Excuse: Unilever boss tries to justify selling Cornettos in Russia

Just one more excuse: Unilever boss tries to justify continuing to sell Cornettos in Russia

• Alan Jope pledged to stop selling all but essential products in Putin’s Russia 
• Yet the Unilever boss continues to sell Magnum and ice cream in the country
• A critic said Unilever only ‘cares only about profits and keeping its market share’

The boss of consumer goods giant Unilever has tried to justify its decision to carry on selling ice creams in Russia by saying that the profits would otherwise be used to fund Vladimir Putin’s war.

Alan Jope was responding to questions over why it keeps making money from Magnum and Cornetto products despite a pledge to stop selling all but essential food and hygiene products.

It is an embarrassment for a company which boasts of its ethical credentials and has even been criticised for its ‘truly bonkers’ woke posturing.

But Jope said of the ice cream sales: ‘If we hand those assets over to the Russian state they will be used to support this war.

Unilever’s boss Alan Jope pledged to stop selling all but essential products in Putin’s Russia. But the company continues to profit from Magnum and Cornetto product sales

‘We are minimising that business not maximising that business.’

A host of western firms announced that they were pulling out of Russia amid revulsion at its invasion of Ukraine last February.

But campaigners have criticised a number of companies – Unilever among them – for still doing business there despite expressions of condemnation for the war.

Campaigners have criticised Unilever for still doing business  with Russia despite expressions of condemnation for the war

But Jope said of the ice cream sales: ‘If we hand those assets over to the Russian state they will be used to support this war’

Unilever has said it has suspended all imports and exports of products into and out of Russia, will stop all media and advertising spend, and will not profit from its presence in the country.

Jope’s latest comments drew derision from the Moral Rating Agency, which tracks companies’ continued involvement in Russia.

A spokesman said: ‘Unilever is moral chameleon.

‘It keeps on coming up with different excuses for not leaving Russia.

‘Its first excuse was that it was providing “essential food”. Now it is saying if it quits Russia the assets will be used by government to support the war.

‘The real reason is Unilever cares only about profits and keeping its market share.’

The criticism comes shortly after the company faces brickbats from top investor Terry Smith and others over its claim that Lux soap could ‘inspire women to rise above sexism’.

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