Ben & Jerry's Owner's Stock Falls After Boycott Calls

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Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

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Stocks for Unilever, the company that owns Ben & Jerry's, fell by 0.53 percent on Thursday, as the Vermont ice cream maker faces boycott calls over its hotly contested Fourth of July message.

On Tuesday, Ben & Jerry's sparked anger on social media with a Twitter post that read: "The United States was founded on stolen Indigenous land. This Fourth of July, let's commit to returning it."

The tweet generated a flood of negative responses on social media, with some calling it the company's "Bud Light moment," referring to controversy and a subsequent boycott of the beer brand after it partnered with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney in April.

Some called for a boycott of Ben & Jerry's, saying the company was "woke."

Ben & Jerry's
The exterior of a Ben & Jerry's store is seen in Miami on November 30, 2022. Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s owner's, has seen its stock value fall after boycott calls. Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images

"Time to Boycott Ben and Jerrys. They want you to give back the house and yards you're paying a mortgage on," one Twitter user wrote.

"Why on earth would Any True American support these twisted woke liberals. BOYCOTT BEN AND JERRYS. Speak out," another person tweeted.

Newsweek contacted Ben & Jerry's for comment by email on Wednesday but has not yet received a response.

As the controversy surrounding Ben & Jerry's Fourth of July message continues to unfold, with the company not having posted any new messages on Twitter, stocks for Unilever suffered slightly on Thursday.

According to Google Finance data, stocks for the company were 0.53 lower by the early hours of Thursday. Unilever, a London-based multinational consumer packaged goods company, owns some 400 brands in total—which makes it unlikely that the slight drop is a direct result of boycott calls facing Ben & Jerry's.

Newsweek contacted Unilever for comment by email on Thursday.

While Ben & Jerry's is a big brand for Unilever, the company also owns Dove, Magnum, Hellmann's, Persil, Knorr, Vaseline and Wall's.

Unilever has been struggling these past few months, with the its share price dropping by 10 percent in May.

According to experts, the British company has suffered from investors' fears of stubborn inflation and higher interest rates. In the U.K., where Unilever is headquartered, the core CPIH annual inflation rate was 6.5 percent in May—the highest rate since November 1991.

In 2019, according to the latest data, the Unilever brand was valued at approximately $4.16 billion.

This is not the first time that Ben & Jerry's, a brand that's valued at $1 billion, has faced boycott calls this year.

In March, the company was at the center of a social media storm after co-founder Ben Cohen spoke out against Washington providing military aid to Ukraine, saying that the U.S. should use its power to negotiate an end to the war with Russia instead.

The company's support of the LGBTQ+ community and the Black Lives Matter movement, among other polarizing issues, has also generated controversy.

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About the writer

Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

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Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property ... Read more