(Headline USA) Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever, has lost $2 billion in market cap value this week following an Indepence Day tweet in which Ben & Jerry’s called for the U.S. to return “stolen” land to indigenous tribes, starting with Mount Rushmore.
Shares of Unilever slid 0.8% on Thursday after dropping 0.5% the previous day, according to the New York Post. Thursday’s closing price was around $51.31, roughly a dollar below its Monday closing price.
In total, Unilever’s market cap dropped from $130.2 billion to $128.5 billion in the span of four days.
Though Ben & Jerry’s has pushed leftist propaganda frequently, customers derided the company’s July 4 tweet as a new low.
“This 4th of July, it’s high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it,” the company tweeted. “The faces on Mount Rushmore are the faces of men who actively worked to destroy Indigenous cultures and ways of life, to deny Indigenous people their basic rights.”
Customers immediately called for a boycott against Ben & Jerry’s.
“Make @benndjerrys Bud Light again,” singer John Rich wrote, referring to conservatives’ successful boycott of Bud Light in response to its partnership with controversial transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Another user responded: “Long overdue for the Bud Light treatment. You hate the country, fine. We won’t buy your product. All good.”
In response to Ben & Jerry’s pledge, chief of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation, Don Stevens, said he’d be willing to take up the company on its offer and “reclaim” the territory on which Ben & Jerry’s headquarters currently resides.
Stevens told Newsweek that his tribe, which descended from the Abenaki Indian confederacy that reportedly once controlled the land in Burlington, Vermont, “are always interested in reclaiming the stewardship of our lands throughout our traditional territories and providing opportunities to uplift our communities.”
He noted that Ben & Jerry’s has yet to approach them or cede the territory to them.
