Ben & Jerry\u2019s ice-cream in the tub is still great, but the brand\u2019s newest chocolate-covered ice-cream bar on a stick?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt ain\u2019t the same,\u201d Ben Cohen, the company co-founder, told the Guardian. Sure, the chocolate coating is still thick enough, but the ice cream itself is \u201ckinda fluffy\u201d, Cohen said \u2013 an insult in the ice-cream world that suggests extra air was added to cut costs.<\/p>\n
The criticism is surprising coming from Cohen, who opened his eponymous ice-cream shop in Burlington, Vermont, with childhood friend, Jerry Greenfield, in 1978. But it\u2019s perhaps an apt metaphor of how he feels amid a simmering fight<\/a> to take back Ben & Jerry\u2019s from a parent company he says has silenced the brand\u2019s trademark activism.<\/p>\n For Cohen, 75, the battle is legal and existential. Ben & Jerry\u2019s social and economic value was protected for decades, he says, by an independent board with final say on the brand\u2019s voice, values and ice-cream quality.<\/p>\n But that independence has all but disappeared, Cohen said. In November 2024, Ben & Jerry\u2019s sued parent company Unilever<\/a>, claiming it was blocked from voicing support for Gaza, and accusing Unilever of breaching their agreement. The lawsuit is still making its way through federal court.<\/p>\n In September 2025, after Unilever spun off its ice-cream brands into the Magnum Ice Cream Company, Cohen started<\/a> his campaign to \u201cFree Ben & Jerry\u2019s\u201d \u2013 asking Magnum to sell the brand so it can be independently owned and operated.<\/p>\n Social activism is a core part of why people buy Ben & Jerry\u2019s, Cohen says. \u201cWhat consumers want above all is authenticity and attitude,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ben & Jerry\u2019s could be valued at $1bn or more, Cohen estimates, but says Magnum won\u2019t give him or potential investors numbers that could help value it more accurately.<\/p>\n Magnum has insisted Ben & Jerry\u2019s is not up for sale, so Cohen is amping up his campaign. In recent weeks, Cohen has started calling for a boycott of Magnum\u2019s other brands, including Yasso, Breyers, Talenti and Klondike, with the idea that tanking the company\u2019s overall sales will pressure it to sell back the company.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t want it to have to come to this,\u201d he said of the boycott, but Magnum is \u201cdestroying a brand\u201d that stands for values its customers believe in.<\/p>\n What Cohen is trying to do \u2013 force an $11bn conglomerate into divesting a star brand \u2013 is highly unusual, and unlikely to succeed, some industry and management experts predict.<\/p>\n \u201cMost boycotts fail because people get distracted,\u201d said Maurice Schweitzer, a management professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. US and European consumers just may not have the long-term attention span for the sustained collective action that it would take to pressure management, Schweitzer said.<\/p>\n But Cohen believes the company\u2019s loyal followers are on his side.<\/p>\n \u201cConsumers want to vote with their dollars,\u201d he said, insisting that support for the brand must continue. \u201cWe want Ben & Jerry\u2019s to remain strong because we plan on eventually owning it.\u201d<\/p>\n The flavors of conflict<\/p>\n It\u2019s been nearly three decades since Cohen and Greenfield sold their company to Unilever for $326m in 2000. The unique deal was built around an independent board and lauded by the Wharton School<\/a> for preserving the company\u2019s pledge<\/a> to try to \u201cmake the world a better place\u201d while also committing to making great ice-cream and turning a profit.<\/p>\n Under Unilever, Ben & Jerry\u2019s was vocally supportive of social issues. The company criticized George W Bush\u2019s war in Iraq, was a pioneering supporter of same-sex marriage, and called to \u201cdismantle white supremacy<\/a>\u201d after George Floyd was murdered.<\/p>\n But now, the divide between the brand\u2019s founders and the company\u2019s corporate owners is deep and bitter.<\/p>\n Cracks first opened after an independent board overseeing the company said in 2021 that selling Ben & Jerry\u2019s ice cream in occupied Palestine was \u201cinconsistent with our values<\/a>\u201d, sparking outrage in Israel. Unilever sold off the Israeli trademark<\/a> to a local businessman who is now selling a \u201cMilk & Honey\u201d flavor<\/a>.<\/p>\n The board first sued Unilever<\/a> in 2024, accusing the company of silencing its activism over Palestine, including vocal support for Gaza and calls to stop US aid to Israel.<\/p>\n Then in 2025, Unilever ousted<\/a> David Stever, the Ben & Jerry\u2019s CEO, in a move Ben & Jerry\u2019s said was designed to stifle its social mission, including a board-approved plan<\/a> to sell a watermelon flavor to support Palestine that was quashed.<\/p>\n Co-founder Greenfield quit<\/a> the board soon after, stepping away from the company for the first time in 50 years, saying it had lost its independence. Currently, the board has just two Unilever veterans after Magnum imposed new term limits.<\/p>\n Though the campaign to buy back Ben & Jerry\u2019s has been led by Cohen, Greenfield said in his resignation letter that leaving the board was one of the \u201chardest and most painful decisions\u201d he had ever made.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the company couldn\u2019t stand up for the things we believed, then it wasn\u2019t worth being a company at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier in July, Ben & Jerry\u2019s philanthropic foundation said it was forced to close<\/a> after Magnum cut its funding. Magnum says an investigation found \u201cgovernance and conflict-of-interest issues\u201d.<\/p>\n In an interview with the Guardian, Magnum\u2019s chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer Victoria McKenzie-Gould said it invited trustees of the foundation to partner on a stronger corporate governance framework, but they declined.<\/p>\n \u201cOur focus remains where it belongs: on supporting the Ben & Jerry\u2019s team and its three-part mission while making great ice-cream and campaigning on the causes the brand cares about \u2013 and the team is doing a fantastic job,\u201d McKenzie-Gould said.<\/p>\n \u2018Not for sale\u2019<\/p>\n Throughout Cohen\u2019s months-long fight to buy back his company, Magnum has said it has no intention of selling.<\/p>\n \u201cBen is a great campaigner, but Ben & Jerry\u2019s is not for sale, and we are confident in the future because Ben & Jerry\u2019s is thriving as part of the Magnum Ice Cream Company,\u201d McKenzie-Gould said.<\/p>\n Magnum doesn\u2019t break out sales by brand, but called Ben & Jerry\u2019s one of its \u201ctop four\u201d, with 3% organic sales growth in 2025; <\/a>about 35% of Magnum\u2019s \u20ac7.9bn ($9.1bn) 2025 revenue came from the Americas, traditionally Ben & Jerry\u2019s largest market.<\/p>\n Sales grew 9.2%<\/a> in the second quarter, \u201cpowered by innovation\u201d, Ben & Jerry\u2019s CEO, Jochanan Senf, said on Thursday, adding that all three parts of the company\u2019s mission \u2013 social, product and economic \u2013 must \u201cthrive equally in a way that commands deep respect for individuals in and outside the company\u201d.<\/p>\n Since it was acquired in 2000, Ben & Jerry\u2019s \u201cfootprint has grown from four to over 40 countries, [and] revenue has grown more than fivefold,\u201d McKenzie-Gould said. The company\u2019s overall social mission has received \u20ac500m ($576m) from the parent \u2013 more than the original purchase price.<\/p>\n The brand had spoken out recently on \u201cICE<\/a>; refugee support in Europe<\/a>; cannabis justice<\/a> and voting rights\u201d, a corporate spokesperson for the Ben & Jerry\u2019s brand told the Guardian, including a new flavor \u2013 Razz Up!<\/a> \u2013 that encourages midterm voting.<\/p>\n The spokesperson disagreed with Cohen\u2019s criticism of the new ice-cream bars, saying the product was approved by the independent board in 2024 and used the same design standards as every product.<\/p>\n \u201cMore than one-third of bar buyers in the last year are completely new fans to Ben & Jerry\u2019s,\u201d Senf said with second-quarter results.<\/p>\n Cohen\u2019s calls for a boycott comes as many Americans are angry at companies and frustrated over US policies. American support for Palestinians<\/a> and criticism of Donald Trump have grown, and there\u2019s a growing frustration<\/a> with big companies over shoddy products and bad service.<\/p>\n But the headwinds for a successful boycott are stiff. There\u2019s a war against<\/a> \u201cwoke capitalism\u201d, and shareholder support<\/a> for environmental, social and governance resolutions has plummeted. Many of the social media platforms Cohen needs to spread his message are controlled by conservative billionaires, leaving him at the mercy of their algorithms.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think this is going to get lost in the shuffle of so many other causes,\u201d said Schweitzer.<\/p>\n Plenty of fans seem to think Cohen\u2019s expectations are naive. \u201cDid you really think a giant company wouldn\u2019t exploit you? When has an international company ever had social values?\u201d wrote Base_Art, a painter, on Instagram.<\/p>\n But Cohen has also gathered about 200,000 signatures and lots of encouraging social media messages. \u201cOccasionally, I ate the vegan coffee Talenti,\u201d former model Christie Brinkley recently wrote on Instagram. But without an independent board of directors, she said: \u201cNo more!\u201d<\/p>\n Cohen acknowledges the hurdles, but says he believes longtime, loyal fans will help overcome them.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that there\u2019s millions of people who support Ben and Jerry\u2019s and support its social mission,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cI\u2019m going to take it until we win.\u201d<\/p>\n