By Elena Vasquez

Ben Cohen asked Advertising Week New York on Oct. 6 to help save his brand's activist identity. The Ben & Jerry's co-founder framed his talk as a "creative brief" with one question: how do you preserve Ben & Jerry's as an activist brand?

Cohen's answer starts with a fight. He claimed Magnum Ice Cream Company, the standalone public company created when Unilever spun off its ice cream division, does not respect the 2000 acquisition agreement that gave Ben & Jerry's independent board authority over its social mission. Cohen said Magnum has kept the brand from speaking out on issues including Palestine and the Trump administration.

A Magnum spokesperson has told numerous media outlets that Ben & Jerry's was "not for sale" and that the company had "always respected" the brand's commitment to its "social mission."

What built the brand?

Cohen traced the activism to the late 1980s and the end of the Cold War, when the company launched the "Peace Pop," a chocolate-covered ice cream bar on a stick.

"We decided that our packaging could be used as media, and we could use it to communicate with customers, instead of it just being a treat," Cohen said.

The company then launched 1% for Peace, a campaign to redirect one percent of the U.S. national defense budget toward peace-promoting activities. Cohen said the idea split his own management team at the time.

"This was before the 'socially responsible business' terms were coined yet," Cohen said. "Upper level management…some supported it, and some thought it was stupid. They thought business should not be talking about world affairs or suggesting we take money out of the Pentagon budget, because at the time, businesses did not do that."

The company later codified a three-part mission covering product, economic and social goals, and laid the three parts out horizontally to show equal weight. Cohen compared the process to the children's book "The Velveteen Rabbit."

"This was what Ben & Jerry's did to become real," he said. "It wasn't about advertising or an image. This was about doing the work."

Controversy is the point, Cohen argued. "What is the sense of doing it if everyone already agrees with it?" he asked.

Does authenticity pay?

The numbers suggest it does. Ben & Jerry's ranked No. 2 on the 2023 Authenticity 500 brand index, behind Patagonia. The company reported global sales of $1.1 billion in 2025.

Cohen said customers bond with authentic brands that actually work for justice, not with an emotional ad. The intangible commitments matter as much as the financials, he argued.

"Having a social mission, and then being attacked, yet doing it over and over—that's what created this amazingly strong brand," he said. "That and some really great ice cream."

How is Cohen turning up the pressure?

The "Free Ben & Jerry's" campaign began with polite requests to Magnum, Cohen said. When those failed, it went to the media. He cited 200-plus U.S. articles and 80-plus in Europe, with extra focus on the Netherlands, where Magnum is incorporated.

The Dutch campaign used the idiom "De aap komt uit de mouw," literally "the monkey comes out of the sleeve" — Cohen rendered it as "the monkey comes out of the sleep."

"In other words, it means a hidden true self is revealed," he said.

What does Cohen want from marketers?

He closed by inviting attendees to enter a contest to create the best guerrilla marketing campaign for the cause. The prize package includes a trophy, bragging rights for saving Ben & Jerry's and free ice cream for life. There will be at least two winners.

"Ben & Jerry's is a leader for socially conscious business," Cohen said. "If you cut down the leader, it harms the movement."

For marketers, the contest extends the dispute beyond the courtroom and into the trade's own toolkit, with Cohen betting that creative pressure, not legal process, will decide whether the brand keeps its voice.