Ben & Jerry's accusations of Unilever to have released his CEO for political reasons

Food news

Ben & Jerry's accused Unilever, his parent company, released the CEO because he allowed the ice machine to talk out about political questions, in line with a criticism that was submitted to a federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday.

In the submission, Ben & Jerry said that Unilever had released David Stever due to his commitment to the corporate's social mission and never his work. He has held the Ice Cream Company's top job since 2023.

“Unilever has repeatedly threatened Ben & Jerry, including CEO David Stever, if they did not keep the efforts of Unilever to silence the social mission,” said Ben & Jerry within the submission.

Unilever announced the board of Ben and Jerry on March 3 that it was intended to remove and replace Stever as CEO, the submission said. This was refrained from the approval of an advisory board and violated an agreement that the 2 firms had signed after they were put together in 2000, and claimed Ben & Jerry within the submission. It added: “Under Mr. Stever's term of office, Ben & Jerry's ice cream portfolio from Unilever exceeded.”

In 2024, sales at Ben & Jerry grew faster than in Magnum, one other of crucial ice brands of Unilever, as will be seen from an Unilever presentation on his financial performance.

As a part of the acquisition contract between the 2 firms, Unilever agreed to take care of Ben & Jerry's an independent board of directors for monitoring the brand. This made it possible for Ben & Jerry's “guardrails” to create his social activism and gave his founders further control over the corporate.

The modified criticism submitted on Tuesday was a part of a lawsuit to support Ben & Jerry's Unilever of the censorship in November and to support Palestinian refugees' efforts to support the efforts of the ice maker.

In this lawsuit it was claimed that Unilever tried to scale back the independent board of directors of the ice cream maker and forestall it from taking certain political attitude, including the demand for an armistice within the Gaza Strip, the support of the US students who protested against civilian deaths within the territory and end the US military aid for Israel.

Unilever didn’t immediately answer a request for comments. Last 12 months it was said in a proof that it could be strongly defended against the allegations within the lawsuit. Ben & Jerry didn’t reply to a request for comment.

The founders of Ben & Jerry, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield have long been open to social issues. The tensions flared up in 2021 when Ben & Jerry said it could stop selling his ice cream in Israeli-occupied areas.

In March 2024, Unilever announced the plans to collapse the ice, which also includes Ben & Jerry. The move is predicted to be accomplished at the top of this 12 months and, whether it is successful, the 25-year-old, often rocky marriage between the 2 firms.