Ben & Jerry’s sues parent company Unilever for stifling its stance on Gaza

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Dive Brief:

• Ben & Jerry’s filed a lawsuit against its parent company Unilever last week, alleging the consumer goods giant has silenced multiple attempts by the ice cream maker to advocate for Palestinians being impacted by the war in Gaza and support a cease-fire, according to court documents.
• The ice cream maker said, in one instance, Unilever threatened to “dismantle” its independent board and sue its board members if it issued a statement calling for “peace and a permanent and immediate ceasefire” in the region, according to a Nov. 13 complaint filed in a federal court in New York. The suit also alleged the president of Unilever’s ice cream business, Peter ter Kulve, and its global head of litigation, Jeff Eglash, threatened Ben & Jerry’s employees with “professional reprisals” if the company issued statements advocating for a cease-fire.
• Unilever said its “heart goes out to all the victims of the tragic events in the Middle East,” and that it rejects the claims made by Ben and Jerry’s social mission board, per emailed comments sent to ESG Dive on Tuesday. “We will defend our case very strongly,” a company spokesperson added.

Dive Insight:

Ben and Jerry’s alleged that in addition to stifling a statement that called for a cease-fire in Gaza, Unilever also censored a public statement the ice cream maker intended to publish to support those protesting against the war at college campuses around the country. The ice cream maker said the statement vouched for the protestors’ First Amendment rights and was in line with the company’s “long history of supporting such discourse,” but its release was barred by Eglash, per the suit.

The lawsuit also claims Unilever blocked Ben and Jerry’s from making donations to Jewish Voice for Peace and the Council on American Islamic Relations — organizations that seek to collect and disburse humanitarian aid to Palestinians impacted by the war in the Gaza Strip. The complaint said that though Unilever alleged its reasoning for blocking the donation was to maintain a “neutral” stance on the conflict, it made a public donation of 500,000 Euros ($528,670) to an Israeli emergency medical service and blood bank that acts as an auxiliary service to the Israeli Defense Forces.

The Vermont-based ice cream maker said these actions were a breach of its contract with Unilever, as it repetitively stymied Ben & Jerry’s social mission and brand integrity and attempted to topple its independent board’s authority.

“Unilever has repeatedly failed to recognize and respect the Independent Board’s primary responsibility over Ben & Jerry’s Social Mission and Brand Integrity, including threatening Ben & Jerry’s personnel should the company speak regarding issues which Unilever prefers to censor,” the lawsuit said.

Ben and Jerry’s has a “nonpartisan social mission that seeks to meet human needs and eliminate injustices in our local, national, and international communities,” according to its website. The company made a public statement in 2020 denouncing the “inhumane police brutality” inflicted on George Floyd and called on the Department of Justice to reinstate policies such as consent decrees to curb police abuses that were rolled back under Donald Trump’s administration.

When Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry’s in 2000, both companies agreed the ice cream manufacturer’s independent board would be free to pursue its social mission, but that the London-based consumer goods company would have the final say on financial and operational matters. At the time, Ben & Jerry’s called the acquisition agreement “unique” and “unprecedented,” as it allowed the company to set up a governance structure that secured its standing as a “values-led company.”

This isn’t the first time tensions have flared between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever over Israel-Palestine.

The ice cream maker sued its parent company in 2022 for breaching their merger agreement when Unilever sold Ben & Jerry’s Israeli operations to a licensee that would market its products in the Israel-occupied West Bank — a decision that went against the wishes of Ben & Jerry’s independent board.