Jerry of Ben & Jerry’s resigns, saying firm has been ‘silenced’

One of Ben & Jerry’s founders, Jerry Greenfield, has resigned from the ice cream company, saying that the company’s independence had been lost and its social activism “silenced” under the control of its parent company, Unilever

- YAN ZHUANG

The move, announced by fellow co-founder Ben Cohen on social media early Wednesday, follows years of mounting tensions between Unilever, which acquired the ice cream company in 2000, and the Ben & Jerry’s founders, who have long been outspoken on social issues. The relationship especially deteriorated since the start of the war in Gaza.

In the statement, Greenfield said he could no longer “in good conscience” remain at the company he helped start in 1978. Greenfield said that the “independence to pursue our values” that had been guaranteed for Ben & Jerry’s when it merged with Unilever in 2000 had been lost. “Ben & Jerry's has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power,” he added.