Ice cream powerhouse Ben & Jerry’s blew up the internet on the Fourth of July with a social media post that many critics claimed was contradictory and unpatriotic.
On the morning of July 4, Ben & Jerry’s recognized the holiday with a tweet.
“This 4th of July, it's high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it. Learn more and take action now,” the company wrote with a link to a blog post on its website.
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In the blog post published June 30, Ben & Jerry’s went further into detail about stolen land.
“Ah, the Fourth of July. Who doesn't love a good parade, some tasty barbecue, and a stirring fireworks display? The only problem with all that, though, is that it can distract from an essential truth about this nation’s birth: The US was founded on stolen Indigenous land. This year, let’s commit to returning it,” the post read. “Here’s why we need to start with Mount Rushmore.”
The post describes the Lakota Sioux’s holy mountain Tunkasila Sakpe before it was desecrated with the carvings of U.S. presidents.
“After decades fighting to keep colonizers off their land, the Lakota and other tribes signed the Fort Laramie treaties of 1851 and 1868, establishing a 35-million-acre ‘permanent home’ for them that included the Black Hills,” according to the blog post. “The [U.S.] government broke those treaties only a few years later, when gold prospectors and settlers flooded in and carved up the land for themselves.”
Ben & Jerry’s also included a petition for supporters to sign in order for the land to be returned to the Lakota.
Despite that much-needed history lesson, people went on the attack and had Ben & Jerry’s as the top trending topic with over 34,000 replies on Twitter Wednesday morning. Even a U.S. senator weighed in.
“[Ben & Jerry]’s are awfully smug and lippy for a sub-brand of the massive Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Unilever,” Sen. Mike Lee in Utah tweeted. “I’m not sure they fully understand the legacy of the respective Dutch and British colonial powers.”
“Time to ‘Bud Light’ Ben and Jerry’s? Stop supporting companies that hate you and America,” self-proclaimed conservative political strategist Alex Bruesewitz tweeted.
“The scumbags at Ben & Jerry's spent the 4th of July trashing America,” Outkick reporter David Hookstead wrote. “Why worry about China when American companies will gladly share anti-American propaganda? Disgusting and shameful. Never apologize for loving America!”
“#BoycottBenAndJerrys #BoycottUnilever,” another user tweeted.
“Recently a friend wanted Ben & Jerry's and we went into one of their stores and finally I told him I just can't give them my money,” another Twitter user wrote. “Get woke, go broke only works if you stop buying their products.”
Meanwhile, others took the moment to call out Ben & Jerry’s for the company’s own alleged theft of Indigenous land.
“Ben and Jerry’s corporate office is in South Burlington, VT. Home of the Abenaki people. There are 3,200 of them still residing in the area,” a person on Twitter wrote. “Ben and Jerry’s- give them their land back.”
“The Ben & Jerry’s factory is located in Waterbury, Vermont,” posted Yahoo News senior correspondent Michael Weiss. “I look forward to the board of directors’ voting to turn their property over to the indigenous people who rightfully own this land.”
Ben & Jerry’s joins a long list of companies that have recently come under fire, mostly from right-wing pundits, for taking a stance on social issues. In April, Bud Light’s sales plummeted after sending free beer to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Target was slammed ahead of Pride Month for releasing a line of pro-LGBTQ+ attire for children, and conservative trolls showed delayed rage in June when Chick-Fil-A hired a Black diversity, equity, and inclusion director.
Other social media users grabbed the opportunity of the current backlash to highlight more Ben & Jerry’s controversies, including alleged child migrant labor, parent company Unilever’s involvement with Israel, and Ben & Jerry’s co-founder not supporting aid to Ukraine during its conflict with Russia.
The company has also taken political stances on the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Elon Musk takeover of Twitter, gun violence, police brutality, and Juneteenth and Black American history.
Ben & Jerry’s nor its parent company Unilever immediately returned The Daily Beast’s requests for comment Wednesday regarding its July 4 comments.
