By choosing to spend your dollars to buy a certain product,

your money essentially goes to support the actions of that

company. If you knew what your monetary funding was
supporting in these companies, would it change where you
chose to spend your money? It is relatively easy to find out
what these companies are doing for the good of the world. By
just simply going to the company’s website, they are broadly
advertising their corporate social responsibility reports. But a
lot of actions that would be bad press for these multinational
corporations are kept quiet. So where do you go to find out
what is typically falling below the radar of mass media? Where
do you find out what harmful things these companies are
doing to the environment, how they mistreat their employees,
and what unapproved substances are being put into their
products. The information on the next following slides does
not discuss positive actions of these companies, that
information is, as previously stated, easily findable. This
document, however, aims to help you realize that there are
plenty of things that companies are doing that don’t always
get widespread media attention, and provide you with a start
to doing your own research to become a more responsible
consumer. So enjoy, read, learn and continue the responsible
initiative into the future.
 Maker of: Coke, Dasani, Diet Coke, Fresca, Fanta,
Far Coast, Five Alive, Fruitopia, Full Throttle,
Hi-C, Mello Yello, Minutemaid, Nestea, Powerade,
Sprite, TaB energy, Vault & Vitaman Water

The Coca-Cola Company Mission:

Treatment towards shareholders
•To refresh the world in body, mind and spirit.
In 2008, investors claimed that
•To inspire moments of optimism through our brands and our actions.
Coca-Cola had failed to release
•To create value and make a difference everywhere we engage.
material information on their
financial statements which in the
Water Resources in India end harmed investors. In response,
Coca –Cola has been all over the news for the past decade as the over-use Coca-Cola agreed to an out-of-court
of water resources at various of its bottling plant locations has slowly been settlement without admitting any
uncovered to the rest of the world. Protests from Indian citizens against the wrongdoing. A similar situation also
opening of new bottling plants has recently geared more media attention, occurred in 2005 when investors
causing Coca—Cola to begin to feel “responsible” and “make recourse” in were misled by year-end financial
response to their mistakes. statement numbers due to Coca-
Coca-Cola’s statement about the issue: Cola’s end-of-period practices (sale
“We share a commitment to water stewardship of excess beverage concentrate to
in all communities where we do business. We bottlers in Japan). Apparently
agree that it makes no sense to then drain the Coca-Cola has nobody’s (neither
community of water -- the most important consumer nor investor) best
resource we need to produce our products -- interests in mind.
and we do not run our business that way in any
country, including India.”

Put A Face to the Name
Muhtar Kent
President and CEO
Past Work Experience:
-general manager of Coca-Cola Turkey and
Central Asia
-vice president of Coca-Cola International
-managing director of Coca-Cola Amatil-
Europe
-president and CEO of the Efes Beverage
Group, the majority shareholder of Turkish
bottler Coca-Cola Icecek
Mr. Kent’s career roots have been engrained
in the Coca-Cola business since his start. What
do you think he prioritizes – environmental
and social impacts his company has on the
world or the bonus he gets from its stock
price?
India Resource Center’s April 2008 update:
“The Coca-Cola company has responded to the growing opposition
against it in India through a variety of "corporate social responsibility"
initiatives, although the vast majority do not deal directly with the
plants being opposed themselves. One of Coca-Cola's often touted
initiatives in India is rainwater harvesting, which the company has
announced with much fanfare... The communities' assertion that such
initiatives were just for show and not genuine were confirmed by the
report by TERI, which noted that "all the recharge shafts that were
randomly visited were found to be in dilapidated conditions."
Employee Treatment
“We are dedicated to fostering a positive and healthy work
environment for our people and the people we partner with
across our entire value cycle.” Apparently, Coke forgot to
disclose the part about how this doesn’t seem to apply to
workers wanting to set up Unions. KillerCoke is an
organization that fights to spread the word about murders,
kidnappings and torture of union leaders of Coca-Cola
bottling plants in Columbia. Visit their website at
http://www.killercoke.org/ for stories.

Discover more about the Coca-Cola Company business actions:

- Involvement with Child Labour :http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11379
-Business Ethics : http://www.polarisinstitute.org/australia_coca_cola_attacked_over_jamboree_sponsorship
 Maker of: Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain
Dew, Aquafina, Lay’s, Frito-Lays,
Tostitos, Gatorade, Propel, Tropicana
Pure Premium juices, Dole juices, Quaker
Oats, Aunt Jemima

PepsiCo’s mission is “To be the world’s premier consumer products company focused on convenient
foods and beverages. We seek to produce healthy financial rewrds to investors as we provide
opportunities for growth and enrichment to our employee’s, our business partners and the
communities in which we operate. And in everything we do, we strive for honesty, fairness, and
integrity”
Healthy food alternatives
PepsiCo recently created the “Smart Spot Program”, a green
circle stamp that connotes a healthier food selection. This
program was instituted in order to help people make healthier
lifestyle choices. However, no third party audit system exists for
this program. In essence, PepsiCo can decide to label any of
their food or beverage products “healthier” without
accreditation. PepsiCo has even linked to endorsing individuals, Nutrition Education Programs
such as Elizabeth Whelan from the American Council on Science PepsiCo is famous for their
and Health, that are supposedly a third party and independent involvement with nutritional
review, which in fact back their products. For example, education curriculums, such as
Whelman published a review that downplayed the link between Balance First, Get Active Stay
high fat content and heart disease while receiving from PepsiCo Active, Get Kids in Action, SMART,
and other firms. and America on the Move.
However, despite these activities,
PepsiCo’s purpose like any
The Woman Who Runs it All corporation is to generate revenue
from their products, which happens
Indra K. Nooyi to be largely unhealthy food and
Chairman and CEO drinks. Additionally, PepsiCo
denies any marketing scheme
towards children, yet they continue
Indra K. Nooyi became CEO of Pepsico in to market these programs to kids to
October 2006. Prior to this position, Indra was school, along with the Pepsi slogan.
Pepsico’s President and CFO. She has also help
many VP positions within Pepsico Her other
previous work experience includes: Potential toxins in PepsiCo’s products?
-Senior VP of Strategy, Planning and Marketing In 2006, researchers discovered that
for Asea Brown Boveri Inc. (a power and PepsiCo’s beverage, Pepsi Twist, contains
automated technologies company) ascorbic acid and potassium benzoate, which
--VP and Director of Corporate Strategy and can lead to the production of the
Planning at Motorola carcinogenic chemical benzene when
So judge for yourself. With all Ms Nooyi’s senior exposed to heat and light. In short, benzene
position experience in big corporations, which has been linked to cancer. PepsiCo was even
do you think she puts first: corporate or social sued by health conscious citizens concerning
interests? the amount of toxins in this beverage.
PepsiCo has yet to make a public statement.
 Maker of: Chips Ahoy!, Cool Whip, Crystal Light,
Delissio, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Kraft Dinner (Mac n’
Cheese), Maxwell House, Oreo, Oscar Mayer,
Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Ritz, Shake n’ Bake,
Tang, Triscuit, Wheat Thins and much more...

Up until April 2, 2007, Altria Group Inc. (formerly known as Philip Morris)
owned 88.9% of Kraft Foods. Although Kraft Foods has been recently endured
a stock spin-off, offering Altria’s shares of the company to be publicly traded,
Altria’s Kraft Foods shares were offered to its own shareholders. Sounds like a
lot of legal title changes but no change of ownership.

The Multinational Monitor named Altria as one of the 10 Worst

Corporations of 2006, mostly due to the issued ruling of the
case United States v. Philip Morris, that found Philip Morris
knowingly misleading the public about the adverse health affects
But what is Philip Morris?
and addictive nature of cigarettes and nicotine. In addition, Judge
Philip Morris Companies, is
Judith Kesller also said that the company "marketed and sold
the world’s largest is the
their lethal product with zeal, with deception, with a single-minded
world's largest tobacco
focus on their financial success, and without regard for the
company, owning half the
human tragedy or social costs that success exacted.”
US tobacco market.
The company name was
“Krafted: Genetically Krafted Foods” is a national campaign changed to Altria Group Inc.
urging citizens to “let Kraft know we don't want to be part of their In 2003. This change is
experiment on the health of the American public.” Kraft is known to often viewed as a move by
be using many GMOs in their products, most famously known for Altria to minimize the
using StarLink corn (a variety that was not approved for human company’s historical
association with tobacco
consumption), in which millions of taco shells were recalled.
products.
Watch their campaign video at: http://www.thecampaign.org/kraft/

Kraft claims to value sustainability: “Sustainability is

about preserving the planet -- land, air, water and people...
Kraft is finding ways to have positive impacts on the world
we live in.”
BUT Kraft has violated America’s Clean Air Act of 1970
twice. The EPA stated in 2006 that Kraft Foods Global failed
to adequately repair a leak of ozone-depleting substances
from an industrial process refrigeration unit and failed to
conduct leak repair tests or keep required service records
for repairs of some units. Kraft Foods was also fined
$250,000 in 1993 for releasing airborne contaminants into
the atmosphere. Apparently, clean air is not really viewed
as a component of sustainability according to Kraft.
The Woman Who Runs it All
Irene Rosenfeld
Chairman and CEO
An employee of Kraft Foods for more
than twenty years, Irene was appointed
CEO in June 2006. Before this position,
Irene held the positions of Chairman and
CEO of Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo.
Most of Irene’s career has been in the
food and beverage industry.
 Related Brands: Starbucks Coffee,
Seattle’s Best, Torrefazione Italia coffee

Union-Busting but Still a Fortune “Best Company to Work

Fair Trade Offerings
Starbucks does sell Fair Trade
Certified coffee and as of 2006
claimed to be North America’s largest
purchaser of Fair Trade CertifiedTM
coffee. However, this does NOT mean
that Starbucks only sells Fair Trade
coffee. Starbucks did announce its
new initiative to double its purchases
to 40 million pounds of Fair Trade
Certified coffee in 2009, however this
is still only a very small percentage of
their total coffee (about less than
10%). Starbucks rarely offers certified
Fair Trade coffee as its coffee of the
day, no does it always follow its own
policy of brewing Fair Trade coffee on
demand. So although Starbucks offers
a Fair Trade option, does the company
seem to be supporting the Fair Trade
initiative as a corporate endeavour or
as a marketing ploy?
For?”
According to their company website, “Starbucks Coffee
Company is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.”
Listed as one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies To Work For
2008 mostly due its employee benefits and 100% health care
coverage, even for part-time employees. But it Starbucks is so
good to its workers, why is it facing union-busting charges by
the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)? And why the need
for a union in the first place? Well according to Daniel Gross
who is a lead organizer for an IWW Starbucks campaign, and
previous Starbucks barista, “The company boasts about its
health care plan but its own data reveal that it insures a lower
percentage of employees than Wal-Mart. Baristas are excluded
from care by a combination of a work hours qualification
threshold and unaffordable out-of-pocket expenses.” The
National Labor Relations Board investigated the IWW’s charges
and discovered that the company fired three pro-union
employees, filed unfair negative performance reviews against
other pro-union employees and unfairly banned workers from
wearing multiple union pins. The hearings were set to begin in
August 2007. The IWW focus is towards putting pressure on
companies like Starbucks by taking on their public image,
picketing stores, and organizing Internet campaigns. However
Gross and others at the IWW fear that winning this case will still
not render the brand undrinkable to consumers in stating that
“The unfortunate truth is that the general consumer doesn't base
his/her brand loyalty on issues like employee coercion.”

Putting Up a Fight Against Bean Name Ownership Do You Know the Coffee Man?
In backing its support of the Fair Trade coffee industry,
Starbucks claims to be committed to paying equitable Howard Schultz
prices for all of our coffee.” However, in 2006, Oxfam Chairman and CEO
claims that Starbucks asked the National Coffee
Association(NCA) to block Ethiopia’s bid to trademark two
types of coffee bean in the U.S. Ethiopia’s efforts to
trademark these beans would have given farmers a greater Fun Facts about Schultz:
•Ranked by Forbes as the 354th richest person
share of profits. Ethiopia continues its to trademark efforts
in the United States, with a net worth of $1.1
through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, yet
billion dollars.
Starbucks other members of the NCA have continued to file
•Former owner of the NBA Seattle
protests arguing the names of the coffee beans are
SuperSonics and WNBA Super Storm
generic. •Co-founder of Maveron, and investment
group
As stated in his co-authored book Pour Your
Keep track of Starbucks’ Fair Trade efforts at: Heart into It Schultz admits one of his fears:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/index.cfm "Starbucks may become another souless big
chain.” Has this come true?
 Sustainable coffee eh?
According to Tim Hortons, the firm
focuses on promoting their Sustainable
Coffee program by providing financial aid
to coffee producing communities which
supports technical training to improve the
quantity and quality of the coffee and the
coffee farmers. Since 2006, Tim
Horton’s sustainable coffee programs
have supported more than 9000 people.
BUT…Tim Horton’s does not sell organic What’s War Got To Do With It?
or Fair Trade certified coffee, and it does Opened in June 2006, Tim Hortons’
not reveal the source of the coffee franchised location at the Canadian
beans. Instead, Tim Horton’s chose to Forces operations base in Kandahar,
pursue their Sustainable Coffee Afghanistan is supposed to give the
Partnership, which is managed by the troops a little taste of home. The
third party organization EDE Consulting franchise is 40 foot trailer on the
from Hamburg, Germany. Sustainable military base and has a staff of 41.
coffee sites are located in Guatemala, All staff have been drawn from the
Columbia, and Brazil. However, Tim Canadian Forces Personnel Support
Horton’s does not reveal how much of Agency so they have been trained on
their coffee comes from these sources. what do in in the event of a nuclear or
In fact, their annual report states that biological attack on the military base.
they use “many suppliers and alternate And oh yeah, the Canadian Federal
suppliers for coffee.” government subsidizes the Kandahar
outlet for $4-5 million a year.

Tim Horton’s Children Foundation

Established in 1974, this foundation supports underprivileged children to attend and experience
summer camps throughout Canada and the US. This highly advertised program is listed as the
first corporate social responsibility act (even above Sustainable Coffee) under the Community
and Goodwill section of their website. While this program does support more than 13000 children
each year, it is essential to ask how far Tim Horton’s would go to continue and support this
foundation if it experienced a negative setback, such as a significant loss in profits. Would they
financially support it despite hard times? Or would it be shelved the moment Tim Horton’s started
to cut things from their financial statement? How can this foundation serve the organization’s
corporate social responsibility plan when the longevity of the program is in question?

Check out more about Tim Hortons at http://www.coffeehabitat.com/2007/12/tim-hortons-cof.html

 As a Montreal consumer, Van Houtte is your coffee shop that
was originally started in your city. Today, Van Houtte operates
North America wide, through its various cafe locations and at
home and work products and services.

Van Houtte offers five fair trade certified and organic

coffees. Fair trade certified and organic coffees, however,
do not make up the majority of the 35 coffees offered by
Van Houtte.

Van Houtte’s biggest downfall: Styrofoam Cups.

Most commonly known by its name Styrofoam (trademarked to
the Dow Compnay), the material that makes up Styrofoam is
called polystyrene. Polystyrene is manufactured from petroleum,
using benzene (a known human carcinogen) in its production and
is a highly flammable material. Montreal’s recycling system does
not recycle Styrofoam. Therefore all Styrofoam products are
disposed of through the garbage system, end up in a landfill and
take an incredibly long time to break down in the environment.
Paper coffee cups also cannot be recycled due to the wax
coating on them.

So what’s the solution? Bring your own travel mug!

What about the coffee?

Second Cup partnered with Plan Canada to support underprivileged
children living on coffee farms, through the sales its bottled water.
$.10 of every bottle is sent to this organization, and to date Second
Cup has donated over $1 million to support children and their
communities But what about the coffee? Second Cup’s primary
manufactured good is coffee, yet the firm is ignoring any Fair Trade
certified options for their beans. Instead, they are promoting their
expensive bottled water rather than address the coffee issue at hand.
While Second Cup’s attempt to financially support these children is
worthy to mention, the coffee bean and it’s source should be the
primary consideration and focus of this organization.
 Unions, They’re Lovin’ It?
“We respect the right of employees to associate or not to associate
with any group, as permitted by, and in accordance with,
applicable laws and regulations.” This is what McDonalds claims
anyways. In 1997, however, when 1997 workers at a McDonald’s
restaurant in St. Hubert, a suburb of Montreal, applied to join
Teamsters union, the operators of the restaurant closed the
McDonald’s. The closure happened just weeks before the union
was certified. Owners defended the closure, claiming the
restaurant was a money-loser although it had been there for 17
years. And the McDonald’s Corporation denied that it had
anything to do with the decision like any multi-national corporation
would do.

The Heart if the McDonalds Corporation...

Well It Claims to Have a Heart, But It Might Just cause Heart Disease.
McDonalds claims that, “The business of McDonald's is serving food, but the heart of
McDonald's is supporting children. This commitment is realized, in large part, through our
company's support of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC).” RMHC provide housing
(and McDonalds meals) for seriously ill children and their families by “creating, finding and
supporting programs that directly improve the health and well being of children worldwide.”
Apparently it doesn’t seem to be an issue that McDonalds is a significant player in the rising
obesity rates around the world, and the numbers of children needing medical treatment due
to obesity is continuously increasing. Although RMHC is a separate not-for-profit
organization from the McDonalds Corporation (and it makes it clear by stating “McDonald's is
not responsible for the opinions, policies, statements or practices of any other companies,
such as those that may be expressed in the web site you are entering,” when being rerouted
to the RMHC website from the McDonalds website), McDonalds likes to take a lot of credit
for its support of RMHC in its Corporate Responsibility claims. It also, apparently, doesn’t
seem to a contradictory issue that as the RMHC helps to cover the expensive costs endured
by families of children continuously in and out of hospitals, McDonalds makes sure to be
selling its greasy food in many hospitals throughout the U.S. The Texas Children's Hospital -
a hospital that is now stapling obese children's stomachs- has a McDonalds franchise in it.
Even when the Cleveland Clinic wanted to rid America's leading heart hospital of its
McDonald's, a letter was received from a McDonald's corporate vice-president, Marty Ranft,
which "defended the franchise, and vowed ... that 'McDonald's has no intention of
terminating' the remaining 10 years on its lease“.

But Ronald McDonald, a And On the Environment.

genuine representative of the
consumers? Willard Scott was the
first Ronald McDonalds but
apparently he was too fat for the job.
Ray Kroc, the initial “brains” behind
the McDonalds franchising, was
afraid of negative publicity the
company would get if Ronald looked as though he’d
been eating too much of the restaurant’s food.
Therefore, to this day you'll never see Ronald
McDonald eating the food in any ad or commercial.
Read more about the McDonalds Corporation and the Fast Food industry in Eric Schlosser’s National Bestseller,
Fast Food Nation
McDonalds states that its environmental focus has three
directions: Energy efficiency,
Sustainable Packaging & Waste Management , and
Green Restaurant Design. BUT let’s look at its impact on
the environment:
-Greenpeace launched a campaign against McDonald's,
accusing the US restaurant chain of abetting the
destruction of the Brazilian rainforest by buying meat
raised from Amazonian soya
- and more generally, McDonalds annually produces
over a million tons of packaging, used for just a few
minutes before being discarded.
 Maker of: KitKat, Aero, Coffee Crisp,
Nestea, Nescafe, Haagen-Dazs, Stouffers,
Nesquik, Carnation, Purina, Hot Pockets,
Poland Spring, Lean Cuisine, Perrier, San
Pellegrino
Corporate ownership: Nestle holds ownership of 77% of
Alcon (a global medical company specializing in eye care
products) and 30% of L’Oreal and is a joint owner (with
L’Oreal of Galderma, a Swiss pharmaceutical company.
Carnation Milk Exposed:
In the 1970s, Nestle distributed a
breast milk substitute throughout
African villages, promoting the
nutritional benefits of this substitute.
Men and women even dressed up in white suits and
dresses to resemble doctors and nurses and hand
out the substitute. However, the milk is expensive,
therefore most mothers had to dilute it with polluted
water, which indirectly caused the death of
thousands of babies. Nestle left in the 1980s when
this story was exposed to the rest of the world, yet
Nestle returned to Asia in the 1990’s and still
continue to promote the breast milk substitute in a
similar fashion. Nestle controls about 40% of the
world market in baby milks, and uses this influence
to undermine controls on ethical marketing activities.
Although Nestle adopted the International Code of
Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes in 1981, the
corporation has still been warned on several
occasions by the Advertising Standards Authority
(ASA) to not promote and advertise their milk
substitute as they did in Africa.
The Head of It All
Appointed CEO in April 2008, Mr. Bulcke
has been engrained in the Nestle
company since 1979. He has worked as
Marketing Head of Nestle divisions in
Germany, Czech Republic, Portugal and
Paul Bulcke, CEO Peru. His plan as CEO: The 2009 opening
of the Chocolate Centre of Excellence, dedicated to the
development of premium and luxury chocolate. Sounds like he
really has a handle on this “nutrition” focused company.
Academic justification?
In the 1980s, Nestle announced to the media
that their infant formula could reduce a baby’s
risk of developing allergies. Dr. Ranjit Chandra,
a supposed third party inspection, supported
these claims of Good Start. However, Nestle
paid Dr. Chandra to publish these findings. In
fact, Dr. Chandra’s work came under extreme
scrutiny when the public learned that this study
about Good Start was never even conducted.
While this study was discredited, Dr. Chandra
“research” has continued to be used by Nestle to
promote and market other product.
Misuesed Labelling:
In 2006, Dr. Lelia Srour went to Laos and
discovered another source for Nestle’s
criminal incompetence. While there, she
came across a dying mother who had 8
children, and found a Nestle product in the
woman’s house labeled with the familiar
cartoon bear. The relatives of the woman
told Dr. Srour that they were certain that this
item was intended for babies because of this
logo. However, the bottle was in fact a
“sweetened beverage creamer”. This
substance is harmful for any infant, and
could even lead to brain damage and death.
In an area of the world where illiteracy is
common, most people recognize products
due to their brands and labels. Nestle
ignores this truth and markets the product
using identical packaging. Although Nestle
has not declared any public statement about
this issue, the corporation is obviously
negligent of their marketing tactics once
again, and recklessly disregards infant’s
health.

And this isn’t the end. Discover why Nestle is one of the most boycotted corporations ever and visit:
http://www.polarisinstitute.org/files/Nestle%20October%20update.pdf
 Maker of: Almond Joy, Heath toffee bar,
Hershey Kisses, Milk Duds, Mounds, Mr.
Goodbar, Oh! Henry, Reese’s, Whoppers,
York Peppermint Pattie, Jolly Rancher,
Twizzlers, Bubble Yum, Icebreakers, Skor

Quick cocoa industry facts:

•Ivory coast of Africa produces about half of the world’s cocoa
•About 286,000 children between nine and twelve years of age have been
reported to work on cocoa farms
•These children are at a high risk of injury from machetes and of contact to
dangerous pesticides.
•They work about 80 to 100 hours a week making an insignificant salary, and
normally beaten on the premise.
•About 12,000 of those children are most likely to have arrived on the farms
through child trafficking.
•In 2001, major chocolate corporations agreed to work together to end child labor
in West African farms. BUT in 2004 this promise to end child labour was
modified to reduce child labor by 50% by 2008.

Hershey’s and M&M’s/Mars dominate this $13 billion dollar industry. The
corporations continue to deny any responsibility with these conditions of the cocoa
farms, and blame it on the farmer’s families for permitting their children to work. They
express that the only thing that they can control is a fair price, and that any injustice is
out of their control. However, companies such as Clif Bar, Cloud Line, and Newman’s
own Organic have found the way to stop the supply of their cocoa beans from farms
using child labor. It can be done; it must be stopped now.

We all have the right to know: Read this statement found on

In the early 2000s, many religious groups have
demanded Hershey to actively participate in ending
child labor in the cocoa industry. The cocoa
industry has been exposed on several accounts of
using illegal child labor to harvest the world’s cocoa.
Hershey responded to their outcry saying that they,
along with other chocolate companies, are
responding to end child labor in the cocoa farms.
The firm stated that it was planning to integrate an
industry-wide monitoring system, and that all farms
would be reviewed by Hershey. However, in 2006,
Hershey’s shareholder’s requested that Hershey
report on all of the cocoa supply sources because
they had yet to announce and prove that in fact all
beans were Fair Trade certified and that no child
labor harvested the beans.
Hershey’s website: “Hershey’s
folding cartons are primarily made
of 100% recycled materials.” Read it
again. Do you see anything a little
peculiar? Are the folding cartons
made of 100% recycled materials?
Or is it only primarily? What does
this even mean?
Jobs moving to Mexico:
In 2007, Hershey announced that about 3000 of the
total 13000 Hershey jobs in Oakdale, CA and
Hershey, PA will move to Mexico. Mexico’s
reasoning behind this corporate downsizing is due
to the fact the organization will save $190 million
annually. While Hershey provided financial stability
for hundreds of families, thousands of Americans
will now be in the search for a new job.
 Practically everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and producing bottled water
products. From Donald Trump to major corporations such as Cocoa-Cola, bottled
water is certainly a profitable product. There are little costs involved, since water is a
natural resource that falls from the sky without a price. The only major cost of
production that a company would face would be bottling and marketing expenses.

However, bottled water is far from being a smart purchase:

•Most bottling production companies, like Fiji, PepsiCo and Cocoa-Cola, are attacked
by special interests groups for pumping water from areas that suffer from droughts,
or that lack enough water to support the land and the community living there.
•86% of empty plastic water bottles in the US are thrown away instead of being
recycled.
•Bottled water is essentially a natural resource bottled in a non renewable resource
(plastic bottles)
•Most producers of bottled water use municipal tap water
•Bottled water safety testing regulations are far below those than municipal tap water

Fiji Water: Fiji Water has

made remarkable strives in
its industry to become
carbon negative, to reduce
its packaging and other
objectives. However, Fiji
water is also just tap water,
that is pumped from the
island of Fiji which
frequently suffers from
droughts and is
continuously burning fuel to
be shipped across the world
for water aficionados. Fiji
claims to be a sustainable
organization, but do the
above points sound
sustainable?
Aquafina : Aquafina labels Dasani : Dasani bottlers fill bottles
“Public Water Source” on its
with municipal tap water that has
bottle to site the origin of
been filtered through reverse
its water.
osmosis to remove all minerals and
Translation = pure tap water
then simply add a packet of a mineral
blend sold to them by Coca-Cola.
Nestle : In 2007, Nestle announced that will build a new water
bottling facility in Greenwood Indiana, where the municipal water
system is owned by the Indiana American Water company. This
company delivers to almost 272,000 customers throughout 21
counties in Indiana. However, these individual customers now must
compete with the giant Nestle for their water. Nestle, with revenues
of more than $80 billion dollars in 2006, can buy the water at a
reduced rate than everyone else and then can sell it at thousands of
times the price.

Americans spent about $11 billion on bottled water in 2006. But why spend $1.50-2.50
on a bottle of water when you could get the same water from the tap for free? The
funny thing is, people are hesitant to fill their cars up with gas at prices at $1 per litre
but have no problem spending up to $2.50 for 500 mL of water.

And if your purchase is just for the convenience factor, remember your action is not
justified by recycling. According to Earth911.com, “8 out of 10 plastic water bottles
become landfill waste.”

So what can you do? Drink tap water! Learn more about the benefits of drinking
water and who’s involved with the tap water movement at:
http://www.takebackthetap.org AND http://www.insidethebottle.org
 In 1989, a poll conducted by Business Week and Louis Harris
asked 1247 adult Americans what kind of activities they
thought business would risk in order to increase their
profits. Between 37% ad 62% of respondents said business
would do one or more of the following: harm the environment,
endanger public health, sell unsafe products, knowingly sell
inferior products, deliberately charge inflated prices, or put its
worker’s health safety at risk. Only 8% of respondents
thought that business would do none of the above to obtain
greater profits. In other words, nine out of ten Americans
believe that business will lie, deceive harm endanger, or cheat
in order to make more money.

Are you one of them?

The above quote was taken from the book Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken
Resources for a Responsible Consumer:
Responsible Shopper: www.responsibleshopper.org “Your Guide to Promoting a Responsible Economy”
What we think: A division of Co-op America, this site allows you to research numerous corporations to learn
about their policies and practices. Articles are frequently published that expose different corporations and their
various, both ethical and unethical, activities. You can join different campaigns to end corporate abuse, and also
learn about how to curve your shopping habits to be greener.
Bottom line: This is a great website if you are interested in pursuing your own research on different
corporations.
To learn more: Download “Co-Op America’s Guide to Researching Corporations”
(http://www.coopamerica.org/PDF/GuideResearchingCorps.pdf). It provides you with step by step instructions
on how to begin your own research journey, and also supplies you with tons of extra resources. Enjoy!
Business and Human Rights Centre Resource: www.business-humanrights.org “Tracking the positive and
negative impacts of over 4000 companies worldwide”
What we think: This impressive site follows, as the slogan proclaims, more than 4000 different corporations in
over 180 different countries. Not only is the material published from within this organization, but when you
search a specific firm you are also presented with recent articles from a variety of sources, thereby attempting
to diminish potential biases. While the amount of information may be a little overwhelming, it is a great site to
use to continuously follow and investigate corporations.
Bottom line: Use this website and take a corporation you are interested in to follow its impact around the world.
You will be surprised.
Corporate Critic: www.corporatecritic.org “Ethical Consumer Information Systems”
If you really want to expand your knowledge about different corporations, check out this website. As it states on
its website, Corporate Critic records and tracks over 50,000 companies using civil society data as their primary
source of data. However, you need to subscribe to the site and it is a little expensive.
Bottom line: Suppress your cheap inclinations and subscribe. It’s totally worth it.
Social Accountability International: www.sa-intl.org “Promoting the human rights of workers around the world”
What we think: SAI, founded in 1997, promotes human rights around the world through their Social
Accountability 8000 Standard, (SA8000) which is a voluntary system and tool that is used to assure and verify
humane workplaces around the world. SAI works with corporations such as Gap, consumer groups, NGOs, and
governments to audit and verify that human work’s rights are not being violated. In short, this is a great site if
you are interested in learning more about the support of human rights in the world.
Bottom line: Great website to learn about human rights.
Alonovo Intelligent Marketplace: www.alonovo.com
What we think: This is your personal online shopping center that allows you to buy products and see what kind
of corporate behaviour you are endorsing. Not only does this site provide you with links to resources about
responsible consumerism, the environment, ethics and more, but it also features companies in different
industries, such as clothing or technology, which can help you to purchase the “greener” choice.
Bottom line: We should all shop here.

The Center for Media and Democracy: www.prwatch.org

What we think: This site is dedicated to exposing corporate and government disinformation. It allows you to
easily search by topic or corporation. While mostly focusing on negative initiatives by of corporations, the site
also includes search results of good initiatives by corporations. The site has a wiki-like appearance allowing
users to easily jump to related topics for further information.
Carbon Footprint:
How big is your ecological footprint? www.myfootprint.org
What we think: Who doesn’t want to know the size of your own ecological footprint? When you begin the
quiz, it first presents you with several facts and statistics on a global scale, but then leads you to determine
your own footprint. While the questions are a bit complex, most offer links that explain the question in more
detail and helps you to learn more about the specific topic. After completing 27 questions, you can learn if
you need to reduce or (hopefully) maintain your footprint.
Bottom line: We should all know our carbon footprint, and how we personally affect the world.
To learn more about the carbon footprint, check out: www.redefiningprogress.org. After completing the quiz
and discovering your footprint, check out this website and learn about Redefining Progress, a prominent think
tank committed to use economics to create a more sustainable world. Every year since its conception,
Redefining Progress has been at the forefront of implementing and promoting sustainable policy and action.

What is Fair Trade?

The World Fair Trade Organization (name recently changed) www.ifat.org
What we think: This site also provides you with extensive resources about what is fair trade and links to other
readings about fair trade. It also provides an in-depth investigation in different regions of the world,
especially Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and how fair trade affects those areas.
Bottom line: Go to this website to really understand what fair trade means, and what products are truly fairly
traded.
To obtain the most recent list of fairly traded products, visit Fair Trade Certified at www.transfairusa.org
What we think: This is a website everyone should be familiar with. It tells you different types of products that
are fair trade certified from a variety of stores and restaurants. From Ben and Jerry’s, to Costco, to
Subway…fair trade certified products are all around and most of us do not even know it. The site also lists
the criteria for a product to be considered as free trade certified, so you know exactly how the organization
grades a given product.
Bottom line: Honestly, check it out and you will most certainly be amazed.

Your dollar supports whom?

SourceWatch: www.sourcewatch.org “Your guide to the names behind the news”
What we think: This website is definitely an eye opener. Not only does it expose different PR professionals
and firms actions into today’s media, it also examines think tanks, special interest groups, lobby groups and
more. Learn about the history of Fox news to Wal-Mart to John Kerry. With almost 40,000 articles, spend
some time here and you won’t leave the same.
Bottom line: SourceWatch does emphasize its policy of “strict referencing” unlike most Wikis, so we are pretty
sure that this site (although a bit to the left) is credible. Enjoy! We sure did.
Open Secrets: www.opensecrets.org “Center for Responsive Politics”
What we think: Although the presidential elections were almost two weeks ago, this is still a great site to
check out and learn how your money affects the elections and public policy. You can see the breakdown of
finances from all of the presidential candidates, from their source of funds to their travel expenses.
Furthermore, this site also helps you understand how money affects the government through special interests
groups and industries.
Bottom line: Impress your friends with this knowledge. We are sure that most people don’t truly understand
the effects of money on the government.
Organic food
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM): www.ifoam.org “Celebrating 35 years of
uniting the organic movement”
What we think: This is a great site to learn about the basics of being organic. You can learn how the federation’s
Organic Guarantee System (OGC) facilitates organic standardization as well as provides certification for these
standards. There are more than 750 members of IFOAM around the world, and they have a complete listing
available for your viewing pleasure.
Bottom line: Check out this website if you are ready to learn about all of the details about the fundamentals of
being organic.
To learn more: download “Principles of Organic Agriculture Preamble”
(http://www.ifoam.org/organic_facts/principles/pdfs/IFOAM_FS_Principles_forWebsite.pdf) to learn what it
really means to be organic.

Organic.org: www.organic.org “Organic made easy. Life made better.”

What we think: For the less intensive investigator, we suggest checking out this website. This site breaks down
the fundamentals of organic food. Learn about different myths of eating organic, and why we should all be
eating organically. There is also an interactive map of the states that helps you to find farmer’s markets and
stores that carry organic products. Additionally, this site provides you with product reviews for hundreds of
different items.
Bottom line: Learn from this website, stop making excuses and start buying organically.

Have some free time on your hands? Then check out these books:
The Rough Guide to Shopping with a Conscience by Duncan Clark and Richie Unterberger

Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry by John Stauber and Sheldon
Rampton

Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken

The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter by Jim Mason

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

This document contains information that reflects the opinions of the makers. It is not intended to neutral or unbiased,
however it was intended to provoke consumers to ask triggering questions regarding the corporations they support
through their spending.