By MEE staff Published date: 11 September 2025 22:49 BST
Ben & Jerry’s has started a public campaign to try to separate from its parent company so it can freely speak about the war in Gaza, racial justice, and other issues. Its parent company, Magnum, has refused to sell the iconic ice cream brand.
The war between the ice-cream giants comes as Ben & Jerry’s became part of the Magnum Ice Cream company on Tuesday and Unilever prepares to spin off Magnum into a separate public company, which includes brands such as Ben & Jerry’s, Walls and Cornetto, in mid-November.
Per the article, Ben & Jerry’s the brand was sold to a multinational conglomerate years ago and is not permitted to take any stance the corporation finds controversial, which includes genocide. Ben & Jerry the people are, commendably, taking a stance against genocide and are sad that they can’t align their company with that stance, since it is actually not their company because they sold it. I applaud them for speaking out, and roll my eyes at them for their naivity in thinking they could sell the company and still be allowed to take a moral stand with it afterwards.
They do appear to have attempted to ensure contractually that the B&J (the company) be able to continue the mission side without intervention though. Unilever broke at least the spirit of the contract (though I’m sure their $ means they would win a formal legal battle).
Yes, they thought they could have it both ways. Thinking those lines in the contract would mean anything when they went against corporate interests was the naive part.