Ben & Jerry’s (B&J) was founded on May 5, 1978, when Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield together invested $12,000 to open an ice-cream parlor in Burlington, Vermont. The store was enormously successful and soon developed into a franchise business. In 1985 Cohen and Greenfield created the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, a philanthropy that historically has taken 7.5% of  B&J’s pre-tax profits and distributed them to organizations whose political and social agendas are consistent with the leftist leanings of the founders.

In 2000, Cohen and Greenfield sold B&J to the British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever for $326 million. As Biography.com notes, “the sale … contained provisions to allow Ben & Jerry’s to maintain its existing social mission and brand identity.” Also under the terms of the sale, B&J became a wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever and maintained a separate board-of-directors that included the two founders. Although the company retained the names of its founders, Cohen and Greenfield no longer held any board or management position and were not involved in the day-to-day management of the company. The founders claimed, however, that they were now far removed from any leadership role in the company. As Greenfield put it in a 2008 interview, “[W]e’re not involved in operations or management. So we have no responsibility, no authority, and very little influence.”

B&J has long been an outspoken corporate defender of leftwing political values and agendas. Claiming, for instance, that “it can no longer be denied” that “the effects of climate change” caused by “man-made carbon pollution” are having an “increasin[g]” effect on “our fragile planet,” B&J declares: “The scientific evidence is settled; global warming is real and already impacting people around the world.” Adds B&J: “The cruel irony of climate change is that people in the developing world, who can least afford to adapt to climate change, will pay the steepest price for the 200 years of industrialization and pollution from the developed world. It truly is an issue of climate justice.” To address this matter, B&J:

• launched a carbon-offsets program for its Vermont manufacturing facilities in 2002;
• carried out its first global-warming advocacy campaign in 2007;
• initiated a “Save Our Swirled” ice-cream flavor (to increase climate-change awareness) in 2015; and
• published a list of “Endangered Pints” in 2016—i.e., ice-cream flavors that, because of “the impact of global warming” on harvests of ingredients like cocoa and peanuts, could possibly become scarce or unavailable in the future.

After the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 U.S. states in 2015, B&J, claiming that “the movement for marriage equality is on an unstoppable roll,” celebrated the decision by introducing a new cookie-dough ice-cream flavor called “I Dough, I Dough.”

Announcing its support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest movement in October 2016, B&J lamented that “systemic and institutionalized racism” was “disadvantaging and discriminating against people of color” nationwide, most notably in the form of “violence and threats to the lives and well-being of black people.” “All lives do matter,” said B&J. “But all lives will not matter until black lives matter.” One method by which B&J raised money for BLM was by selling T-shirts that read “Hands Up Don’t Shoot,” a slogan that had grown out of the false narrative which claimed that a white police officer’s fatal 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, a young black man in Missouri, had occurred while Brown was raising his hands in submission and pleading, “Don’t shoot.”

On May 17, 2016, B&J announced that the proceeds from yet another new ice-cream product, “Empower Mint,” would help fund the North Carolina NAACP’s campaign to repeal that state’s Voter ID law.

In 2016 as well, B&J paid honor to its preferred presidential candidate, the self-identified “Democratic socialist” Bernie Sanders, by introducing a new flavor of ice cream, “Bernie’s Yearnings.”

In October 2018, B&J introduced a new ice-cream flavor, “PeCAN Resist,” consisting of chocolate ice cream with fudge chunks, pecans, walnuts, and fudge-covered almonds. This roll-out was part of what the company described as a campaign to “lick injustice and champion those fighting to create a more just and equitable nation for us all”; “lift up those who are leading the resistance to the current [Trump] administration’s regressive agenda”; and “celebrat[e] the activists who are continuing to resist oppression, harmful environmental practices and injustice.” The overriding objective was to resist the political agendas of President Trump, whose policies “must be stopped.” As part of the PeCAN Resist campaign, B&J partnered with four leftist organizations — Color Of Change, Honor the Earth, Women’s March, and Neta — and donated $25,000 to each of them.

In 2019 — after Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield jointly claimed that the U.S. prison system was unjust, and that “cash bail” in particular was “illegal” — B&J launched a new flavor called “Justice ReMix’d,” a blend of chocolate and cinnamon ice cream, spicy fudge brownies, and cinnamon bun dough. In conjunction with the release of this new flavor, whose name was intended to highlight the need for prison reform in the United States, the company issued a petition on its website condemning the racial inequities of the American criminal-justice system and exhorting people to sign to “join the movement”:

“Innocent until proven guilty. Fairness. Justice. Those are the values that guide our legal system, right? Well, maybe for some, but definitely not for all. America locks people up at a higher rate than any other country on earth — and bias is baked right in. If you’re a person of color or struggling to make ends meet, you’re much more likely to be sent to prison — for a longer period of time — than a white person convicted of the same crime.

“It’s time for change. Join us as we learn more about front-end criminal justice reform and how transforming the system can benefit everyone.”

On December 10, 2020, B&J announced that it was partnering with former National Football League quarterback and Black Lives Matter activist Colin Kaepernick to bring consumers a non-dairy, vegan-flavored flavored ice cream called “Change the Whirled.” Said the company in a statement: “We are so inspired by Colin Kaepernick’s bold activism for racial justice that we did what we do best: We whipped up a euphoric flavor to honor his work.”

In early February 2021 in Tampa Bay, the city which was hosting that year’s Super Bowl, B&J erected a 30-foot-by-90-foot billboard with a mural honoring Kaepernick. The sign depicted Kaepernick with a raised fist, along with images of his “Change the Whirled” ice cream, an “I Know My Rights” sign from his “Know Your Rights Camp,” and children wearing Kaepernick t-shirts. “As we look back, it’s clear that Colin was on the right side of history,” said Chris Miller, the head of B&J’s global activism department. “His pre-game protests were before George Floyd’s murder, before the 2020 summer of racial reckoning. He knew a long time ago that we need to address the root causes of racism and the structures of our society that are so brutal to Black people. We wanted to be part of the effort to honor Colin’s courage and legacy because we share the same values.”

On April 12, 2021, B&J tweeted about an incident where a white female police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota had accidentally shot and killed a young black man named Daunte Wright when he resisted arrest and tried to flee the scene. “The murder of #DaunteWright is rooted in white supremacy and results from the intentional criminalization of Black and Brown communities,” B&J tweeted, adding: “This system can’t be reformed. It must be dismantled and a real system of public safety rebuilt from the ground up.” The tweet also included the hashtag #DefundThePolice.

On July 19, 2021, B&J announced that it would stop selling its products in the West Bank and parts of contested East Jerusalem when its license agreement expired the following year, on grounds that sales in the Israeli settlements located in those regions were “inconsistent with our values.” But B&J’s independent board of directors, which is in charge of Ben & Jerry’s “social mission” and brand integrity, did not feel that the announcement went far enough in punishing Israel. Specifically, they objected to the final paragraph, which said: “Although Ben & Jerry’s will no longer be sold in the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territories], we will stay in Israel through a different arrangement.” The board members also objected to a separate statement in which the parent company, Unilever, said: “We remain fully committed to our presence in Israel, where we have invested in our people, brands and business for several decades. Ben & Jerry’s was acquired by Unilever in 2000. As part of the acquisition agreement, we have always recognised the right of the brand and its independent Board to take decisions about its social mission. We also welcome the fact that Ben & Jerry’s will stay in Israel.” Infuriated by these statements, the board released its own statement denouncing what Unilever had done in its subsidiary’s name. Moreover, B&J’s board chair Anuradha Mittal fumed: “They are trying to destroy the soul of the company. We want this company to be led by values and not be dictated by the parent company.” Mittal has a history of referring to Israel’s creation as a “catastrophe,” and of supporting the Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions movement against Israel.

In September 2021, B&J unveiled a new flavor of ice cream, called “Change Is Brewing,” in support of the People’s Response Act (PRA) which had recently been introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswomen Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley, Pramila Jayapal, and Jan Schakowsky. Aligned with the “Defund the Police” movement promoted by Black Lives Matter and the radical Left, the PRA called for police officers to be replaced by “unarmed, licensed professionals” and “community-led first responders” in instances of “mental health emergencies.” Asserting that this “visionary” plan was rooted in “respect, dignity, and caring” and “will save lives,” B&J said in its announcement introducing the new flavor: “Change is Brewing! Grab your spoon & dig into a flavor boldly celebrating safety & liberation for all. It’s time to divest from systems that criminalize Black communities & invest in a vision of public safety that allows everyone to breathe free.” “Police officers—militarized, armed, primed for conflict—are not trained behavioral, medical, or mental health experts,” added B&J. “We know what results when they respond to health crises: too often, it’s violence and death.” By B&J’s telling, the PRA would “hel[p] to transform the nation’s approach to public safety to one that prioritizes community needs, in collaboration w/ @Mvmnt4BlkLives.”

In the spring of 2023, B&J announced that it would no longer be spending money to advertise on Twitter, citing an alleged increase in “hate speech” on the social media platform ever since billionaire Elon Musk had purchased it and removed its previous restrictions on free speech. Said the B&J statement:

“We’ve watched with great concern the developments at Twitter following Elon Musk’s purchase of the social media platform. Hate speech is up dramatically while content moderation has become all but non-existent. In addition to the changes on the platform that have led to an increase in hate speech, Musk himself has doubled down on dangerous anti-democratic lies and white nationalist hate speech. The platform has become a threatening and even dangerous space for people from so many backgrounds, including people who are Black, Brown, trans, gay, women, people with disabilities, Jewish, Muslim and the list goes on. This is unconscionable in addition to being plain bad business.

“That is why we’re proud to join our partners in the business, civil and human rights community in taking a stand against these harmful changes at Twitter. Musk and Twitter’s toxicity and tacit endorsement of hate and violence goes against everything our company stands for. Twitter must act today to end the extremist and violent content on the platform. Until that happens, Ben & Jerry’s will spend no money with Twitter and we call on all businesses and partners to do the same.”

On July 4, 2023, B&J posted an online statement characterizing America as a nation that had been built on “stolen indigenous land” that should now be returned to the descendants of its original Native American inhabitants. Some excerpts:

• “[W]e need to start with Mount Rushmore…. Long before South Dakota had become a state, long before the faces of four American presidents were blasted into the side of Mount Rushmore, that mountain was known as Tunkasila Sakpe, the Six Grandfathers, to the Lakota Sioux—a holy mountain that rises up from the Black Hills, land they consider sacred…. The Great Sioux Nation, as the tribes in the area were collectively known, was forced to surrender its land and relocate to smaller reservations on land that the government considered ‘useless.’ From there, in 1927, they watched as their holy mountain, now located on land known as South Dakota, was desecrated and dynamited to honor their colonizers, four white men—two of whom enslaved people and all of whom were hostile to Indigenous people and values.”
• “[O]n the Fourth of July many people in the US celebrate liberty and independence—our country’s and our own. But what is the meaning of Independence Day for those whose land this country stole, those who were murdered and forced with brutal violence onto reservations, those who were pushed from their holy places and denied their freedom? The faces on Mount Rushmore are the faces of men who actively worked to destroy Indigenous cultures and ways of life, to deny Indigenous people their basic rights.”
• “The Indigenous-led Land Back movement is all about restoring the rights and freedoms of Indigenous people. It’s about dismantling white supremacy and systems of oppression and ensuring that Indigenous people can again govern the land their communities called home for thousands of years.”
• “The US exists on stolen land. We have to acknowledge that—today and every day…. This Fourth of July, it’s time to return that sacred place to the Lakota. Let’s make it a day that embraces freedom and justice for all.”

In September 2024, B&J unveiled a new ice-cream flavor, “Kamala Coconut Jubilee,” as part of its “Scoop the Vote” ice-cream-truck tour to help get-out-the-vote in 20 separate cities in key swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada — with the aim of persuading as many people as possible to vote for presidential candidate Kamala Harris and other Democrats in the upcoming November elections. Conducted in partnership with MoveOn Political Action, the tour featured appearances in each city by elected officials, left-wing activists, and other “special guests.” Attendees received free servings of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and could participate began in raffles of what MoveOn described as “limited-edition, autographed pints of Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee.” The tour began in Philadelphia on September 16, the same day that early voting began in that state.

“We love ice cream and we love MoveOn—because MoveOn’s members are always working hard for the change we care about,” said B&J co-founder Jerry Greenfield. “MoveOn members are tireless—so if we can help make the hard work of improving our country a little sweeter, why not?” Fellow B&J co-founder Ben Cohen said: “You can lick and say you care all you want, but if you’re not going for the big scoop— to get registered and vote— at the end of the day, all you’ve got is some drips down your shirt. Go big. Scoop the vote.”