Selling Out or Buying In?
By Dara O'Rourke
First my socially responsible ice cream.
Then my local, earth-conscious juice.
Then my hip, alternative, throwback
sneakers. Then my daughter's organic
yogurt. Then my wife's animal-friendly
cosmetics. Now it's the one toothpaste I
believed in . . . if it makes any sense
to believe in a toothpaste.
Ben and Jerry's was bought out by
Unilever. Fresh Samantha was devoured by
Odwalla, itself owned by Coca-Cola.
Converse by Nike. Stonyfield Farms by
Danone. Aveda by Estee Lauder. The Body
Shop by L'Oreal. Now Tom's of Maine
sells out, is bought out, is merged in,
or, if you believe the founder, is to be
a ''stand-alone subsidiary" of
Colgate-Palmolive.
Many of the products we think of as
''alternative" or ''natural" or
''socially responsible" or just plain
''independent" are now owned by major
multinational corporations. Perhaps this
is good? A sign that mainstream America
cares and wants to buy these kinds of
products? Tom Chappell, cofounder of
Tom's of Maine, calls it an irony that
''although we are growing in the high
teens and low 20s, it's not enough to
meet a demand 10 times the size." Tom
goes on to explain that, ''about 25
percent of Americans are interested in
these kinds of products."
So as Tom wants us to believe, this
selling-out isn't about cashing in, it's
about reaching the masses through those
elusive retail channels only a
multinational corporation can access.
And maybe this is good news for
environmentally and socially responsible
products. A sign that Main Street and
Wall Street are finally buying into
companies that do well by doing good.
Certainly this reminds us that global
corporations have the potential to
spread phthalate-free perfumes and
organic juices just as fast as they
spread Marlboros and Coke.
And maybe these multinationals will even
adopt some of the principles and
practices that made Tom's grow so fast
and turned Ben and Jerry and Body Shop
owner Anita Roddick into trusted names.
Imagine if L'Oreal followed the Body
Shop's lead and stopped animal testing
and phased out the most toxic chemicals
they slip into their face creams. Or if
Coca-Cola listened to Odwalla's mission
statement and committed to nourishing
people and caring for the earth. Or if
Unilever copied Ben and Jerry's old
policy on limiting CEO salaries.
This could be good.
Unfortunately, we have seen little
evidence of this sweet organic cream
rising to the top of the global milkshake.
In fact, these brands seem a little
embarrassed of their new adoptive
parents. Tom says simply that packaging
will not identify his company as a
subsidiary of Colgate. Which makes me
wonder how many hipsters know that their
Converse All-Stars and their Hurley
skateboard hoodies are produced by Nike?
Or that their Odwalla Wellness Fruit
Drink with Echinacea is manufactured by
Coke?
This stealth relationship is a sign that
while these multinationals covet
progressive brands, they are at least a
little nervous about losing the trust
and connections these small companies
have built with consumers. These global
buy-outs will certainly move Tom's into
the mainstream, but it will also connect
these small firms to big global
controversies. The Body Shop is being
boycotted in England for the sins of
L'Oreal. Converse is being criticized by
anti-sweatshop activists. Odwalla has
been included in campus boycotts against
Coke.
These new relationships also connect
these firms to demands for even faster
growth. Tom is no longer really of
Maine. He is now of Wall Street. And 20
percent growth may just not be enough.
Will he now feel pressures to put
profits before people and the
environment? Will he stop doing the
things that made me like him in the
first place -- like putting natural
ingredients in his toothpastes and
calling out big companies like Colgate
for putting saccharin in theirs?
Ultimately these deals threaten the one
thing that really made these companies
special -- that consumers believed in
their values. As subsidiaries of major
multinational firms, they will no longer
be given the benefit of the doubt about
what these companies stand for, what
they believe in, what they are trying to
achieve. They now have to prove that
they are not just selling out. They have
to be much more transparent and back up
their social and environmental claims.
And they have to show that they are
improving their parent companies rather
than being abused by them.
Maybe I shouldn't have ever believed in
a toothpaste or a shampoo or an ice
cream. I now realize I didn't really
know that much about Tom or Anita or Ben
anyway. And I will now ask a lot more
before I trust or believe in them again.
Dara O'Rourke is an assistant professor
in the College of Natural Resources at
the University of California, Berkeley.
