Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield, whose name helped shape the popular ice cream brand, has quit the company, as its rift with parent Unilever deepened over its stance on the Gaza war.
In an open letter addressing the Ben & Jerry's community that was shared by his partner Ben Cohen on social media platform X on Wednesday, Greenfield said that the Vermont-based company has lost its independence since Unilever curtailed its social activism.
Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s have clashed since 2021, when the Chubby Hubby maker said it would stop sales in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The brand has since sued its parent over alleged efforts to silence it and described the Gaza war as "genocide," a rare stance for a major U.S. company.
Greenfield said he could no longer "in good conscience" continue working for a company that had been "silenced" by Unilever, despite a merger agreement meant to safeguard the brand's social mission.
"That independence existed in no small part because of the unique merger agreement Ben and I negotiated with Unilever," he wrote in the letter.
Since 2022, Ben & Jerry’s Israel has been fully independent. The company acquired the rights of the brand and has been operating since then with no legal or commercial connection to Unilever or Ben & Jerry’s Global.
The local operation is run by "American Quality Products Ltd.," owned by Avi Zinger, with a manufacturing plant in Be’er Tuvia employing over 200 workers, most of whom are residents of Israel’s south. The Israeli company operates with full autonomy throughout the country, upholding the local and community values that have guided it for more than 35 years.
A spokesperson for Magnum Ice Cream Company, Unilever's ice cream unit, said that it "disagrees with Greenfield's perspective and has sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry's powerful values-based position in the world."
Magnum said Greenfield stepped down as a brand ambassador and that he is not a party to the lawsuit.
Unilever did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Greenfield's departure comes as Ben & Jerry's has been calling for its own spin-off ahead of a planned listing of Magnum Ice Cream in November after years of clashing over the U.S. brand's vocal position on Gaza.
Last week, Cohen demanded to "free Ben & Jerry's" to protect its social values, which was rebuffed by new Magnum CEO Peter ter Kulve.
Cohen said the brand had attempted to engineer a sale to investors at a fair market value between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion, but the proposal was rejected.
Ben & Jerry's was founded by Cohen and Greenfield in a renovated gas station in 1978, and kept its socially conscious mission after Unilever bought it in 2000.