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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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Ben & Jerry's is facing a boycott after calling on the United States to "commit to returning" stolen Indigenous land in its 4th of July message.
On Independence Day, the iconic American ice cream brand sparked outrage on social media by publishing a Twitter post with an image reading: "The United States was founded on stolen Indigenous land. This Fourth of July, let's commit to returning it."
In the caption, the company added: "It's high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it."
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Ben & Jerry's message generated a flood of negative responses on social media, with some calling it the company's "Bud Light moment," referring to controversy and subsequent boycott after the beer brand partnered with a transgender activist in April.
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Other Twitter users called on the company to be the first to give up its profits and properties, including factories, buildings and stores. Others said that the company should be returning its factory land to the Abenaki people.
"Ok you start. Relinquish your headquarters," one Twitter user wrote. "This should be easy then," wrote another. "Shut down and donate all of your land, facilities, and assets to indigenous people."
Others accused the company of virtue-signaling—the practice of expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character, social conscience and awareness of a certain issue, just for the sake of appearing good in people's eyes.
"I'm curious, how many millions have you made by being virtue signaling grifters?," wrote a Twitter user. "Stop virtue signaling ya hypocritical phonies," another person tweeted.
Others called the Ben & Jerry's 4th of July message a "Bud Light moment," drawing a parallel between the outrage sparked by the Vermont ice cream maker's post to the American beer brand's hotly contested sponsorship deal with trans influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney in April, which led to a weekslong boycott of the company.
"Make @benndjerrys Bud Light again," John Rich of Big & Rich tweeted in response to Ben & Jerry's message. The tweet received over 7,000 likes.
"Looks like someone is looking hard for a @budweiser moment," conservative commentator Jordan Peterson tweeted.
As was the case for Bud Light, many are now calling for a boycott of Ben & Jerry's, accusing the company of going "woke."
"Time to Boycott Ben and Jerrys. They want you to give back the house and yards you're paying a mortgage on," a Twitter user wrote.
"Why on earth would Any True American support these twisted woke liberals. BOYCOTT BEN AND JERRYS. Speak out," another person tweeted.
Newsweek reached out to Ben & Jerry's via email for comment.
It's not the first time that Ben & Jerry's has faced boycott calls and controversy. In March, the company was at the center of a social media storm after co-founder Ben Cohen spoke out against the U.S. providing military aid to Ukraine, saying that the U.S. should use its power to negotiate an end to the war instead of supplying weapons.
Scrutiny has continued to escalate over the company's support of the LGBTQ+ community and the Black Lives Matter movement, among other polarizing issues.
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