Posted on 07/27/2021 12:29:10 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
The CEO of multinational conglomerate Unilever, parent company of Ben & Jerry's, struggled to renounce the ice cream maker's anti-Semitism during a conference call with investors on Thursday.
"Unilever remains fully committed to our business in Israel," CEO Alan Jope said in response to critics of Ben & Jerry's inflammatory decision to stop selling its products in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. "I can assure you it is not our intent to regularly visit matters of this, where sensitivity has been a long-standing issue for Ben & Jerry's."
Sensitivity indeed. Earlier this week, the firm that became an international success selling whimsical obesity to children proclaimed that operating in the so-called Occupied Palestinian Territory was "inconsistent with our values." Jope repeatedly cited the sentiments of Ben and Jerry's "independent board" as the sole factor in the anti-Semitic decision. He sought to assure investors it was "not our intention that every quarter we'll have [a decision] quite as fiery as this one."
Jope has considerable experience in matters of sensitivity. Before being promoted to CEO in January 2019, he oversaw Unilever's business operations in China, a country whose authoritarian communist regime strongly encourages Western companies and their executives to refrain from criticizing its ruthless authoritarianism, especially when it comes to the genocide of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
The Unilever boss has also helmed the company's operations in Russia, Africa, and the Middle East, regions that do not exactly comply with the "inclusive" standards Unilever projects to Western audiences.
Last month, for example, the company launched an initiative called "Act 2 Unstereotype" and vowed to "provoke inclusive thinking across the end-to-end marketing process." Its goal is nothing less than to "help influence the next generation of people to be free of prejudice." Except, apparently, when it comes to prejudice against Israeli Jews.
Jope, who once served as a guest judge on The Apprentice with Donald Trump, has written extensively on his business philosophy, which espouses a "multi-stakeholder approach," a "collaborative mindset," "collective reinvention," and other iterations of corporate nonsense.
"Stakeholder capitalism is about radically changing the values of the company, and the way it operates, to reflect the interests of multiple stakeholders all the time," Jope wrote last year in the Telegraph. "It means taking action to address the climate crisis, and also looking at the favelas of Brazil, the townships of Africa and the slums of India to see what business can do to help tackle social and economic inequality."
Ben & Jerry's decision appears at odds with this philosophy, to say the least. As the Washington Free Beacon editors wrote on Tuesday: "We're not clear how exactly removing Ben & Jerry's ice cream from grocery stores in the West Bank will benefit the Palestinians. The move appears to be primarily an act of guerrilla theater and a demonstration of base prejudice."
Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett had a similar reaction and promised to hold the Unilever CEO accountable for the "clearly anti-Israel step." According to Bennett's office, the prime minister spoke directly with Jope and told him the decision would have "serious consequences, legal and otherwise," as Israel would "act aggressively against all boycott actions directed against its citizens."
Is anyone being fired over BJ’s decision/activism?
Nailed it!
I stopped buying B&J’s along time ago because of their leftist positions.
Ben & Jerry’s hates the Jewish state, eh?
No surprise.
They only killed something like $5 billion in Unilever market cap, why would anyone get fired?
Bake the cake!! You must bake the cake!
I heard that eating ice cream increases your chances of catching the rona.
Unilever has been in bed with the mullahs for years.
This wasn’t a sudden decision.
Ben & Jerry’s hasn’t lost my business. I’ve known they were left wing nuts for a long time and have never even tried their products. I refuse to give them any of my business.
our largest local grocery has already pulled Ben and Jerry (and Breyers, same Unilever manufacturer) off the shelves.
The second grocery, also pretty large, says they will sell out the stock on hand and never re-order either brand. That there are so many other brands of ice cream that are happy to take over the shelf space....
We plan to visit the third grocery (it is a big chain store) a few miles up the road, asap. ON the phone, that store’s manager says he agrees fully with stopping any and all funds going to UniLever and he has asked his headquarters to confirm that they will not only stop purchase of the two ice cream brands but also replace the other UniLever brands in the store (Dove, Lipton, Q-Tips, etc.) He says that by the time we get up there to see him, he expects he will have good news concerning the entire chain of stores.. but at the very least he will have removed the Nazi brands from his store.
I think I'm going to find someone from Amway and buy from them. At least I won't be supporting leftist causes, even if it costs more.
“I stopped buying B&J’s along time ago because of their leftist positions.”
Same here.
What will the “We Hate Jews” commercials be like?
“Hi I’m Ben and I’m Jerry, try our Antisemint ice cream”
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