As a company built on the belief that business can and should be an engine for advancing progressive social change, we stand in solidarity with the campaign to Free Ben & Jerry’s and the company’s co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. For decades, Ben & Jerry’s has exemplified what it means to use business for good by demonstrating that companies can champion fairness, equity, and justice. Now, Ben & Jerry’s long-standing social mission is at risk of being compromised under its current ownership by The Magnum Ice Cream Company, recently spun off from Unilever.
Between 2000 and 2020, Ben & Jerry’s was managed by their independent board and could pursue mission-driven initiatives under their parent company, Unilever. Since 2021, under Unilever and now Magnum, corporate decisions affecting Ben & Jerry’s have increasingly prioritized purely commercial concerns over the company’s historic commitment to activism, independence, and outspoken advocacy on social justice issues.
The campaign to Free Ben & Jerry’s is about more than the future of a single brand. It is about defending the integrity of mission-driven business in a system that too often prioritizes short-term returns over long-term impact. When a company’s social purpose is constrained, diluted, or overridden, it sends a message that values are expendable. We reject that notion.
We believe that companies must be accountable not only to shareholders but also to workers, communities, and the broader world they influence. The call to restore Ben & Jerry’s independence is a call to protect businesses that demonstrate another way is possible—one based on a steadfast dedication to justice and social good.
We support the growing global movement urging The Magnum Ice Cream Company to allow Ben & Jerry’s to return to independent ownership led by co-founder Ben Cohen and a group of investors prepared to buy the company. Doing so would not only honor the brand’s legacy but also allow Ben & Jerry’s to continue to be one of the most impactful voices for social justice in the business world.
To learn more, and send a letter to Magnum go to: https://freebenandjerrys.com/
In Solidarity,
David and Michael Bronner