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Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry, said withdrawal from efforts to increase corporate America’s diversity and inclusion was equivalent to a “settlement” as campaign businessmen argued that consumers were taking care of the company’s “purposes” more than ever before.
Companies ranging from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup to Walt Disney and McDonald’s have reduced diversity goals or policies under pressure from US President Donald Trump, who is at war with “illegal and immoral” diversity, equity and inclusive programs.
In an interview, Cohen told the Financial Times that he viewed widespread corporate retreat as “encouraging bullies.” The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
The co-founder of Ben & Jerry added that backtracking indicates that companies were conceptually doing Dei but “we didn’t really believe it.”
“All these companies have issued these statements after the murder of George Floyd,” Cohen said. “(Dei) was just a little voice that they were stuck because the consumers were demanding it.”
Ben & Jerry’s is an early model of value-based capitalism, with companies aiming to not only make money, but do good things.
It was also for years the mantra of parent company Unilever. However, Anglo Dutch’s consumer goods group, which purchased Ben & Jerry from Cohen and his co-founder Jerry Greenfield 25 years ago, is now refocusing its sustainability efforts and refocusing shareholder returns.
Cohen and Greenfield said they were trying to buy back Ben & Jerry this year. Because the brand’s values no longer match Unilever’s values. Cohen declined to comment on these plans.
However, Unilever is in the process of draining the entire ice cream division, including Ben & Jerry, Magnum and the Wall, into another listed entities.
The relationship between Ben, Jerry and his parents has been tense for years. The ice cream brand is suing Unilever for allegedly trying to silence its activities in Gaza. Last week, the brand was called Israel’s actions in Gaza Genocide.
Cohen, who launched Greenfield and Ben & Jerry in Vermont in 1978, said the rise in consumer boycotts in recent years reflects how “shitty” people are.
A full-scale invasion of Russia’s Ukraine and Israel’s bombing of Gaza have urged shoppers to avoid businesses they believe are complicit in the conflict.
Meanwhile, Trump’s aggressive approach to tariffs and foreign policy has led to boycotting American-made goods in countries including Canada and Denmark this year.
Cohen was arrested last month after protesting against the U.S. medical aid program after disrupting a US Senate hearing featuring Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in protest of Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.
Activists opposed many Kennedy policy ideas, including cutting funding for health programs, but said they agreed to efforts to remove harmful chemicals from food and to tighten industry regulations.
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“We believe that our entire food system has been handed over to the interests of our businesses,” Cohen added that he strongly believes the Food and Drug Administration and the US Department of Agriculture “allowing food additives and chemicals to supply food that are harmful to the population.”
For example, Cohen spoke when he and Greenfield wanted to let consumers know that they had stopped using milk from cows treated with cow growth hormone.
Cohen said that the FDA, which holds the view that no significant differences have been shown in milk produced by cows treated with growth hormone, has said it is illegal to change the label on Ben & Jerry.
“We had to sues the federal government so we could say something that wasn’t in our ice cream,” he said.
