Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Claims Parent Company Blocked Creation of Watermelon Ice Cream ‘For Palestine’
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Tubs of ice cream are seen as a laborer works at a Ben & Jerry’s factory in Be’er Tuvia, Israel, July 20, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The anti-Israel activist and Jewish co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s revealed this week that the ice cream brand’s parent company, Unilever, blocked it from launching a watermelon flavor to express solidarity with Palestinians.
Ben Cohen said Wednesday in a post on X that Unilever and the Magnum Ice Cream Company, which operates under the British conglomerate, “stopped Ben & Jerry’s from creating a flavor for Palestine — so I’m doing it myself.” He aims to independently launch the new watermelon flavor either as an ice cream or sorbet. Watermelons have become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity because they match the colors of the Palestinian flag – red, green, black, and white.
“I’ve got a watermelon, an empty pint, and I need your help,” Cohen wrote in the post on X, before calling on supporters to help him create the flavor by submitting ideas for its name, suggesting ingredients, or designing the pint packaging. In an accompanying video, Cohen accused Israel of “occupation” in Gaza and explained that his new flavor “calls for permanent peace in Palestine and calls for repairing all the damage that was done there.”
“The scale of suffering of the Palestinian people over the last two years has been unimaginable,” he said. “The [Israel-Hamas] ceasefire is a welcome relief, but there is much more work to do to rebuild. Palestinians are still living under occupation; still recovering from years of suffering … A while back, Ben & Jerry’s tried to make a flavor to call for peace in Palestine; to stand for justice and dignity for everyone. But they weren’t allowed to. They were stopped by Unilever/Magnum.”
Unilever has owned Ben & Jerry’s since 2000. Magnum, the largest ice cream company in the world, is currently in the process of a demerger from Unilever. A spokesperson for Magnum addressed Cohen’s claims in statement given to FOX Business.
“The independent members of the Ben & Jerry’s board of directors made a proposal in this direction this summer,” the spokesperson said. “The independent members of Ben & Jerry’s Board are not, and have never been, responsible for the Ben & Jerry’s commercial strategy and execution. Recommendations are considered by Ben & Jerry’s leadership, and Ben & Jerry’s management has determined now is not the right time to invest in developing this product.”
In May, Cohen was removed from a US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing, during testimony by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after Cohen interrupted the hearing by protesting against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Earlier this year, Ben & Jerry’s claimed that Unilever violated their merger agreement by firing CEO David Stever over his social activism, which included anti-Israel social media posts.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield announced in September he was leaving the company after 47 years because he felt that Unilever had “silenced” the ice cream company from speaking out on social issues.
