Ben and Jerry’s claims its chief government has been sacked amid a longstanding row with its UK mum or dad agency over ice cream maker’s political activism.
Courtroom paperwork allege David Stever was being faraway from his put up by Unilever as a result of he was too outspoken on social points.
Final month the ice cream firm, which had launched a flavour in assist of Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris, accused Unilever of demanding it cease any public criticism of Donald Trump.
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Ben and Jerry’s, which was based by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 1978, was purchased by the patron items large in 2000.
As a part of the merger deal, an impartial board was set as much as shield the ice cream model’s mission and powerful stance on social points.
Unilever mentioned that underneath the association it “reserved primary responsibility for financial and operational decisions”.
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Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee ice cream was launched by Ben & Jerry’s throughout the US presidential election marketing campaign. Pic: AP
A sequence of disputes have adopted.
Essentially the most excessive profile spat got here in 2021 when the US model took the choice to not promote ice cream in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories on the grounds that gross sales could be “inconsistent” with its values.
Unilever responded by promoting the enterprise to its licensee in Israel.
Ben & Jerry’s alleged in its submitting to the US District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York that Unilever had needed to cease Mr Stever – its boss of virtually two years – from making political statements.
“Unilever has repeatedly threatened Ben & Jerry’s personnel, including CEO David Stever, should they fail to comply with Unilever’s efforts to silence the social mission,” the submitting mentioned.
“On March 3 2025, Unilever informed the independent board that they were removing and replacing Mr Stever as Ben & Jerry’s CEO.”
Unilever has been contacted for remark.
Mr Stever – a veteran of the ice cream model who began out as an organization tour information in 1988 – stays listed because the chief government on Ben & Jerry’s web site.
There’s a chance that the frostiness between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever will thaw underneath the mum or dad’s agency’s plans to spin off its ice cream pursuits right into a separate firm.
That division, which additionally contains manufacturers corresponding to Magnum and Wall’s, is ready to be primarily based within the Netherlands with a main inventory market itemizing in Amsterdam.
