle or fire the board.
The second instance occurred in May 2024 when Ben & Jerry’s management sought permission from Unilever to put out a tweet calling for safe passage for Palestinians to come to the U.K. Unilever blocked this, says the complaint. Ter Kulve told Ben & Jerry’s chairwoman that he thought the timing of the statement, which coincided with an Iranian missile attack on Israel, made the message inappropriate, according to the complaint.
The Ben & Jerry’s factory in Waterbury, Vt. Photo: Oliver Parini for The Wall Street Journal
The following month Ben & Jerry’s tried to release a statement supporting the First Amendment rights of student protests against civilian deaths in Gaza. Unilever also blocked this, the complaint says.
Finally, in September, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) tweeted that he had introduced legislation to block arms sales to Israel. Ben & Jerry’s sought to put out a statement supporting this but says it was stopped by Unilever.
“Unilever has demonstrated a pattern and practice of usurping the Independent Board’s authority,” the complaint alleges, adding that the company has also stymied Ben & Jerry’s social mission and brand integrity.
Ben & Jerry’s lawsuit also accuses Unilever of blocking the brand from making certain charitable donations.
The 2022 settlement agreement calls for Unilever to pay $5 million to the brand to disburse to human-rights and humanitarian organizations. In its complaint, the brand says it was blocked from donating to Jewish Voice for Peace and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. It said Unilever disallowed donations to the former because it saw the organization as being “too critical of the Israeli government.”
Ben & Jerry’ s also said that Unilever had breached an agreement to pay a longtime Palestinian almond supplier $2 million a year.
Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at Saabira.Chaudhuri@wsj.com
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