Theo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.org.
Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, said Wednesday he would resign from the company in response to alleged political censorship from its parent company Unilever.
Greenfield, who founded the company in 1978 together with Ben Cohen, said in an open resignation letter that he “can no longer, in good conscience…remain an employee.” After he and Cohen sold Ben & Jerry’s to Unilever in 2000, Greenfield had taken up a brand ambassador role at the company.
“Standing up for the values of justice, equity, and our shared humanity has never been more important,” Greenfield in the statement. “And yet Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power.”
Greenfield’s announcement comes days after he and Cohen launched a campaign to “free” the ice cream brand from Unilever’s planned spin-off, the Magnum Ice Cream Company. Greenfield’s resignation letter appeared both on social media and the campaign website.
The company now “is not the Ben & Jerry’s that we founded,” Cohen and Greenfield wrote in a joint open letter last week.
In the days since, Unilever has responded that Ben & Jerry’s is “not for sale” and the company remains “committed to Ben & Jerry’s unique three-part mission — product, economic and social.”
