Ben & Jerry’s co-founder: Unilever blocked pro-Palestinian flavor

Ben Cohen accuses parent company of ‘corporate butt kissing’ to Trump, launches online campaign to create his own ice cream in support of Palestinians

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen said Tuesday that brand owner Unilever had prevented the company from making a flavor in support of Palestine.

In a video post on Instagram, Cohen said that for this reason, “I’m doing it myself.”

Cohen recalled that Unilever had also prevented a move to stop selling the brand in “the occupied territories,” referring to a 2021 push to boycott Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

He asked the public to contribute ideas for a name and for ingredients in addition to watermelon, which, due to its colors, has become a symbol of Palestinians on social media in recent years. Cohen also asked for ideas for the design on the ice cream container. “I’ve got a watermelon and an empty pint of ice cream –– and I need your help,” he wrote.

Speaking to the UK’s Guardian newspaper, Cohen said Unilever is engaged in a “corporate attack on free speech” and “corporate butt kissing” of US President Donald Trump.

According to the newspaper, Ben & Jerry’s independent board approved the Palestine-supporting flavor a year ago. The Magnum Ice Cream Company, the Unilever’s division that owns Ben & Jerry’s, confirmed that the idea was scrapped.

Jerry Greenfield (right) and Ben Cohen (left), co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, attend a protest in Washington on November 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

A spokesperson said, “Recommendations are considered by Ben & Jerry’s leadership, and management has determined it is not the right time to invest in developing this product.”

Ben & Jerry’s has in the past launched flavors to support social issues, including a “Save Our Swirled” to coincide with the 2015 Paris climate meetings and an “I Dough, I Dough” to celebrate the federal legalization of same-sex marriage in the US.

Cohen and co-founder Jerry Greenfield have now launched a campaign asking Unilever to “free” the ice cream brand by selling it to a group of investors who Cohen said have committed to allowing it to continue its “social mission.”

UK-based Unilever bought Ben & Jerry’s in 2000 for $326 million, but agreed that the brand would maintain an independent board that could speak out on social justice issues.

Cohen and Greenfield have long espoused various progressive causes and have been highly critical of Israel throughout the war against Hamas in Gaza. However, they have no leadership role at the company and have been unable to influence its policies on Israel despite repeated efforts.

In May, the brand’s independent board accused Israel of “genocide” in the Gaza Strip, where the IDF was battling Hamas in a war started by the terror group when it led a devastating invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

That same month, Cohen was arrested for protesting against Israel during a US Senate hearing in Washington, DC.

Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s, is detained by US Capitol Police for disrupting proceedings during a hearing with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Capitol Hill on May 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images/AFP)

Ben & Jerry’s US-based board is unrelated to Ben & Jerry’s Israel, an independent company that acquired full local ownership of the brand in 2022.

There is an ongoing dispute between the ice cream brand founders and Unilever over the latter’s plans to split Magnum Ice Cream Company off as a separate business, the Guardian reported. The plans have been delayed by the US government shutdown.

Last month, Greenfield said he was resigning due to the spat.