Ben & Jerry's co-founder needs your help to 'prevent the destruction' of beloved ice cream brand

Despite creating one of the most successful (and delicious) brands of all time, Ben Cohen has never thought of himself as a businessman.

That rings true as the Ben & Jerry's founder Zooms in from his vacation home in Florida — not a mansion like the two houses on either side of him, but a trailer he bought with his wife. Their time at the beach is meant to be relaxing, providing a much-needed break from the stress of current events and corporate developments.

Social justice weighs heavily on Cohen's mind now. It's always been part of Ben & Jerry's mission, but political turmoil is testing him. Not testing his resolve — he stands firm in that — but testing just how large his reach is.

Ben & Jerry's was one of the first companies to support marriage equality, renaming its signature Chubby Hubby flavor to "Hubby Hubby" at its Vermont shops after same-sex couples were granted the right to legally marry in the state in 2009. Today, it is one of the major brands that has stood by its diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, saying on its website that "instead of dismantling the programs designed to create equity across our society we should be dismantling white supremacy."

Related: Why Ben & Jerry's Honored Marriage Equality

It's been a difficult past few years for Ben & Jerry's, though that's not based on sales. The ice cream company had been at odds with its former owner, packaged goods company Unilever, ever since it was purchased by the corporation for $326 million in 2000. Under the merger agreement, the Ben & Jerry's board of directors still retained some authority over the brand's public statements and donations — at least, it was supposed to.

Years of disagreements led Ben & Jerry's to file a lawsuit against Unilever in November 2024, accusing the company of violating its agreement by silencing its social media posts about Black Lives Matter and Palestine, firing the then-CEO David Stever for his posts, and blocking company donations to groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace and the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Then, in 2025, the Magnum Ice Cream Company broke off from Unilever, retaining control of Ben & Jerry's while keeping the short leash on its board. Magnum has refused to sell the brand, despite insistence from its founders and offers from other investors. The conflict prompted Jerry Greenfield, Cohen's co-founder and lifelong friend, to resign in September.

Related: Ben & Jerry's founder Jerry Greenfield resigns, says he's 'been silenced' over LGBTQ+ rights

Cohen stayed. And while he and Greenfield will always be friends, many days it feels like he's fighting alone. That's why he's calling on their customers and ice cream lovers everywhere to help save Ben & Jerry's. The conversation below has been edited for clarity.

The Advocate: You've supported progressive causes for a very long time, even when other businesses won't throw their weight behind them. What's personally motivated you to speak out?

Cohen: For one, Jerry and I never planned on becoming businessmen. We thought we'd be ice cream men. You know, shop owners. We started in a homemade ice cream shop in an old converted gas station on an investment of $12,000. Did all the renovations ourselves.

I think a lot of business guys, they go to business school, they plan on being business guys. I think most of them are motivated by money. They chose to go into that line of work because there's money to be made. Most of them are not really entrepreneurs. Before Ben & Jerry's, I was a crafts teacher at a school for disturbed teenagers. I guess personally, I'm more of a human services guy who happened to end up in business.

When Jerry and I first started the business, we said we want to run our business the way the average person on the street would like to see a business run. The reality is that people buy products from corporations in spite of what the corporation stands for, in spite of the values of the corporation. For Ben & Jerry's, that's not the situation. Yes, it's really good ice cream and you gotta have a great product, but people feel good about buying it because they agree with the values of the corporation.

Ben and Jerry's is also one of the few companies that has stood by diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. Why is DEI important to your business?

I actually gave this a bunch of thought when Trump came into office this time around, and all these corporations just started folding, bending at the knee. ... Ben & Jerry's has a formal three part mission which includes the social mission, a product mission, and a financial mission. They're all equal and interrelated. Most corporations, they only have one mission, which is to maximize short-term profits. If that's your mission, and the guy in the White House says, 'Do this or I'm gonna fuck with you,' it's an easy decision.

You're asking why, and I'm saying, why not? In terms of the diversity and inclusion part, it's the idea that people who look different or people who have different gender identities or whatever else should be treated the same as other people. That's just the DNA of the company.

As for the equity part, how our country has mistreated and discriminated against Black people has been horrible. And it's been in black and white — it's based on laws that the country passed, and rules and regulations like redlining that essentially made it so that Black people were disadvantaged in terms of building equity. I think about my own family, and their equity started with their house, and they were able to buy a house using a low interest government loan that was specifically not available to Black people. So, I personally believe in affirmatively trying to remediate that.

You've always been ahead of the curb on things like that.

So was Jesus. It's unbelievable to me what's currently happening, the immigration thing. 'I was a stranger and you welcomed me.' That's what the dude said. 'What you do to the least of these, you do to me.' I don't get it.

Does that also fuel your support of other causes, like marriage equality? You celebrated Vermont legalizing it by releasing the Hubby Hubby flavor all the way back in 2009.

Ben & Jerry's was also one of the first companies to give benefits to same-sex couples. We just believe that, in terms of what freedom is, my understanding is that the definition of freedom is that you can do anything you want to do as long as it's not harming other people. If hubbies want to marry other hubbies, fine with me.

Speaking about Jerry, it was pretty big news when he resigned last year. You said then that while you share his frustrations, you feel like you can do more good from within. Could you elaborate on that?

Jerry and I continue to be really good friends, and have been since we were 13. We both came to the conclusion that under the current ownership of Unilever, now Magnum, there is no possibility that the social mission of Ben & Jerry's will survive. So, Jerry resigned in protest of how those owners were illegally ignoring the authority of the independent board of directors, who has legal authority based on the documents signed when Ben & Jerry's was acquired in the year 2000. They have legal authority over the social mission, the quality of the product, and a few other things, but they're ignoring them.

I decided to stay on and work towards Ben & Jerry's being owned by investors that are aligned with the mission of the company. Jerry is an amazing guy, a great guy, but he is extremely conflict adverse. He does not do well with conflict. I decided to stay on and engage in this fight to free Ben & Jerry's, and allow the values and the social mission to thrive.

You're pushing Magnum to sell Ben & Jerry's. What are you ultimately hoping comes from that?

What happened was that about two years ago, Unilever announced that they want to divest from their entire ice cream division. Jerry and I went to them and said, as long as you're looking to get rid of your whole ice cream operation, why don't you just carve out Ben & Jerry's and sell it separately to a group of investors that support the social mission? And they refused to do that.

We publicly called for socially aligned investors to make an offer, and over the course of time, a bunch of those investors have appeared. So, the problem is we have these investors that are ready to buy the company, and Magnum Ice Cream Company says they have no interest selling. The Free Ben & Jerry's campaign is designed to pressure the Magnum Ice Cream Company into being willing to sell Ben & Jerry's. There's a website, freebenandjerrys.com, and there's a social media campaign that people can get to by going to @yobencohen.

It's like what you were talking about earlier, where because of what you've done so far with the business, you have these loyal customers who will stand beside you.

That's certainly the hope. The reality is, that it's really in the hands of our customers and supporters. If they put enough pressure on Magnum, Magnum will agree to sell the company. If they don't, they won't.

The Magnum Corporation is trying to rip the heart out of Ben & Jerry's. We need everybody's help to prevent that from happening. The power is in the people's hands. I personally don't have enough power to prevent the destruction of the values of Ben & Jerry's, but I do believe that there's enough supporters. If they can get involved and make their views known, they can save Ben & Jerry's.

I think it's an important voice, an important force for justice in general. I've thought about different places where I can put the remnants of energy that I have now at the age of 75, and what the most powerful or effective things I can do for the cause of justice are. I'm personally not looking to be involved as an investor. I'm not looking to make money off of Ben & Jerry's. I'm looking for the values to survive because I think that this is a tremendously powerful force for justice in all sorts of ways going into the future.

Ben & Jerry's wanted to call for a ceasefire in Gaza at the height of the war. Unilever Magnum would not allow them to do that. Now, with what's happening in Minneapolis, Ben & Jerry's might have made a statement that they really shouldn't have killed Renee [Good]. I made a statement that ICE must be defunded and disbanded. In the old days, Ben & Jerry's would have made that statement.