Unilever Sells Ice Cream Business After Refusing Sales in Israel... Controversy Ends

Unilever's ice cream brand Ben & Jerry's
[Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Unilever announced on the 29th (local time) that it has sold the Israeli business rights of its ice cream brand subsidiary Ben & Jerry's, which sparked controversy over refusal to sell in Israel, to a local Israeli company. This marks the end of the controversy over the refusal to sell in Israel that arose last year.

According to The Wall Street Journal and others, Unilever sold Ben & Jerry's Israeli business rights to American Quality Products (AQP), but the sale amount was not disclosed. AQP was the company that distributed Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Israel.

Ben & Jerry's had previously decided to stop selling Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Israel and notified AQP that the contract would not be renewed accordingly. In March, AQP filed a lawsuit against Unilever, Ben & Jerry's parent company, and succeeded in securing the business rights. Unilever stated that Ben & Jerry's would continue to be sold in Israel under Hebrew and Arabic trademarks.

Ben & Jerry's is an ice cream company founded in 1978 by Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who refer to themselves as hippies. Its headquarters is located in Burlington, Vermont, USA. Based on a corporate philosophy of actively responding to international, political, and social issues and fulfilling social responsibility, it allocated marketing budgets to support the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011 and the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

When Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry's in 2000, it agreed to respect Ben & Jerry's corporate philosophy and allowed Ben & Jerry's to independently make decisions on social responsibility through an independent board of directors.

Therefore, when Ben & Jerry's announced in July last year that it would not sell ice cream in Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, Unilever expressed support, stating it was an independent decision by Ben & Jerry's according to the agreement. At that time, the two founders, Cohen and Greenfield, told The New York Times (NYT) that although they are proud Jews and supporters of Israel, they support Ben & Jerry's decision to stop sales in Jewish settlements in the West Bank because they believe Israel's territorial occupation is illegal. According to WSJ, Unilever has prioritized social responsibility under both current CEO Alan Jope and former CEO Paul Polman.

However, after Unilever expressed support for Ben & Jerry's decision, criticism arose in the United States, Unilever's largest market, and shareholder dissatisfaction grew over the negative impact on Ben & Jerry's performance. Ultimately, Unilever reversed its initial stance and decided to continue selling Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Israel.

WSJ reported that it asked Ben & Jerry's for a comment on Unilever's decision but was unable to receive a response.

Activist investor Nelson Peltz's investment firm Trian Fund Management issued a statement praising the decision to sell Ben & Jerry's Israeli business. Trian recently acquired a 1.5% stake in Unilever.

Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid also issued a statement expressing gratitude to Unilever for resolving the issue. After Unilever expressed support for Ben & Jerry's decision last year, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called Unilever CEO Jope to strongly protest, warning that it would cause serious consequences.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.