Ben & Jerry's Exposed for Exploiting Child Migrant Labor

Ben & Jerry’s should launch a new ice cream flavor. We suggest the name, “Chocolate Charlatan.”

Ben & Jerry’s has been singularly obsessed with divestment from Israel for the last two years – not to mention all other “progressive” causes.

Now, an expose by The New York Times reveals that the company that is virtually synonymous with “human rights” advocacy is one of the many corporate brands that employ – and exploit – migrant child labor in their supply chain.

After the expose was published, Ben & Jerry’s told Fox News that it is “opposed to child labor.” However, the company’s head of values-led sourcing, Cheryl Pinto, tellingly said that if migrant children needed to work full time, it was preferable for them to have jobs at a well-monitored workplace,” according to the NY Times.

The company now faces a class-action suit that argues that the claim the company regularly makes – namely, that its products are ethically sourced – is simply false.

“Vermont-headquartered Ben & Jerry’s has historically ‘leaned into social justice issues’ as part of its advertising and marketing to attract ‘like-minded consumers that seek to use their purchasing power to promote a common ethos,’ ” the lawsuit explains, according to classaction.org. The lawsuit states that the customers would not have paid a higher price for the ice cream had they known Ben & Jerry was exploiting children.

“Overall, many buyers are willing to pay more for Ben & Jerry’s products, in part because the company purports to maintain ‘some of the highest ethical standards in the dairy industry.’ ”

The child exploitation allegations are particularly galling in light of Ben & Jerry’s relentless campaign to remove its products from Israel (causing its parent company Unilever’s stock to tank by $26 billion).

This move was also filled with hypocrisy. Far from harming Israel, divestment from companies operating in what Ben & Jerry’s calls “occupied territory” takes good-paying jobs and economic security away from the very same Palestinians the ice cream company purports to support.

Further, there are 100 land disputes worldwide. Yet, Ben & Jerry’s singularly focuses on the land dispute involving the only Jewish state in the world.

That singular focus on the only Jewish state in the world is, in short, the definition of anti-Semitism.

Just like child exploitation, it’s hardly a human rights cause.