Ben & Jerry’s's Co-creator Jerry Greenfield Resigns, Citing Parent Company Silenced Activist Vision
The Vermont-based ice cream maker's co-creator Jerry Greenfield has stepped away from the beloved company after nearly 50 years, according to a message from his fellow founder Ben Cohen.
Cohen’s post included what he described as a letter from Greenfield, in which the exiting executive labeled it one of the “toughest and difficult decisions” of his life.
Greenfield stated that the organization had been silenced by its corporate owner and that its autonomy to speak out on social causes was now “lost.”
“Unless the business was willing to advocate for the things we believed in, then it wasn’t worth being a company at all,” Greenfield said.
This move came even after a acquisition deal meant to safeguard the brand’s social mission, Greenfield noted.
“This autonomy was preserved in no small part because of the special acquisition terms” which both founders had arranged with Unilever, Greenfield wrote.
The ice cream maker and its parent firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the news agency.
Last week, Cohen said that during disagreements with the parent company, the brand had tried to engineer a sale to buyers at a reasonable price of $1.5 to $2.5 billion, but the proposal was turned down.
The multinational and the ice cream brand have been at odds since at least 2021, when the company said it would stop selling in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Ben & Jerry’s has also sued its corporate parent over alleged attempts to restrain it and has called the situation in Gaza “genocide.”
