While Ben & Jerry’s stirs controversy over its July 4 tweet calling on the US to return “stolen indigenous land,” its corporate parent is facing criticism over its refusal to cut business ties with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
The Vermont-based ice cream maker, a subsidiary of Unilever, caused a stir over the holiday weekend when it tweeted: “The United States was founded on stolen indigenous land. This Fourth of July, let’s commit to returning it.”
But Unilever, the Dutch-Anglo conglomerate whose brands include Dove soap and Cornetto ice cream, also has drawn the ire of the Ukrainian government for paying taxes to the Russian government.
The UK-based Moral Rating Agency, which alleges that Cornetto and another Unilever brand of ice cream, Magnum, continue to be sold in Russia, blasted the firm.
It accused company of helping Russian President Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine.
“Unilever must stop hiding behind its balance sheet and excuses to face the reality that selling an ice cream can allow Putin to pay for a bullet,” Mark Dixon, the group’s founder, told the BBC.
A nongovernmental organization known as Ukraine Solidarity Project put up a large billboard outside Unilever headquarters in London on Monday denouncing the company for “helping to fund Russia’s war in Ukraine,” according to the Guardian.
Last year, Unilever’s subsidiaries paid $331 million in taxes to the Kremlin, according to reports.
Unilever’s local businesses in Russia continue to sell items such as shampoo and ice cream in the country, which has seen a mass exodus of Western firms following the start of the Ukraine invasion last year.
“Unilever is contributing hundreds of millions in tax revenues to a state which is killing civilians and funding a mercenary group about to be designated a terrorist organization in the UK,” a USP spokesperson said.
“It risks its staff and resources being mobilized into Putin’s machine. Some of the world’s biggest companies have already left Russia.”
The spokesperson added: “It’s possible — after 16 months of war — that the time for excuses has passed.”
In February, Unilever issued a statement explaining why it continued to do business in Russia.
“We understand why there are calls for Unilever to leave Russia,” the company said.
“We also want to be clear that we are not trying to protect or manage our business in Russia,” the company said.
“However, for companies like Unilever, which have a significant physical presence in the country, exiting is not straightforward.”
If the company pulled up stakes and left Russia, its 3,000 employees and its brands “would be appropriated — and then operated — by the Russian state,” according to the statement.
“In addition, we do not think it is right to abandon our people in Russia,” the firm said.
The Post has sought comment from Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s.
In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever were embroiled in a political controversy after the Vermont-based ice cream chain announced it would no longer sell its products in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The decision was denounced by supporters of Israel as antisemitic and state governments in the US applied financial pressure on Unilever by pulling tens of millions of dollars in equity investments from pension funds.
Ben & Jerry’s filed a lawsuit against Unilever after the parent company sold its Israel division to a local franchisee — contravening the ice cream maker’s ban on doing business in Israeli settlements.
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