Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield sold the Vermont business in 2000 to Unilever at a $326 million price point, but Ben & Jerry’s filed a complaint earlier in February claiming that Unilever was blocking them from engaging in progressive causes, according to a Wednesday report from the New York Post.
That includes the conglomerate halting criticisms of President Donald Trump on social media.
It’s not the first time Ben & Jerry’s has feuded with its owner over political issues.
Back in 2021, the company vowed to halt sales in the West Bank, but Unilever overrode the move.
Ben & Jerry’s filed another lawsuit at the time, claiming that Unilever was violating the independence of its corporate board, a component of the original sale in 2000.
Amid the renewed controversy, Cohen and Greenfield have voiced interest in repurchasing the company, according to another report from Bloomberg.
The duo has entertained some talks about buying back the firm, and they want to partner with other progressive financiers.
They would have to pool enough cash to buy back a business which made almost $9 billion in sales last year, per the Post.
A spokesperson for Unilever told Bloomberg that “Ben & Jerry’s is an important part of the ice cream business, and it’s not for sale.”
Unilever is instead “on track to separate the ice cream business by way of a demerger.”
This feud actually presents an interesting case study into the dynamics surrounding wokeness, corporate activism, and the recent rightward trend of our broader national culture.
It’s not impossible for a brand to carve out a niche in the marketplace by having distinct political views.
In the same way that a lot of conservatives choose not to buy from Ben & Jerry’s, a lot of progressives have no intention to buy from MyPillow or Hobby Lobby.
But all three of those businesses do well with the specific niches they target. After all, people like to buy from companies that represent and honor their values.
The issue seems to come into play when a brand based on a specific political identity tries to be both a distinctly political brand and a brand with mass-market appeal.
Ben & Jerry’s wants more politics and less mass-market emphasis, but Unilever has proven over the past two decades that less politics and more mass-market emphasis from Ben & Jerry’s is lucrative.
We also live in a regulatory and cultural environment where wokeness is seen as toxic.
There are simply less consumers who are attracted to brands that, for example, post black squares on their Instagram, and more consumers who want brands that are willing to voice an unvarnished love for America.
That’s the context in which Ben & Jerry’s now exists.
Let’s just hope their business plan is no longer this Half Baked.
No comments:
Post a Comment