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Ben and Jerry’s claims its chief govt has been sacked amid a longstanding row with its UK mum or dad agency over ice cream maker’s political activism.
Court docket paperwork allege David Stever was being faraway from his put up by Unilever as a result of he was too outspoken on social points.
Final month the ice cream firm, which had launched a flavour in assist of Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris, accused Unilever of demanding it cease any public criticism of Donald Trump.
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As a part of the merger deal, an unbiased board was set as much as shield the ice cream model’s mission and robust stance on social points.
Unilever mentioned that below the association it “reserved main duty for monetary and operational choices”.
Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee ice cream was launched by Ben & Jerry’s in the course of the US presidential election marketing campaign. Pic: AP
A sequence of disputes have adopted.
Probably the most excessive profile spat got here in 2021 when the US model took the choice to not promote ice cream in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories on the grounds that gross sales can be “inconsistent” with its values.
Unilever responded by promoting the enterprise to its licensee in Israel.
Ben & Jerry’s alleged in its submitting to the US District Court docket for the Southern District of New York that Unilever had wished to cease Mr Stever – its boss of just about two years – from making political statements.
“Unilever has repeatedly threatened Ben & Jerry’s personnel, together with CEO David Stever, ought to they fail to adjust to Unilever’s efforts to silence the social mission,” the submitting mentioned.
“On March 3 2025, Unilever knowledgeable the unbiased board that they had been eradicating and changing Mr Stever as Ben & Jerry’s CEO.”
Unilever has been contacted for remark.
Mr Stever – a veteran of the ice cream model who began out as an organization tour information in 1988 – stays listed because the chief govt on Ben & Jerry’s web site.
There’s a chance that the frostiness between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever will thaw below the mum or dad’s agency’s plans to spin off its ice cream pursuits right into a separate firm.
That division, which additionally contains manufacturers resembling Magnum and Wall’s, is about to be primarily based within the Netherlands with a main inventory market itemizing in Amsterdam.
