Published on: 05 December 2022
Recently, Ben & Jerry created lots of buzz when it stopped selling its products in occupied Palestinian territories. Last week, the brand tweeted on Biden not sending more troops to Europe saying he risked “fanning the flames of war.”
In response Unilever’s CEO, Alan Jope, reacted with, “It is a great brand, most of the time they get it right. They have a great track record of campaigning on important issues. But on subjects where Unilever brands don’t have expertise or credibility, it is best to stay out of the debate.”
Unilever’s official statement is as follows: “Our business operations in Ukraine have stopped and we are now fully focused on ensuring the safety of our Ukrainian employees and their families, including helping with their evacuation were necessary, and providing additional financial support. We have also committed to donating €5m of essential Unilever products to the humanitarian relief effort.
We have suspended all imports and exports of our products into and out of Russia, and we will stop all media and advertising spending. We will not invest any further capital into the country nor will we profit from our presence in Russia. We will continue to supply our everyday essential food and hygiene products made in Russia to people in the country. We will keep this under close review.
We join calls for an end to this war and hope that peace, human rights, and the international rule of law will prevail.”
Inspired by Alan Jope – CEO of Unilever. More on Humanizing grwoth from Alan here.
