Margaret Louis / 24 June 2025 / Categories: Product and Brands, Brands, Food

Ben and Jerrys Ice cream dropped by Unilever as brands social conscience becomes untenable

It’s only my opinion as Unilever exit Ice cream space

Ben and Jerrys the American ice cream company from Vermont with fun flavours and a social conscious was on my radar over 25 years ago, long before it was bought out by British company Unilever for $326 million in 2000. Unilever PLC is now a British global entity after merging it’s Dutch and British corporate entities to create a single company headquartered in London.

There has been ongoing battles in the boardroom, Unilever fired Ben and Jerrys CEO David Starmer, some say unlawfully this year in March, David Stever over disputes involving the brand's social mission and taking a stance on polarizing political issues mainly there very vocal support of Palestine in the recent conflict with Israel. Whether or not it’s related, usually these things are, there was another battle in 2022 when Unilever let go of the Israeli business to license and sell Ben and Jerrys despite Ben & Jerry's sueing its parent company for selling the business in Israel and the country's West Bank region to a local licensee, arguing the sale violated Unilever's pledge to end sales of it’s products in the region in 2021 as a show of support for the Palestinian cause.

And whilst a spin off of their whole ice cream business including brands names like Magnum and Cornetto and historic British ice cream brand walls, creating separate companies with independent finances and new management structures looks like a bit of a smoke screen, Unilever insist Ben and Jerry is not for sale despite desire from original founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield to buy their company back.

Battles in the boardroom doesn’t make for producing the best product and whilst Unilever maintain the big chill on their Ice cream portfolio comes down to focusing more on other core brands which can provide better returns for shareholders, personally I think the streamlined offering has gone down hill anyway.

My once favourite Chunky Monkey, which used to taste like frozen creamy bananas, is now more like watered down vanilla if you can even find it in the UK anywhere other than Amazon and instead of that real high quality homemade taste, quite luxurious as I remember it has been diluted down to over sweetened much cheaper ingredients to compensate for what was once the best ice cream on the market.

Maybe more to the point Ben and Jerry’s loyal supporters in the beginning have opted for other tastier gelato offerings focusing on quality and taste consumers are looking for when it comes to their sweet treats.

For me personally I don’t buy ice cream in the supermarket anymore choosing smaller brands like Gran Sorvete and in london Unico, Romeo annd Guilietta or Badiani 1932 instead.

Whilst the draw of the ethics of founders of Ben and Jerry’s kept me returning in the first decade and the Chunky Monkey to be honest; a flavour I am still nostalgic for even though it now doesn’t taste anywhere close kept me loyal, money power and scrabbling has dampened the allure of a once near perfect brand.

I also read recently even under the umbrella of massive less than scrupulous owners Unilever PLC their B Corp status has remained in tact. Sins of the father clearly don’t apply in this case.

The explanation from B Corp on Subsidiary Eligibility: B Lab, the organization that certifies B Corps, allows wholly-owned subsidiaries of larger corporations to be certified if they meet the relevant standards.

Sounds a bit loopy and super convenient to me, the big boys get to keep the squeaky clean status hard fought and won even when they are not remotely squeaky clean themselves.

So to sum up, Icecream that no longer tastes great with squeaky clean status amidst more squabbling and boardroom back stabbing than you could imagine is the reason I’m no longer a champion for this brand.

The reason I got the photograph, the local luxury Cornish ice cream company Treleavens supplying to a small independent restaurant I like to frequent out in the sticks where I live and go out of my way to drive to, is now cutting down their hours due to hard times and lack of support so on Tuesdays if I fancy an ice cream Ben and Jerry’s is the only option.

It may the beginning of the end for another well loved, well done ice cream company. Treleavens ice cream heads up everyone tastes like Ben and Jerrys used to absolutely delicious made with love and really good ingredients. And notably the same price £3.50 for a single scoop in a waffle cone.