​If Ben and Jerry’s goes vanilla, Unilever will eat its just desserts

Now, founder Jerry Greenfield has formally quit, saying he can no longer “in good conscience” remain at a company he believes has lost its independence and had its social mission “silenced” by Unilever (who he sold it to in 2000). His resignation follows years of disputes over sales in occupied Palestinian territories, lawsuits against Unilever for allegedly undermining the brand’s activist board, and failed attempts by him and Ben Cohen to buy the company back as Unilever reportedly prepares to spin off its $20bn ice-cream arm, Magnum.

Activism v marketing

Ben & Jerry’s is structured very differently from most big brands. Since 1985, it has committed 7.5% of its pre-tax profits to the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation to support community-led causes: social justice, human rights, and environmental protection. That’s not a token gesture but a substantial outflow of capital that doesn’t stay in the business. Unilever is stuck with a deal it may secretly regret.

On paper, the CMO, Jay Curley, still delivers all the right talking points: activism is core, values are baked in, and marketing must grow out of the causes the brand supports. He has repeatedly stressed in interviews that activism informs advertising, not the other way around, and that purpose is inseparable from product. However, in practice, much of Ben & Jerry’s campaign work feels unmoored from that mission. The activism and the marketing machine run in parallel, rather than in sync. Maybe the very way the company was structured was wrong from the beginning. Shouldn’t the business be the activism, and not a separate foundation?

Too many of the recent campaigns have no values, no stance. Take UltraViolet (July 2025), a limited-edition purple vanilla novelty built more for Instagram than impact. Or the Cookie Vermont-ster Sundae from this year’s flavor rollouts, pure indulgence play. Even the summer promotions have leaned hard into “NEW Instant Delivery!” and Scoop-apalooza sharing formats.

These are all fine for driving sales, but none of them carry the social bite that once defined the brand. Unilever already owns plenty of ice-cream labels that talk about taste, joy, and sharing. Ben & Jerry’s once fused activism and product storytelling in ways that mattered — Hubby Hubby, Save Our Swirled — but today feels stripped of that distinction.

Lessons From others

The risk isn’t theoretical.

Just look at The Body Shop. Once a pioneer in ethical beauty, it built its reputation on cruelty-free cosmetics and fair-trade sourcing. But over time, the activism softened while the products stagnated. It was sold to L’Oréal in 2006, passed on to Natura in 2017, and earlier this year ended up in administration. A long decline from cultural leader to cautionary tale.

Meanwhile, challenger brands are proving you can bake values directly into the product. McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams in California sources from local, family-run dairies and has built its reputation on clean, simple ingredients. In the UK, Beau’s Gelato goes further with fully organic, plant-based recipes and fair-trade certified supply chains. Compared to that, Ben & Jerry’s still talks a big game on activism, but its sourcing and product innovation lag. If others are offering both indulgence and integrity, why should consumers pay a premium for a tub that feels more marketing than mission?

Purpose as multiplier

Consistency matters. Just take the report Sustainability in the WARC Effective 100; brands that stay true to their course earn compounding returns. Corona has proved it by sticking with a clear identity and message for years. Greenfield’s departure could be the long-overdue wake-up call for Unilever to finally live up to the deal it signed back in 2000: protecting the business by protecting the activism.

Unilever’s ice-cream business (which includes Ben & Jerry’s) has been growing fast. For example, ice-cream had its fastest-growing category status in Q2 2025, with underlying sales up 7.1%. The division is forecast to deliver 3–5% annual organic growth after the upcoming spin-off. Instead of fearing the activism, Unilever should see it as the only sensible growth multiplier.

In today’s so-called anti-woke landscape, there is actually more to win, not less.

Sustainability has never been more important than it is in 2025. In two decades of following this space, I’ve never seen purpose act as such a powerful multiplier, or obliterator, of brand value. Who knows, even the US President might start Truth-ing about it. After all, no modern president has been more brand-obsessed than Trump, weighing in on everything from visual identities to product rollouts.

If Unilever dares to put the activism back in the ice-cream, Ben & Jerry’s could once again prove indulgence and integrity don’t melt when the pressure rises.

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