Ben & Jerry’s has said its chief executive, David Stever, was being removed by its parent company, Unilever, in a growing dispute over the ice cream company’s political activism.
The allegation was part of a legal case filed in a US court by Ben & Jerry’s that says Unilever violated a merger agreement by trying to silence its “social mission”.
It comes a month after the ice cream company accused Unilever of demanding that it stops publicly criticising US President Donald Trump.
The ice cream maker was bought by Unilever in 2000 through a merger agreement that created an independent board tasked with protecting the ice cream brand’s values and mission.
But Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s have been at loggerheads for a while. Their relationship soured in 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s announced it was halting sales in the West Bank. The dispute escalated over the last year as Ben & Jerry’s advocated for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The political activism might have had part in it. Not treating people and animals like garbage and squeezing every drip of profits out of the ingredients tends to improve the quality.
Yeah it’s basically the only ice cream I’ve purchased in the last decade. Had no idea about the political activism until like a year ago. I’d buy even more but I’d break the bathroom scale.