The American company Ben & Jerry’s accuses the giant Unilever, owner of the ice cream company, to fire the executive director for rejecting the “dismantling” of their progressive values.
David Stever joined Ben & Jerry’s as a guide for visits to the factory and had been two years as its executive director. In the lawsuit filed by Ben & Jerry’s it is said that it was “dismissed” in early March.
In the brief presented before the Court of the Southern District of New York, Ben & Jerry’s alleges that the Unilever consumption group (based in the United Kingdom and owner of brands such as Marite and as Dove) wanted Stever to stop making political statements.
“Dave has bravely promoted the mission and social values of the company, has continued to promote innovation in its Premium products range and has obtained good financial results, much higher than those of the other Unilever ice cream brands,” said Anuradha Mittal, president of the Independent Administration Board of Ben & Jerry’s. “What Dave has not done is what Unilever would have liked him to do, to stay in charge of dismantling the progressive values and the mission of Ben & Jerry’s.”
Judicial action is the last episode of a tense relationship between the ice cream brand and the Unilever matrix, which last month dismissed its own CEO, Hein Schumacher, to accelerate a process of changing course with his replacement for Fernando Fernández, until that time responsible for finance of the group.
Last month, Ben & Jerry’s declared that Unilever was demanding that they cease public statements against Donald Trump. In November, the ice cream company undertook legal actions saying that its matrix tried to prevent them from making statements in support of the Palestinian refugees of the Gaza conflict. In their brief, they claimed that Unilever was breaching a 2022 confidential agreement with which the confrontation had been resolved by the brand’s plans to stop selling at the occupied West Bank.
Founded in 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Ben & Jerry’s was acquired in 2000 by the British Giant of Unilever consumer goods. As part of the agreement, an independent board of directors was created to safeguard the brand’s mission and its firm position on social issues.
Mittal also accused Unilever of wanting to throw that agreement on the ground. A clause that, according to him, had “protected the autonomy of Ben & Jerry’s as a subsidiary entirely property [de Unilever]”And he was responsible for the” financial success of the company and the incredible loyalty to the brand among her fans. “” Therefore, the independent council is demanding Unilever; And that’s why Unilever wants to punish the CEO, ”he said.
According to the letter presented to the Court, “Unilever has repeatedly threatened Ben & Jerry’s staff, including CEO David Stever, for not complying with Unilever’s attempts to silence the social mission.” “On March 3, 2025, Unilever informed the Independent Board that they were going to dismiss Mr. Stever as CEO of Ben & Jerry’s,” says the text.
Unilever counterattacked Wednesday afternoon requesting that Ben & Jerry’s’s complaint was dismissed. The group said that he supported Ben & Jerry’s in his social denunciation work, but that the mission had evolved into approaches “with a single point of view on very controversial and divisive issues that put Unilever at risk, B&L’s and its employees.”
Unilever’s presentation does not mention the amended demand or Stever’s work. In a statement, the group declared that the 2000 agreement regulated dismissal decisions and expressed its discomfort “because a confidential conversation on an employee’s career has been made public.”
On the Ben & Jerry’s website, Stever continues to appear as the executive director and his lawyers have not yet responded to a request for comments.
In the last two years there have been several disputes between the two parties. Tensions increased especially when in 2021 Ben & Jerry’s decided to stop selling in the West Bank. Unilever blocked him and Ben & Jerry’s sued her.
The last dispute arrives after Unilever announced the plan to get the Ámsterdam bag all its ice cream business creating a separate division with the ten best -selling ice cream brands in the world. Among them are Wall’s, Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s. They are also owners of Cornetto, Viennetta, Carte d’Oryers, popular in the United States.
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