Dive Brief:
- Ben & Jerry’s said its parent company Unilever fired the ice cream maker’s CEO David Stever for backing the brand’s social mission and not because of his job performance.
- The Cherry Garcia maker said in a court filing on Tuesday Unilever has “repeatedly threatened Ben & Jerry’s personnel, including CEO David Stever, should they fail to comply with Unilever’s efforts to silence” its social mission.
- Unilever said it planned to remove and replace Stever on March 3. Earlier this year, the ice cream brand said Unilever “chastised” Stever in his annual review for “repeatedly acquiesce[ing] to the demands” of Ben & Jerry's independent social mission board, which oversees the brand’s activism.
Dive Insight:
The allegations are the latest salvo fired between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever, which also owns frozen novelties such as Talenti, Breyer’s and Popsicle.
In January, Ben & Jerry’s claimed the CPG giant suppressed a social media statement that mentioned President Donald Trump and referenced issues such as abortion, climate change, minimum wages and universal healthcare.
Ben & Jerry’s also said in the lawsuit it was prohibited from issuing a post commemorating Black History Month and commenting on the protection of the First Amendment after Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil was recently detained.
The brand claims the removal of Stever was another attempt to clamp down on Ben & Jerry’s political views and violates an agreement in place with Unilever outlining the process for replacing the company’s top executive.
“Concurrently with their efforts to remove Mr. Stever, Unilever’s suppression of Ben & Jerry’s Social Mission has reached startling new levels of oppressiveness,” the ice cream brand said in a court filing.
Unilever did not respond to a request for comment.
Last year, Unilever announced plans to spin off Ben & Jerry’s and its other ice cream brands in 2025 as part of a sweeping restructuring plan designed to create “a simpler, more focused company.”
Ben & Jerry’s has expressed concern that Unilever so far has failed to outline how the spinoff will preserve its independent board, social mission and brand integrity. The independent board of Ben & Jerry’s, which controls social responsibility matters, was formed as part of its merger agreement with Unilever in 2000.
Ben & Jerry’s was the leading ice cream brand in the U.S., with $951 million in sales during 2023, according to the latest data from Statista. The U.S. ice cream market generated more than $19 billion in revenue.
