Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, has accused the ice cream maker’s parent company Unilever of blocking a proposed flavour that would have expressed solidarity with Palestine. In response, Cohen announced plans to independently produce the flavour under his personal activist brand, Ben’s Best.
The ice cream mogul shared the news in a video posted to Instagram on Tuesday, revealing that the new flavour will be a watermelon sorbet — a nod to the fruit’s colours, which mirror those of the Palestinian flag. “I’m doing what they couldn’t,” Cohen said. “I’m making a watermelon-flavoured ice cream that calls for permanent peace in Palestine and repairing the damage that was done there.”
The project marks the latest chapter in a long-running dispute between Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company, Unilever, which acquired the Vermont-based brand in 2000. Known for its outspoken stance on political, environmental, and social justice issues, Ben & Jerry’s has often clashed with Unilever over the extent of its activism.
A spokesperson for Magnum, Unilever’s ice cream division that is currently being spun off, confirmed that it had decided “now is not the right time to invest in developing this product.” The company said Ben & Jerry’s would continue focusing on “impactful campaigns close to its communities,” including efforts to improve refugee housing conditions in the UK and support freedom of speech in the US.
Cohen’s decision comes three years after Ben & Jerry’s made headlines by halting sales in Israeli-occupied territories in 2021, citing concerns over human rights. Unilever later sold the brand’s Israeli operations to a local licensee, enabling the ice cream to remain available in the West Bank — a move that Cohen and co-founder Jerry Greenfield strongly opposed.
Cohen’s new venture, Ben’s Best, was first established in 2016 to support US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, debuting with the “Bernie’s Back” flavour. He now plans to expand the line with a series of socially conscious flavours addressing issues that Ben & Jerry’s “was prevented from speaking out on” under Unilever’s ownership.
The dispute has also taken a personal toll. Greenfield resigned from Ben & Jerry’s in September, citing frustration over what he saw as a loss of the company’s independence. “Jerry has a really big heart, and this conflict with Unilever was breaking it,” Cohen said at the time.
Despite stepping away from corporate control, Cohen insists he remains committed to the values that made Ben & Jerry’s a global icon of activism. “My heart leads me to continue advocating for the company’s independence,” he told the BBC, “so it can live up to the social mission it was founded on more than 40 years ago.”
