Unless you've been living under a Twitter/Blogger rock the big subject of the past few days is the Nestle Family blogger event. Nestle paid for a group of bloggers to fly out to their headquarters for an all expenses paid weekend to participate in a forum to discuss Nestle's products. I'm sure part of Nestle's goal was to get feedback from their consumers and part of it was to get some cheap PR. Whatever.
What ensued has been quite a controversy in the blog world and on Twitter. People are OUTRAGED that these bloggers attended this event and alot of angry words were thrown around.
The good news for me is that I got quite an education about some of Nestle's business practices. I knew that they have been highly criticized for marketing baby formula to third world countries, I knew a little about the controversy surrounding the company using cocoa harvested by forced labor. I didn't realize they are the most boycotted company on earth. Wow. Hey, you learn something new everyday.
This got me thinking, hmmm. What other companies should I question?
What can I feel good about buying? So I did a little research.
Here are some of the other companies with questionable practices:
What ensued has been quite a controversy in the blog world and on Twitter. People are OUTRAGED that these bloggers attended this event and alot of angry words were thrown around.
The good news for me is that I got quite an education about some of Nestle's business practices. I knew that they have been highly criticized for marketing baby formula to third world countries, I knew a little about the controversy surrounding the company using cocoa harvested by forced labor. I didn't realize they are the most boycotted company on earth. Wow. Hey, you learn something new everyday.
This got me thinking, hmmm. What other companies should I question?
What can I feel good about buying? So I did a little research.
Here are some of the other companies with questionable practices:
Food:
Altria (Philip Morris/Kraft/Nabisco)
Campbell Soup (Pepperidge Farm, Godiva's)
Coca-Cola
ConAgra (Beatrice, Butterball, Hunts, Redenbacher)*
Equal/Nutrasweet (Monsanto)*
Hershey's
Nestle Purina* (Nescafe, Libby's, Stouffer's)
Smithfield Foods
Tyson Foods/IBP Meats
Unilever
Archer Daniels
Albertson's
Burger King
Chiquita
Country Time
Dean Foods (Borden & other dairy brands)
Del Monte
Dole
General Foods
Hannaford Bros
Interstate Bakeries
KFC/Long John Silver/Taco Bell
Kroger Stores
Lipton [BW]
McDonald's
Pepsico
Pizza Hut
Post Foods
Procter & Gamble
Publix Supermarkets
Safeway
Sara Lee
Savon
Shoney's
Warner Lambert
Winn-Dixie
Adidas
Dillard's
DuPont* (Lycra)
Fila
Gap
JC Penney
Kohl's
May's* (Robinson May, Lord & Taylor)
Sears
Wal-Mart
Abercrombie & Fitch
Asics
Big Lots (Pic'n Save)
Costco
Federated (Bloomies, Macy's, the Bon)
Fruit of the Loom
J. Crew
Jones Apparel
KMart
Lands' End
Levi Strauss
Liz Claiborne
Nike
Phillips Van Heusen
Polo Ralph Lauren
Reebok
Sara Lee (Playtex, WonderBra, Sheer Energy) Target
TJ Maxx/Marshall's
Victoria's Secret (Limited Stores)
Winners (TJX Canada)
According to my research, if I want to be a responsible consumer the only clothing I can buy is Patagonia, I will have to shop at my local farmer's market or grow my own veggies. I cannot take drugs from ANY pharmaceutical company, I can only watch PBS or listen to NPR and rather than purchase gas, I need to bicycle or walk.
I don't know what the answer is. Maybe my life and the lives of countless others would be better if we all lived a simpler life and the world wasn't run by crooked politicians and unethical corporations.
I do know that calling other people ignorant isn't the answer.
Discussing these issues can help. Educating ourselves and taking action where we deem necessary CAN make a difference. (I hope.)
So let's talk. What do you think? Are there any companies you boycott? Have you learned anything from this controversy?
Are you going to change the way you shop as a result of this discussion?
Talk to me...