本杰瑞冰淇淋联合创始人本·科恩发起"解放本杰瑞"运动，要求母公司美极冰淇淋公司出售该品牌。[1]科恩声称，自2025年9月美极接手本杰瑞后，该品牌已失去了社会使命和激进传统。[1]为推动出售，科恩已发起针对美极旗下多个品牌的抵制活动，包括雅索、布雷耶斯、塔伦蒂和克朗代克。[1]
科恩估计本杰瑞的估值可达10亿美元或更高。[1]他指责美极削弱了品牌质量，称冰淇淋棒产品含有过多空气以降低成本，使其"有点蓬松"。[1]2025年7月，本杰瑞慈善基金因美极削减资金被迫关闭。[1]科恩的请愿活动已收集约20万个签名。[1]
美极冰淇淋公司坚定反对出售。[1]公司首席企业事务和可持续发展官维多利亚·麦肯齐-古尔德表示，本杰瑞不出售且业务兴旺。[1]2025年美极总收益为79亿欧元（91亿美元），其中美洲地区贡献约35%。[1]
这场争议源于2024年11月本杰瑞起诉联合利华，声称被阻止支持加沙。[1]2000年，科恩和杰里·格林菲尔德曾以3.26亿美元将本杰瑞售予联合利华。[1]
Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, has initiated the "Free Ben & Jerry's" movement demanding that parent company Magnum Ice Cream Company divest the iconic ice cream brand to restore its independence [1]. Cohen launched the campaign in September 2025, following Magnum's separation of Ben & Jerry's from its previous parent company Unilever earlier that year [1]. The activist entrepreneur estimates the brand's current valuation at $1 billion or higher [1] and has already collected approximately 200,000 signatures supporting the divestment effort [1].
Cohen's grievances center on what he characterizes as Magnum's dismantling of Ben & Jerry's social mission and activist heritage [1]. He points to the company's decision in July 2025 to slash funding that forced the closure of Ben & Jerry's charitable foundation, and accuses Magnum of degrading product quality by adding excessive air to ice cream bars to reduce costs [1]. In response, Cohen has initiated a boycott campaign targeting other brands within Magnum's portfolio, including Yasso, Breyers, Talenti, and Klondike [1].
Magnum has firmly rejected Cohen's demands. Victoria McKenzie-Gould, the company's chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer, stated that Ben & Jerry's is not for sale and that the brand's business remains strong [1]. Magnum reported total 2025 revenues of €7.9 billion ($9.1 billion), with the Americas region accounting for approximately 35 percent of that figure [1]. Cohen and co-founder Jerry Greenfield sold Ben & Jerry's to Unilever in 2000 for $326 million [1].