Ben And Jerry’s Founder Launches Watermelon ‘Palestine Flavor’ As A Personal Project

NEW YORK (VINnews) — Ben Cohen, the co-founder of the iconic ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, says that parent company Unilever prevented the company from launching a new flavour intended to show solidarity with Palestine, according to a BBC report.

Cohen announced that he will move forward independently with the project, creating the flavour as part of a personal series highlighting social causes that he claims Ben & Jerry’s has been barred from addressing publicly.

Ben & Jerry’s, long recognized for its outspoken stance on political, environmental, and humanitarian issues, including the Israel-Gaza conflict, has often found itself at odds with Unilever, which purchased the brand in 2000.

According to Cohen, both Unilever and its soon-to-be-separated ice cream division, Magnum, have “unlawfully blocked” Ben & Jerry’s from fulfilling its social mission.

Recently Ben’s longstanding partner Jerry Greenfield quit the company after 47 years with a similar complaint, stating that he felt the independence the brand had to speak on social issues and events was lost to Unilever.

In a video posted on Instagram on Tuesday, Cohen revealed that he is developing a watermelon-flavoured sorbet and invited suggestions for the product’s name and ingredients. The watermelon has become a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians because its red, green, black, and white colours mirror those of the Palestinian flag.

“I’m doing what they couldn’t,” Cohen said in the video, filmed in a kitchen. “I’m making a watermelon-flavoured ice cream that calls for permanent peace in Palestine and for repairing the damage that was done there.”

Cohen added that Unilever had explicitly barred Ben & Jerry’s from producing the dessert.

The new flavour will be part of Cohen’s activist brand, Ben’s Best, which operates separately from Ben & Jerry’s. In a press statement, Cohen said the flavour will be produced independently and will represent issues the original company was prevented from addressing.

Ben’s Best was first established in 2016 in support of then-US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, with the launch of the “Bernie’s Back” flavour. Cohen said he plans to develop other socially conscious flavours under the same label.

In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s announced it would stop selling products in “Israeli-occupied territories.” Unilever later sold the company’s Israeli operations to a local licensee, allowing Ben & Jerry’s to continue being sold in Judea and Samaria.

Even though his partner has now left the company, Cohen said that “My heart leads me to keep working within the company to advocate for its independence, so it can continue to live up to its founding values and social mission of more than 40 years.”