Ben & Jerry’s Claims Unilever Is Censoring it Over Fear of Donald Trump
Ben & Jerry’s claims its parent company Unilever has suppressed a social media post supporting several social causes, apparently because the post specifically mentioned President Donald Trump.
The socially conscious ice cream company, which has a longstanding hands-off agreement with Unilever, amended its November 2024 lawsuit against its owner to add that a post on abortion, climate change, minimum wages and universal healthcare was forbidden “because it specifically mentioned Donald Trump,” according to several media reports.
That November 2024 filing also claimed censorship and reversals of decisions by B&J’s independent board.
Peter ter Kulve, Unilever’s president of its ice cream division, apparently was responsible for preventing the post. “According to Mr. ter Kulve, despite four decades of progressive social activism—and years of challenging the Trump administration’s policies specifically—criticizing Trump was now too taboo for the brand synonymous with ‘Peace, Love and Ice Cream,’ ” the amended lawsuit reads, according to CNN.
When the Vermont ice cream company was bought from founders Ben Greenfield and Jerry Cohen in 2000, the contract stipulated the American company could continue speaking out and supporting social causes – as a key component of its brand identity.
That worked for years until July 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s announced it would be ending sales of its products in Israeli settlements in the West Bank to protest Israel’s creation of more settlements there. Unilever resisted and, rather than an outright reversal, sold Ben & Jerry’s intellectual property in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory to a distributor who would continue sales in the settlements.
A December 2022 agreement seemed to settle the matter, but Unilever also allegedly silenced B&J’s subsequent statements of support for Palestinian refugees and an end to military aid to Israel, according to the lawsuit.
“I expressed concerns about the continued perception of antisemitism that is a persistent issue, the lawsuit quotes ter Kulve as explaining his motives.
The lawsuit seeks “Plaintiff’s reasonable attorney's fees and costs; and any and all other relief that this Court deems just and proper.”
However this plays out, Unilever is in the process of spinning off all its ice cream businesses around the globe into a standalone company … apparently under the leadership of Peter ter Kulve.