Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen is developing an ice cream flavour in solidarity with Palestine, after claiming the brand was blocked from doing so by its owner.
Cohen posted a video to his Instagram account today. In it, he states: “A while back Ben & Jerry’s tried to make a flavour to call for peace in Palestine… but they weren’t allowed to. They were stopped by Unilever/Magnum.”
“I’m doing what they couldn’t,” Cohen continues. “I’m making a watermelon-flavoured ice cream that calls for permanent peace in Palestine and calls for repairing all the damage that was done there.
“We need you to help come up with the other ingredients for this sorbet and a name for it as well,” Cohen states.
He also challenges Ben & Jerry’s fans to come up with a tub design for the innovation.
Members of the public have two weeks to submit their suggestions for names and ingredients for the ice cream flavour. Cohen will then reveal the winning design with the help of a celebrity partner.
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While the packaging and label for the ice cream will be designed, the ice cream will not launch for general sale.
Activism through ice cream
The competition sees Cohen revive his activist ice cream brand Ben’s Best, which launched with Bernie’s Back in 2016 in support of Bernie Sanders.
According to Ben’s Best, Cohen will develop other ice cream flavours that speak to the issues Ben & Jerry’s has been “silenced from addressing publicly” by Unilever/Magnum, such as racial justice and political authoritarianism.
This latest Ben’s Best series builds on the growing Free Ben & Jerry’s campaign, which calls for the ice cream company’s independence from Unilever/Magnum.
The 2000 merger agreement between the entities created the Ben & Jerry’s independent board, and gave it full authority over the brand, values and social commitments, which the campaign argues has been repeatedly overruled.
Earlier this week, Cohen launched a letter-writing drive directed at Magnum’s CEO and board, for the public to call for a free Ben & Jerry’s.
In September, Cohen picketed outside Magnum’s Capital Markets Day in London, demanding the brand be released from the spin-off ice cream division.
Shortly after, co-founder Jerry Greenfield resigned from the company, citing a compromised social mission owing to the parent structure Ben & Jerry’s finds itself in.
Freeing Ben & Jerry’s
Latest reports suggest Magnum’s de-merger and IPO, the nearest opportunity to free Ben & Jerry’s from its parent company, could take place in December 2025.
“Making flavours under Ben’s Best is my way of continuing what we started at Ben & Jerry’s, and doing what they’re being blocked from: making ice cream with purpose,” said Cohen.
“I will keep talking about Palestine, and about self-determination, dignity, and lasting peace for its people – the same things that Israelis should have.
“Unilever/Magnum aren’t just squandering their own platform by staying silent on this issue themselves, but worse, they’re trying to silence other voices that speak up for common decency.
“We must resist this corporate attack on free speech.”
The Grocer has approached Unilever for comment.
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