Ben & Jerry's
American ice cream company
Follow Ben & Jerry's on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!
| March 2025 | Ben & Jerry's filed a federal court complaint against Unilever, alleging they were fired for expressing sociopolitical beliefs, including calling for a Gaza ceasefire and supporting student protests. |
| 2025 | Unilever expects to complete the divestment of its ice cream brands, including Ben & Jerry's, by the end of the year. |
| March 18 2025 | Ben & Jerry's filed a court document claiming Unilever unlawfully removed Dave Stever as CEO in retaliation for social and political activism. |
| November 2024 | Ben & Jerry's sued Unilever, claiming the parent company interfered with its attempts to support Palestinian refugees and threatened to replace and sue its board members. |
| July 2024 | Ben and Jerry's launched the 'Progress Comes in Many Flavors' advertising campaign, which promoted progressive social actions including establishing libraries for banned books and organizing nude bicycle rides. |
| March 19 2024 | Unilever announced it would divest its ice cream brands, including Ben & Jerry's, as part of a strategic restructuring to create a more focused company. The divestment plan includes cutting 7,500 jobs and spinning off brands like Cornetto, Magnum, Talenti, and Wall's. |
| January 2024 | The chair of the Ben & Jerry's board called for a 'permanent and immediate ceasefire' in the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. |
| July 4 2023 | Ben & Jerry's posted a controversial Independence Day tweet claiming the United States was founded on 'stolen Indigenous land' and suggesting Mount Rushmore should be returned to the Lakota people. The Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation subsequently expressed interest in acquiring Ben & Jerry's Vermont headquarters, which is located on historical Abenaki territory. |
| May 15 2023 | Dave Stever was announced as the new CEO after Matthew McCarthy's retirement. |
| January 2023 | The New York Times revealed that Ben & Jerry's suppliers were employing illegal migrant children, which occurred shortly after the company had partnered with Tony's Chocolonely to raise awareness about ending child labor in the chocolate industry. |
| September 2022 | Ben & Jerry's rebranded its cold brew coffee flavor to 'Change is Brewing' to highlight Black voter participation and support Black Voters Matter activities. |
| July 15 2022 | Ben & Jerry's and Unilever agreed to pursue dispute resolution via mediation, just before a scheduled lawsuit hearing. |
| July 5 2022 | Ben & Jerry's sued Unilever to block the sale of its Israeli business, arguing it threatened the brand's integrity and values. |
| June 29 2022 | Unilever sold the Ben & Jerry's division in Israel to American Quality Products. Ben & Jerry's publicly disagreed with this decision, stating they would no longer profit from Ben & Jerry's sales in Israel and maintaining their stance against selling ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. |
| May 2022 | Ben & Jerry's launched 'Mootopia', a pilot project across 15 supplier farms in the US and Netherlands aimed at reducing farm emissions intensity to half the US industry average by the end of 2024, focusing on regenerative agriculture practices. |
| September 14 2021 | The State of New Jersey gave Unilever 90 days' notice of divestment action. |
| September 9 2021 | The State of Arizona committed to completely divest from Unilever by September 21. |
| August 3 2021 | Florida Governor Ron DeSantis placed Unilever on a list of 'Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel' in response to Ben & Jerry's decision regarding Palestinian territories. |
| July 19 2021 | Ben & Jerry's announced plans to end sales in Occupied Palestinian Territory, deciding not to renew the franchise with American Quality Products - Ben & Jerry's Israel in 2022 due to concerns about Israeli settlements in the territory. |
| January 7 2021 | Ben & Jerry's called for the resignation, impeachment, and invoking of the 25th Amendment against President Donald Trump following the January 6 United States Capitol attack. |
| 2020 | During protests against racial prejudice following George Floyd's murder, Ben & Jerry's publicly called for Americans to 'dismantle white supremacy' and endorsed the 'Defund the Police' movement. |
| 2020 | Ben & Jerry's joined the '#StopHateForProfit' campaign, halting paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram to protest racism and hate on the platform. |
| 2020 | Free Cone Day was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, marking the beginning of a hiatus that would continue through 2023. |
| August 2020 | Ben & Jerry's publicly supported migrants crossing the English Channel from France, criticizing the UK government's approach to migration. |
| 2019 | Ben & Jerry's operated production facilities in Saint Albans, Waterbury (Vermont), Hellendoorn (Netherlands), and Be'er Tuvia (Israel). |
| June 2019 | Ben & Jerry's sold its Israeli production facility to its local licensee. |
| 2018 | Migrant laborers attempting to contact Ben & Jerry's company officials in Waterbury, Vermont, were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. |
| 2018 | Matthew McCarthy, previously a Unilever executive, was appointed CEO, replacing Jostein Solheim. |
| October 30 2018 | Ben & Jerry's launched a limited batch flavor 'Pecan Resist' as part of an opposition campaign against U.S. President Donald Trump. |
| June 2018 | Ben & Jerry's expressed support for 9,000 Afghan asylum seekers' right to stay in Sweden, drawing criticism from some political commentators. |
| May 2017 | Ben & Jerry's announced they would not serve two scoops of the same ice cream flavor in Australia to protest the government's refusal to legalize same-sex marriage. |
| February 2016 | Ben & Jerry's announced a new all-vegan ice cream line with four flavors: vegan versions of 'Chunky Monkey' and 'Chocolate Fudge Brownie', and two new vegan-only flavors 'Coffee Caramel Fudge' and 'Peanut Butter & Cookies'. |
| 2015 | Ben & Jerry's temporarily renamed 'Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough' to 'I Dough, I Dough' in the United States to celebrate the Supreme Court's ruling in support of same-sex marriage, with proceeds going to the Human Rights Campaign. |
| 2015 | The company confirmed it was working on vegan options after consumer feedback and a petition from the Farm Animal Rights Movement. |
| September 2014 | Anti-hazing activists raised concerns about the ice cream flavor 'Hazed & Confused', arguing its name could trivialize hazing and bullying. Ben & Jerry's decided in October to retain the flavor's name, explaining it was a play on words referencing a Led Zeppelin song and a 1993 film. |
| April 2014 | Ben & Jerry's participated in leafleting at locations in Vermont, New York, and California on 'Free Cone Day' regarding settlements in Palestinian territories. |
| April 2014 | Ben & Jerry's signed on to the 'Fight for the Reef' campaign, partnering with WWF-Australia and the Australian Marine Conservation Society to protect the Great Barrier Reef. |
| 2012 | Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel contacted Ben & Jerry's leadership about ice cream sales in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. |
| March 13 2012 | Ben & Jerry's announced changing the name of 'Oh! My! Apple Pie!' to 'Apple-y Ever After' in the UK to support equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. |
| February 2012 | Ben & Jerry's Harvard franchise created the 'Taste the Lin-Sanity' frozen yogurt flavor honoring Jeremy Lin, which sparked controversy due to racial stereotyping concerns with its initial fortune cookie ingredient. The company later replaced the fortune cookies with waffle cookies and issued an apology. |
| 2010 | Jostein Solheim, a Unilever executive from Norway, was appointed CEO of Ben & Jerry's. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Ben & Jerry's, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.