Ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry’s has caused a stir and now risks a customer boycott after its social media marketing team used 4th of July celebrations to condemn the US for existing on “stolen Indigenous land”.
Ben & Jerry’s, which was acquired by Unilever in 2000 but whose board remains independent in voicing its views on political issues, said July 4 celebrations can “distract from an essential truth about this nation’s birth”.
The tweet to its 494,000 followers said this Fourth of July, it is “high time we recognise that the US exists on stolen indigenous land and commit to returning it. Learn more and take action now.”
In a similar message on its website, the company argued that July 4 festivities and celebrations can “distract from an essential truth about this nation’s birth.”
It added that Mount Rushmore should be returned immediately to its original owners The Great Sioux Nation.
Following the tweet, there was immediate calls by opponents to boycott the brand as customers had done in wake of the whole Bud Light/trans controversy.
Shares in Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch multinational firm, slid 0.8 per cent on Thursday after closing down 0.5 per cent the previous day. That wiped $US2 billion in market cap from the brand.
The result has seen its market cap drop to $128.5 billion from $130.2 billion on Monday.
On Wednesday, Unilever was called out for its hypocrisy over continuing to sell its Cornetto ice cream and other products in Russia in defiance of calls to exit the country over its invasion of Ukraine.
Country singer John Rich led the protests against the pricey ice-cream maker tweeting, “Make @benndjerrys Bud Light again.”
Another Twitter user wrote, “Why on earth would any true American support these twisted woke liberals. BOYCOTT BEN AND JERRYS. Speak out…!”
Another labelled the brand “the Bud Light of ice cream,” tweeting, “But seriously now, close shop, or better yet, donate your business and everything you own in these lands that rightfully belong to the indigenous people, apologise to them, and return to the continent your ancestors came from. Now.”
Another said: “Ok you start. Relinquish your headquarters. This should be easy then. Shut down and donate all of your land, facilities, and assets to Indigenous people.”
“You stole the milk from cows to make your ice-cream! Checkmate!” penned another.
South Dakota governor Kristi Noem also hit back at the brand and its calls to return Mount Rushmore to its original Indigenous owners.
Noem said in an interview on Fox News she will not listen to “a bunch of liberal Vermont businessmen who think they know everything about this country and haven’t studied our history.”
The governor called Mount Rushmore “the greatest symbol of our freedom” in America’s history.
“We should be proud of America and knock off what Ben & Jerry’s is doing. They don’t have any idea what they’re doing,” Noem said.
Ben & Jerry’s has a long history of playing with and supporting contentious issues.
It’s co-founder Ben Cohen recently donated more than $1 million to a group urging an end to US military support for Ukraine.
In 2021 it caused a stir among America’s powerful Jewish community when it said it would no longer sell ice cream in “the Occupied Palestinian Territory” – a move that drew fury from Israelis, including PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
The brand’s co-founders, Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, later filed a lawsuit against parent company Unilever after the Israeli branch of Ben & Jerry’s was sold to a local licensee.
The brand had previously publicly supported the Black Lives Matter movement and the LGBTQIA+ community.
