If there ever was an epicenter of “woke” commerce, it is Ben & Jerry’s. Headquartered in Burlington, Vermont, the longtime home of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the ice cream brand is virtually inseparable from its association with progressive policies.
And yet Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company, Unilever, are now locked in a legal battle about the ideals the company built the brand on. In court filings, Ben & Jerry’s maintains that CEO David Stever was removed from his post because of political statements on social media despite an agreement that the company’s social mission would continue under new ownership.
The company, founded in 1978 by Jerry Greenfield and Ben Cohen, was bought by Unilever in 2000. “At the time of the purchase, the Vermont-based ice cream maker stipulated that it would have an independent board, which allowed it to continue taking openly progressive stances on social and political issues,” CBS News reported.
The dispute is, in some ways, representative of a national U-turn being made by businesses that were, until a year or two ago, comfortable with making political statements, whether in their policies or products. But effective boycotts by conservatives of Target and Bud Light have made companies skittish, and the reelection of President Donald Trump in November has accelerated the movement away from politics, with companies acting quickly to drop diversity, equity and inclusion programs, for example.
Ben & Jerry’s, however, is an outlier in that it has been proudly progressive even during times when progressivism wasn’t seen as cool. And Unilever seems to have been OK with Ben & Jerry’s ideals, at least to a point.
The brand’s page on the Unilever website touts “a progressive, nonpartisan social mission that seeks to meet human needs and eliminate injustices in our local, national and international communities by integrating these concerns into our day-to-day business activities.”
It also talks about income inequality, saying “Capitalism and the wealth it produces do not create opportunity for everyone equally. We recognize that the gap between the rich and the poor is wider than at any time since the 1920’s. We strive to create economic opportunities for those who have been denied them and to advance new models of economic justice that are sustainable and replicable.”
And a sign in the window of the flagship Burlington store proclaims “We must dismantle white supremacy.”
Yet, as CNN reported, Ben & Jerry’s claims that Unilever violated a merger agreement “by ousting the ice cream company’s CEO for the brand’s repeated public comments on progressive issues, removing its chief executive without the board’s approval.”
Ben & Jerry’s charges that, among other things, Unilever “unilaterally barred” social media posts that mentioned Trump, one about Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil and one about Black History Month, per CNN. Further, “Ben & Jerry’s initial lawsuit, filed in November 2024, alleged Unilever silenced its attempts to publicly support Palestinian refugees and resolutions to end military aid to Israel, where the company had done business since 1987,” the CNN report said.
Unilever has not publicly responded to the allegations made in the most recent legal filings. The company announced a year ago that it intended to spin off Ben & Jerry’s, as well as other ice cream brands, and it’s been reported that the founders are interested in buying their company back.
Perhaps Unilever thought a more moderate Ben & Jerry’s might make the brand more attractive to buyers. But it also runs the risk of alienating customers loyal to the ice cream because of its history. The brand says it has never endorsed candidates — not even Bernie Sanders. It says on its website, “We are non-partisan and we don’t support candidates, political parties or super PACS.”
At the same time, it says, “At Ben & Jerry’s, we have always been political. We advocate for progressive social change that is rooted in our company’s mission and values. From marriage equality and LGBTQ rights, to climate justice and GMO labeling, we stand up for the issues we believe in, and we have never shied away from controversy.”
Despite its politics, Ben & Jerry’s has never been aggressively “Bud-Lighted” — the trendy term for conservative boycotts of companies that promote progressive policies or products. There are occasional calls for boycotts, the most recent in January. And yet it is consistently ranked in the top five specialty ice cream brands in the U.S.
Perhaps the lesson of Ben & Jerry’s is that a company can be both political and be successful, despite prevailing political winds that suggest not. It has, after all, been “woke” for a long time and “go woke, go broke” did not apply to the brand. That would be good news for the hundreds of conservative-leaning businesses that have launched in recent years, including brands like Patriot Mobile and Black Rifle Coffee.
Then again, given the latest polling about the Democrat Party’s waning popularity, perhaps Ben & Jerry’s needs to cross the political aisle, or at least come out with a couple of MAGA flavors.