Ben Cohen makes the case for brand activism.

3 June 2026

As other brands demonstrate that their support for progressive causes was performative all along, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's used his platform at SXSW London to prove that he is still the OG of brand activism.

Ben Cohen received a standing ovation from a packed house at SXSW London after a keynote address which called out the circus of corporate greed, and its ringmaster, the unindicted criminal who currently occupies the White House. Cohen who co-founded Ben & Jerry's with business partner Jerry Greenfield, has always used the platform provided to him by his business success to support progressive causes, and he implored the audience to help him pressure Magnum to free Ben & Jerry's from the corporate shackles.

Ben Cohen's speech was simultaneously understated and barnstorming as he spoke quietly and with pointed politeness yet landed one blow after another against the prevailing corporate and political culture. He opened with a softly spoken diatribe aimed at wannabe dictator Donald Trump, and it was a sharp reminder of the way the current US president has, through his own example, encouraged the most powerful elements of modern society to sidestep regulation and push their luck to the absolute limit in pursuit of profit.

He told the origin story of ben & Jerry's before describing the chequered history of its relationship with Unilever after the British corporation acquired the company. Initially respecting Ben & Jerry's unique culture, the company has, according to its co-founder, slowly but surely strangled the life out of the brand's activism.

The most recent development came with the creation of a new subsidiary called The Magnum Ice Cream Company which now owns all of the ice cream brands which were previously part of Unilever itself. Ben Cohen claims this marks the end of any tolerance for ben & Jerry's distinctive activism and he invited the audience to help him push back against the new ownership model.

Capitalists who rail against capitalism often find a sympathetic ear at conferences like these and an orator like Ben Cohen will always likely to impress an SXSW audience. But his tale is a case study of inevitability... it was always going to go this way, and the smaller companies in our industry who secure guarantees from giant networks when they are become part of them should always keep in mind that the clock is always ticking towards the dissolution of any promise that puts integrity ahead of profit.