Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen calls for boycott of Magnum's other ice cream brands

Cohen, 75, began calling for the boycott in recent weeks, after Magnum insisted Ben & Jerry's is not up for sale. He argues that falling sales across the group will pressure an $11bn company to sell the brand back. "We didn't want it to have to come to this," he told the Guardian, saying Magnum is "destroying a brand" that stands for values its customers believe in.

The boycott targets Yasso, Breyers, Talenti and Klondike. Cohen estimates Ben & Jerry's could be worth $1bn or more, but says Magnum will not give him or potential investors the numbers to value it accurately. He and Jerry Greenfield sold the company to Unilever for $326m in 2000.

Magnum says Ben & Jerry's is not for sale. The brand's sales rose 9.2% in the second quarter of 2026, Magnum said, outperforming the broader North American market and gaining share. The group, which listed in Amsterdam after its December 2025 spin-off from Unilever, reported first-half adjusted EBITDA of €880 million, up from €853 million a year earlier and ahead of the €843 million consensus it had provided.

The Guardian reported that some industry and management experts consider the attempt to force an $11bn company to divest a star brand highly unusual and unlikely to succeed. Maurice Schweitzer, a management professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said most boycotts fail because people get distracted.

The foundation closes

The Ben & Jerry's Foundation will shut at the end of the year. Liz Bankowski, president of its board of trustees, told Boston.com that Unilever withheld the philanthropy's funding late last year and ordered staff to vacate its South Burlington office by 15 July. The closure leaves $600,000 a year in grants to Vermont organizations such as Migrant Justice and Outright Vermont hanging on a judge's ruling. The foundation has no endowment and depends on annual funding set out in the 2000 merger contract. It has operated for 40 years.

A Magnum spokesperson told VTDigger the shutdown was "entirely down to the Trustees and their decision to ignore the findings of an independent audit and failure to put in place basic good governance; much to our dismay." The company said it is "firmly committed to funding a grant-giving foundation, supported by appropriate governance controls to ensure it is living by its values."

The legal fight

Ben & Jerry's board sued Unilever in November 2024, claiming it was blocked from voicing support for Gaza and that Unilever breached their agreement. Unilever audited the foundation in April 2025 and found conflicts of interest and a lack of governance and financial control. Foundation leaders joined the lawsuit to try to retain funding. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Cohen called the audit "a bunch of trumped-up charges".

What happens next

The foundation's funding and future rest on the judge's ruling. Cohen said: "We want Ben & Jerry's to remain strong because we plan on eventually owning it."