tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/nestle-9196/articlesNestle – The Conversation2024-03-03T07:50:46Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2239322024-03-03T07:50:46Z2024-03-03T07:50:46ZBig companies, like Nestlé, are funding health research in South Africa - why this is wrong<p>In 2021, the director of the African Research University Alliance Centre of Excellence in Food Security at the University of Pretoria was <a href="https://www.nestle.com/media/pressreleases/allpressreleases/board-of-directors-agm-2021">appointed</a> to the board of the transnational food corporation Nestlé. </p>
<p>At the time a group of more than <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-11-23-on-board-with-nestle-academics-express-concern-over-conflicts-of-interest/">200 senior academics</a> wrote an open letter,
about conflicts of interest. Nestlé’s portfolio of foods, <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/60-of-nestles-food-portfolio-unhealthy-says-report-company-on-firefighting-mode-298388-2021-06-01">by its own admission</a>, includes more than 60% that don’t meet the definition of healthy products. </p>
<p>In December last year, the same centre announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Nestlé. It signalled their intent to “forge a transformative
partnership” to shape “the future of food and nutrition research and education” and transform “<a href="https://www.futureafrica.science/news-events/all-news/item/UP%20and%20%20Nestl%C3%A9%20forge%20a%20transformative%20partnership">Africa’s food systems</a>”. </p>
<p>This is not an isolated case. </p>
<p>Across African universities, companies with products that are harmful to health fund health-related research and education.</p>
<p>Nestlé, for example, <a href="https://www.nestle.com/about/research-development/news/expertise-sharing-african-students">“shares expertise”</a> with “eight universities in Africa”. </p>
<p>These include the Institute of Applied Science and Technology at the <a href="https://www.ug.edu.gh/news/ug-and-nestl%C3%A9-collaborate-advance-sustainable-and-affordable-%20nutrition">University of Ghana</a> and the <a href="https://www.csrs.ch/en/blog/centre-suisse-de-recherches-scientifiques-and-nestle-take-stock-their-collaboration">Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques</a> in
Côte d’Ivoire. </p>
<p>Activities funded under agreements with universities include internships, seminars and training programmes as well as sponsorships for graduate research students. </p>
<p>In South Africa, Nestlé has funded a prize in paediatrics for final year medical students at the <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/students/graduations/2022-graduations/14%20Dec%2014-30%20December_38.pdf#page=23">University of the Witwatersrand</a>. It also funds a two-year paediatric gastroenterology fellowship at <a href="https://www.nestlenutrition-institute.org/education/fellowship/stellenbosch-university">Stellenbosch University.</a></p>
<h2>Bias – even if it’s unconscious</h2>
<p>Financial links between corporations and academic institutions are well known to lead to conflicts of interest.</p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28207928/">A 2017 paper</a>, Industry sponsorship and Research Outcome, found that “industry funding leads researchers to favour corporations either consciously or unconsciously”. </p>
<p>Those advising governments and charities on dietary policy warn how “current or past financial or personal associations with interested parties make it difficult <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-016-3393-2">to distinguish subtle, unconscious bias from deliberately concealed impropriety</a>.” </p>
<p>Other research found that of 168 industry-funded studies, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/dec/12/studies-health-nutrition-sugar-coca-cola-marion-nestle">156 (93%) showed biased results</a>, all in favour of industry sponsors. </p>
<p>In 2018 around 13% of research articles published in the top 10 most-cited nutrition journals were <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33326431/">backed by and favourable to the food industry</a>. Such backing is often hidden. </p>
<h2>A growing problem</h2>
<p>The world is facing a pandemic of non-communicable diseases – hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer – all linked to the consequences of poor nutrition such as <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight">stunting and obesity</a>.</p>
<p>A 2023 Lancet commission reports that <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00590-1/fulltext">“just four industry sectors already account for at least a third of global deaths”</a>, one of which is unhealthy food. </p>
<p>These four industry sectors are expanding their markets in Africa and elsewhere in the global south where the inadequate regulation of the sales and marketing of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09581596.2021.2019681">unhealthy foods, drinks, alcohol, tobacco</a> and agrichemical products provides opportunities for corporations to exploit.</p>
<h2>Where there’s smoke …</h2>
<p>The most well-known commercial products that harm health are tobacco-related, now widely regulated to decrease harm.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7609230/">tobacco industry used many tactics to prevent their regulation</a>. They funded research and whole institutions to produce “evidence” to support the industry or sow doubt about the harmful impacts of tobacco. </p>
<p>In 2019 public health academics at the University of Cape Town in South Africa discovered that the psychiatry department had accepted funding from the <a href="https://www.pmi.com/our-transformation/delivering-a-smoke-free-future">Philip Morris Foundation for a Smoke-Free World</a>. </p>
<p>The department subsequently cancelled the contract. This followed <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2019-10-18-00-big-tobaccos-r1m-for-uct-stubbed-out/">outrage</a> from the broader university community. In 2020, the UCT Council adopted a policy <a href="https://commerce.uct.ac.za/reep/articles/2020-01-30-uct-council-adopts-policy-tobacco-funding">disallowing</a> any employee from accepting funding from the tobacco industry. </p>
<p>In another example scientific research published in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5339699/">1967</a> implicated saturated fat as the main cause of heart disease. In so <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27802504/">doing it downplayed the role of sugar</a>. It took over 40 years to uncover that this research was paid for by the sugar industry. </p>
<p>The decline in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2017.22816">research funding</a> in South Africa means that academics need to be especially vigilant. We need to protect our higher education institutions from research bias.</p>
<p>It is not enough to simply declare these interests and assume that this will eliminate the conflict of interest.</p>
<p>Instead, public health academics need to develop much more robust systems to manage conflicts of interest at all levels of academia.</p>
<p>Governance structures at universities need mechanisms to respond to initiatives which run counter to public health. </p>
<p>The Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Cape Town has called for the <a href="https://health.uct.ac.za/department-paediatrics/child-advocacy-campaigns/protect-support-and-promote-breastfeeding">end to sponsorship</a> by infant formula milk companies for education, research or policy development. </p>
<p>An online course and toolkit for research ethics committees on conflict of interest in health research provides some <a href="https://health.uct.ac.za/school-public-health/conflict-interest-health-research">practical guidance</a>.</p>
<p>These and other initiatives point the way forward for universities to be alert to the dangers of these “gift relationships” and to be better equipped to protect their integrity.</p>
<p><em>Lori Lake contributed to this article. She is a Communication and Education Specialist at the Children’s Institute, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Cape Town.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Wynberg works for the University of Cape Town, South Africa where she holds a research chair funded by the Department of Science and Innovation and National Research Foundation. She serves on the Boards of Biowatch South Africa, and the Union for Ethical BioTrade. This article is written in her personal capacity and does not represent the views of any of these organisations. No benefit will accrue to any organisation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Doherty receives funding from the South African Medical Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Tomlinson and Susan Goldstein do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Financial links between corporations and health research invariably lead to conflicts of interest.Susan Goldstein, Associate Professor in the SAMRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science - PRICELESS SA (Priority Cost Effective Lessons in Systems Strengthening South Africa), University of the WitwatersrandMark Tomlinson, Professor in the Institute for Life Course Health Research, Department of Global Health, Stellenbosch UniversityRachel Wynberg, Professor and DST/NRF Bio-economy Research Chair, University of Cape TownTanya Doherty, Professor and Chief specialist scientist, South African Medical Research CouncilLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1830162022-05-19T12:23:54Z2022-05-19T12:23:54ZBaby formula industry was primed for disaster long before key factory closed down<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464068/original/file-20220518-15-f6cjil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=211%2C125%2C4204%2C2814&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cities are trying to address the baby formula shortage with community drives.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BabyFormulaShortage/978d1f02dc1043938f71dadae095fe96/photo?Query=baby%20formula&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=263&currentItemNo=34">AP Photo/David J. Phillip</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The conditions that led to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-the-us-baby-formula-shortage-and-how-to-make-sure-it-doesnt-happen-again-182929">shortage of baby formula</a> were set in motion long before the February 2022 closure of the Similac factory <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/05/14/baby-formula-shortage-sturgis/">tipped the U.S. into a crisis</a>.</p>
<p>Retailers nationwide <a href="https://datasembly.com/news/out-of-stock-rate-in-april-2022-copy/">reported supplies of baby formula were out of stock</a> at a rate of 43% during the week ended May 8, 2022, compared with less than 5% in the first half of 2021. In some states, such as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baby-formula-shortage-rationing-national-crisis/">Texas and Tennessee</a>, shortages were over 50%, which has prompted parents to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/baby-formula-shortage-leaves-parents-scouring-country-for-supplies-11652466530">travel long distances</a> and <a href="https://www.eatthis.com/news-baby-formula-shortage-price-gouging/">pay exorbitant sums of money</a> to grab dwindling supplies of formula for their babies.</p>
<p>News that the Food and Drug Administration and Similac-maker Abbott <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/health/baby-formula-shortage-fda.html">have reached a deal</a> to reopen the formula factory in Sturgis, Michigan, is welcome news for desperate parents, but it will do little to alleviate the shortage anytime soon. This is in no small part because of the very nature of America’s baby formula industry.</p>
<p>I <a href="https://ilitchbusiness.wayne.edu/profile/dx7877">research and teach supply chain management</a>, with a special focus on the health care industry. The closure of the Similac factory may have lit the fuse for the nationwide shortage, but a combination of government policy, industry market concentration and supply chain issues supplied the powder. </p>
<h2>What prompted the baby formula shortage</h2>
<p>On Feb. 17, Abbott <a href="https://www.similacrecall.com/us/en/home.html">initiated a voluntary recall</a> after <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/recalls/article258913143.html">four infants</a> were hospitalized with infections from the bacteria <em>Cronobacter sakazakii</em> – two of them died – after consuming baby formula manufactured in their Sturgis facility. The factory was also shut down.</p>
<p>The FDA has identified no new cases but has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/05/14/baby-formula-shortage-sturgis/">not yet approved reopening</a> the Sturgis facility, which is responsible for about half of Abbott’s U.S. supply. Abbott said it <a href="https://abbott.mediaroom.com/2022-05-16-Abbott-Enters-into-Consent-Decree-with-U-S-Food-and-Drug-Administration-for-its-Sturgis,-Mich-,-Plant-Agreement-Creates-Pathway-to-Reopen-Facility">entered into a consent decree</a> with the FDA that paves the way to reopening the facility once certain conditions are met. </p>
<p>Shortages of baby formula have led major U.S. retailers including Target, CVS, Walgreens and Kroger to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/baby-formula-shortage-forces-cvs-health-limit-purchases-2022-05-10/">restrict the amount of formula</a> a consumer may purchase. These shortages <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/05/18/baby-formula-shortage-impact/">are disproportionately hurting low-income families</a> and those who do not have the resources to travel long distances to find alternative sources of baby formula. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Shelves at a a grocery store are mostly bare with a small number of baby formula packages here and there" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464118/original/file-20220518-19-fb0u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464118/original/file-20220518-19-fb0u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464118/original/file-20220518-19-fb0u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464118/original/file-20220518-19-fb0u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464118/original/file-20220518-19-fb0u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464118/original/file-20220518-19-fb0u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464118/original/file-20220518-19-fb0u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baby formula is in short supply across the U.S.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BabyFormulaShortage/c7645da15acb467ba6b2bf3c6a588f82/photo?Query=baby%20formula&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=265&currentItemNo=105">AP Photo/Michael Conroy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Government-created monopolies</h2>
<p>The root of the problem begins with a concentration of production. </p>
<p>Two companies – Abbott and Reckitt Benckiser, which makes Enfamil – <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/baby-formula-shortage-could-last-months-11652371827?mod=hp_lead_pos3/">dominate the industry with about 80% of the U.S. market</a>. Nestlé, which sells baby formula in the U.S. under its Gerber brand, controls another 10%. </p>
<p>Part of the reason these companies are so entrenched in their position is that Abbott, Reckitt and Nestlé <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2011/september/infant-formula-market/">are the only makers approved</a> by the U.S. government to provide baby formula through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic">known as WIC</a>, which provides supplemental food to low-income families. </p>
<p>WIC, which <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2004/september/sharing-the-economic-burden-who-pays-for-wic-s-infant-formula/#:%7E:text=Taxpayers%20alone%2C%20however%2C%20do%20not,formula%20purchased%20by%20WIC%20participants.">reimburses companies at 15%</a> of the wholesale cost, <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2011/september/infant-formula-market/">is responsible for 92%</a> of supermarket sales of milk-based powder formula in 12-to 16-ounce containers and 51% of all sales in other sizes. </p>
<p>The federal government provides WIC grants to each state, which then contracts with one of the three companies. While WIC is a critical program to feed the most vulnerable, government support of this program has the unintended consequence of creating a de facto monopoly in each state.</p>
<p>The amount of WIC funding to these three established companies makes it difficult for any startup to make significant inroads in the baby formula industry. There is little chance they can capture the market share necessary to justify a significant investment. Since only a handful of manufacturing facilities are approved for production of baby formula in the U.S., <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/02/silicon-valley-is-eyeing-the-giant-market-for-infant-formula.html">startups don’t have the volume</a> required to produce in these facilities. </p>
<h2>Import restrictions</h2>
<p>Another reason for the intense concentration is import controls.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/12/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-additional-steps-to-address-infant-formula-shortage/">About 98% of the formula consumed</a> in the U.S. is produced domestically, whether by a U.S. or international company. While facilities abroad such as those in Mexico, Chile, Ireland and the Netherlands meet the FDA’s nutrition standards, a <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1097/MPG.0000000000002395">failure to meet its labeling guidelines</a> prevents them from exporting to the U.S. As a result, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/parenting/baby/european-formula.html">some consumers order unapproved formula</a> over the internet from Europe and elsewhere, which may then be confiscated at the border. </p>
<p>International manufactures also face high tariffs, which <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/protectionism-red-tape-hinder-baby-formula-resupply-analysts-say">can be as high as 17.5%</a> depending on volume. That’s one reason Canadian producers, which are subsidized by their government, <a href="https://www.freightwaves.com/news/protectionism-red-tape-hinder-baby-formula-resupply-analysts-say">have mostly steered clear</a> of the U.S. market. And the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, which came into force in 2020, included a provision that made it even harder for Canada to ship baby formula south in an effort to protect domestic producers. </p>
<h2>‘Lean’ supply chains</h2>
<p>The pandemic-related problems that have beleaguered global supply chains have also played a role. </p>
<p>Like in other industries, baby formula makers have long tried to make their supply chains as “lean” and efficient as possible. That means they aimed to minimize the amount of time baby formula spent sitting – unprofitably – on warehouse shelves and send the goods from factory to retailer as quickly as possible. The problem is that when there’s a surge in demand or a drop in supply, shortages can result. The leaner the supply chain, the larger the potential disruption. </p>
<p>The WIC program also encourages a lean supply chain because <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2004/september/sharing-the-economic-burden-who-pays-for-wic-s-infant-formula/#:%7E:text=Taxpayers%20alone%2C%20however%2C%20do%20not,formula%20purchased%20by%20WIC%20participants.">it reimburses just 15%</a> of the wholesale price. The huge volume means the companies can still be profitable, but the lower margins per sale encourage them to keep a very efficient supply chain.</p>
<p>In March 2020, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/baby-formula-shortage-abbott-recall/629828/">formula sales surged</a> as people stockpiled pretty much everything. But that led sales to drop as parents worked through all that extra formula. That prompted makers to reduce production. And now in 2022, demand jumped again, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-important-steps-improve-supply-infant-and-specialty-formula-products">especially after reports spread</a> of the Similac recall. And with demand soaring and supply down significantly because of the Sturgis plant’s closure, shortages were inevitable.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a white lab coat and wearing a black mask holds a bottle of frozen breast milk in a big clear bottle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464115/original/file-20220518-25-knccop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464115/original/file-20220518-25-knccop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464115/original/file-20220518-25-knccop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464115/original/file-20220518-25-knccop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464115/original/file-20220518-25-knccop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464115/original/file-20220518-25-knccop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464115/original/file-20220518-25-knccop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Milk banks are trying to ease the formula shortage by distributing frozen milk donated by lactating mothers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BabyFormulaShortage/a37d842efd3c4a399e7604b62971dbee/photo?Query=baby%20formula&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=265&currentItemNo=42">AP Photo/David Zalubowski</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shortage is far from over</h2>
<p>Both the Biden administration and companies have announced a variety of measures to end the shortage. </p>
<p>Some companies, such as Reckitt, say they <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/baby-formula-shortage-forces-cvs-health-limit-purchases-2022-05-10/">have stepped up production</a> and are running factories <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-baby-formula-shortage-11652188230?mod=article_inline">seven days a week</a> to get more formula to stores. </p>
<p>The FDA is expected to soon announce the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/12/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-additional-steps-to-address-infant-formula-shortage/">loosening of import rules</a> for baby formula, and some states are allowing WIC recipients to use their rebates to buy formula from companies other than the one on the contract. Abbott has already agreed to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/05/14/baby-formula-shortage-sturgis/">honor rebates</a> for competitor products in states where they have WIC contracts. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/baby-formula-shortage-forces-cvs-health-limit-purchases-2022-05-10/">Abbott</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-17/nestle-ships-baby-formula-to-us-from-europe-to-help-shortage">Nestlé</a> are also speeding up shipments from their FDA-approved facilities overseas. </p>
<p>The best way to end the shortage – getting the Sturgis plant online and its formula on retail shelves – <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90751300/baby-formula-shortage-panic-buying">will take two months</a>.</p>
<p>Ultimately, preventing this kind of situation from happening again will require changes to government policy and business practices. I believe the government’s de facto monopolies should be opened up to more competition. And formula makers may just have to accept a little less profit from supply chain efficiencies as a cost of doing business – and as a way to ensure families won’t again be faced with the loss of a product so vital to their babies’ survival.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183016/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Ketels does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The closure of a factory in Michigan is the incident that put new parents across the US on edge, but the real causes for the shortage of baby formula are many years in the making.Kevin Ketels, Assistant Professor, Teaching, Global Supply Chain Management, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1703152021-10-26T14:25:28Z2021-10-26T14:25:28ZChild slavery in West Africa: understanding cocoa farming is key to ending the practice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427758/original/file-20211021-27-1c1zyp6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cocoa farming in West Africa is tinged with socio-cultural activities that are misunderstood by the West</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cocoa_farmers_during_harvest.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2000 and 2001, the use of child slaves on cocoa farms in West Africa was exposed in a series of <a href="https://www.truevisiontv.com/films/slavery-a-global-investigation">documentaries</a> and pieces of <a href="http://vision.ucsd.edu/%7Ekbranson/stopchocolateslavery/newsandinformation.html">investigative journalism</a>, sparking an international outcry .</p>
<p>This series of events was far from unprecedented. </p>
<p>As discussed in my <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-816">paper</a>, since the 19th century, when cocoa was first introduced to Africa (and despite the formal abolition of domestic slavery in the region), cocoa farming in West Africa has been linked to narratives of slavery and ensuing protests from chocolate consumers in Europe and America.</p>
<p>As recently as the early 20th century, the Portuguese were importing slaves into São Tomé and Príncipe to work on cocoa farms. This process was described by the British journalist <a href="https://www.ohioswallow.com/extras/0821416251_sample.pdf">Henry Woodd Nevinson</a> , who had been funded by Harper’s Magazine to investigate rumours of slave labour in cocoa plantations. On reaching São Tomé or Príncipe, each slave was asked whether they were willing to work there. Nevinson reported:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In most cases no answer was given. If any answer was made, no attention was paid to it. A contract was then drawn out for five years’ labour.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This allowed both the Portuguese and chocolate producers in Europe to argue that the workers were contracted labourers rather than slaves. However, the “contracts” produced were meaningless, as the slaves were not permitted to leave the plantations for five years.</p>
<p>Some things have changed since then. Modern slavery primarily involves the trafficking of children, who are treated as a “disposable” source of labour. However, some things remain the same. Cocoa buyers and chocolate manufacturers still use various strategies to deny, deflect and divert when the issue of child slavery is raised. </p>
<h2>Modern Slavery and chocolate manufacturers</h2>
<p>After the practice was exposed in the 2000 documentary <a href="http://www.endslaverynow.org/act/action-library/watch-slavery-a-global-investigation">Slavery: A Global Investigation</a>, the chocolate industry initially denied that trafficked children were involved in cocoa farming. In response, civil society groups in chocolate-consuming countries launched a campaign calling for the elimination of child slavery in the cocoa industry. </p>
<p>The campaign was particularly successful in the US due to its unique history of slavery. It led a US representative, Elliot Engel, to introduce <a href="https://www.slavefreechocolate.org/harkin-engel-protocol">legislation</a> requiring chocolate firms in the US to label their products “slave free” to prove that no child slaves were involved in their supply chains. </p>
<p>Chocolate companies first responded by hiring professional lobbyists to prevent the passage of the <a href="https://laborrights.org/sites/default/files/publications-and-resources/Cocoa%20Protocol%20Success%20or%20Failure%20June%202008.pdf">“slave free” legislation</a> in the US Senate due to the legal implication of such a label.</p>
<p>Subsequently, conceding that child slavery might actually exist in their supply chains, the companies took a different approach. They teamed up with various stakeholders to create the <a href="https://www.slavefreechocolate.org/harkin-engel-protocol">Harkin–Engel Protocol</a> , which effectively quelled the 2000–2001 campaign. But this was a tactics.</p>
<p>The Harkin–Engel Protocol set out six date-specific actions that were supposed to lead to the establishment of an industry-wide standard for product certification on July 1, 2005. However, the deadline was extended to 2008 and then to 2010. After 2010, the protocol was basically abandoned. </p>
<p>Following the missed deadline in 2005, some US campaigners turned to the courts, sponsoring former slaves to sue multinational chocolate companies directly. However, all hope of winning these cases was lost in June 2021, when the US Supreme Court <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57522186">determined</a> that companies such as Nestlé and Cargill could not be sued for child slavery in their supply chains . </p>
<p>The campaigners were at a clear disadvantage compared with the chocolate makers, not least because they did not fully understand the root causes of child slavery in cocoa farming in West Africa.</p>
<h2>The causes</h2>
<p>The issue of child slavery in cocoa farming in West Africa has been only superficially addressed in the literature. Survey and survey-type studies have sought to determine the extent of child slavery (and child labour) in West African cocoa farming, but they have failed to consider its causes. </p>
<p>An example is a series of <a href="https://cocoainitiative.org/knowledge-centre-post/survey-on-child-labour-in-ghana-and-cote-divoire/">field surveys</a> conducted by Tulane University to ascertain the prevalence of the worst forms of child labour in cocoa farming in Ghana and Ivory Coast. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, investigative reports and televised documentaries have painted merely a qualitative picture of the phenomenon. An example is the 2010 documentary <a href="https://www.slavefreechocolate.org/dark-side-of-chocolate">The Dark Side of Chocolate </a>. This sought to provide visual evidence of child slavery in cocoa production in West Africa. Representatives of the chocolate industry declined both requests for interviews and invitations to watch the film. </p>
<p>The filmmaker, Miki Mistrati, broadcast the documentary on a large screen next to Nestlé’s headquarters in Switzerland , <a href="https://www.fawco.org/global-issues/human-rights/ending-violence-against-women-a-children/3008-the-dark-side-of-chocolate-child-labor-in-the-chocolate-industry">making it difficult</a> for employees to avoid catching glimpses of child slavery in the company’s supply chain.</p>
<p>Scholars, journalists and filmmakers addressing the topic of child slavery in West African cocoa farming have thus far failed to engage with the history of cocoa farming and the evolution of the process of cocoa cultivation.</p>
<p>Properly engaging with this history would help anti-child slavery campaigners understand what exactly they are fighting against. The conditions that created a demand for cheaper sources of labour in the past are still in place today, and nobody understands them better than chocolate multinationals.</p>
<p>This has been the subject of <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-816">my research</a>.</p>
<p>These conditions arise from changes in the ratio of labour to land needed to continue cultivating cocoa. The availability of forestland is the decisive factor. </p>
<p>Cocoa farming once involved the consecutive phases of boom and bust, followed by a shift to a new forest area (production shift), a different product in the same area (diversification) or a different system of cocoa cultivation requiring extra production factors. <a href="https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20056705004">Studies</a> of cocoa cultivation in West Africa have provided evidence of planters’ migrating to new forest after exhausting existing forestland, resulting in shifts in production centres within and between countries. </p>
<p>However, accessing new forestland is becoming ever more difficult, and far more labour is needed to replant cocoa than to plant on pioneer forest soil. </p>
<p>This labour problem is particularly pronounced in cocoa cultivation areas that depended on migrant labour in the past (such as Ivory Coast). Here, a reduction in migration over time, coupled with deforestation, has resulted in a labour crisis: although post-forest cultivation requires more labour than pioneer planting, less labour is now available. To continue cultivating cocoa, planters in these areas have turned to cheaper sources of labour, such as family members and children. </p>
<p>This change in labour relations seems to have led to an increase in child slave labour. </p>
<h2>Investing time</h2>
<p>Chocolate producers such as Mars and Nestlé are well aware of the labour problem in cocoa cultivation. Historically, this problem has led to diversification: when cocoa has become difficult to cultivate, planters have turned to other products. Although such diversification may be good for farming communities, it spells bad news for buyers of the raw material. This has led to multinationals intervening under the banner of sustainability to prevent diversification away from cocoa. Their <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323568630_Sustainability_winners_and_losers_in_business-biased_cocoa_sustainability_programmes_in_West_Africa">“sustainability” programmes</a> are ostensibly designed to combat child labour, slavery or trafficking or labour. They are, however, in fact productivity-boosting programmes with token anti-slavery components.</p>
<p>It is no longer sufficient merely to show that child slavery exists in cocoa farming in West Africa. To have any chance of combating these practices, campaigners must invest time and effort to truly understand the processes and conditions that create them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170315/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael E Odijie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cocoa buyers and chocolate manufacturers still use various strategies to deflect when the issue of child slavery is raisedMichael E Odijie, Research associate, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1597712021-06-14T12:24:51Z2021-06-14T12:24:51ZNew technologies claiming to copy human milk reuse old marketing tactics to sell baby formula and undermine breastfeeding<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401396/original/file-20210518-23-ss0njf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C15%2C5099%2C3397&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Despite claims to the contrary, the real thing cannot be replicated.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mixed-race-mother-nursing-newborn-baby-royalty-free-image/601801509">Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>New products that <a href="https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2020/12/17/TurtleTree-Labs-raises-6.2m-to-support-cell-cultured-milk-platform">claim to replicate mother’s milk</a> have entered the lucrative market for infant formula. </p>
<p>To an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0VycH7AAAAAJ&hl=en">anthropologist and public health scholar</a> who studies breastfeeding, these claims appear to be built on old patterns of misleading scientific statements – and reveal the power of marketing to exploit gaps created by inadequate societal support for breastfeeding. </p>
<p>The costs of undermining breastfeeding are enormous. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01024-7">Globally, over 823,000 child deaths</a> could be prevented annually with appropriate breastfeeding. Additionally, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01024-7">20,000 maternal deaths</a> could be averted each year worldwide from breast cancer. Poor communities of color around the world disproportionately shoulder this harm.</p>
<h2>The rise of commercial formula</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Breastfeeding-New-Anthropological-Approaches/Tomori-Palmquist-Quinn/p/book/9781138502871">Throughout most of history and across cultures</a>, communities understood that breastfeeding ensured the best chance for infants to survive and thrive. Breastfeeding continued, on average, <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.4324/9781315145129-10">from two to four years</a>, with caregivers introducing new foods while continuing to breastfeed.</p>
<p>Attempts to fully replace human milk, <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030273927">usually with animal milk and gruels</a>, were relatively rare. Such attempts were most common when mothers were ill or dead, and caregivers couldn’t locate a lactating woman. <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030273927">Compared with breastfeeding, replacement feeding reduced babies’ chances of survival</a>.</p>
<p>Efforts to mimic breast milk <a href="https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0655.htm">escalated with the rise of scientific thinking and industrial capitalism</a> in Europe and the U.S. in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Mass migration to urban centers eroded community support – and poor labor conditions made breastfeeding challenging. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405394/original/file-20210609-14833-1th1a61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Old advertisement for Nestlé formula with lead text that reads 'Don't Wait Too Long Before You Wean the Baby.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405394/original/file-20210609-14833-1th1a61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405394/original/file-20210609-14833-1th1a61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405394/original/file-20210609-14833-1th1a61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405394/original/file-20210609-14833-1th1a61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405394/original/file-20210609-14833-1th1a61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405394/original/file-20210609-14833-1th1a61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405394/original/file-20210609-14833-1th1a61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nestlé advertisement, 1911.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.aims.org.uk/journal/item/nestle">Nestlé</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the first commercial milk formula <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300188127/milk">patented in 1865 by Justus von Liebig</a>, formula-makers drew on science to gain the trust of medical providers and <a href="https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0655.htm">argue their products were as good as</a> – or even superior to – human milk. A study prepared for and published by Nestlé in 1878 <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300188127/milk">asserted that mother’s milk was deficient in key nutrients</a> and infants aged 6 to 8 weeks already required supplementation – with Nestlé’s food.</p>
<p>Physicians often claimed to support breastfeeding while undermining it in practice with poor advice and an increasing focus on formula feeding. Pioneering American pediatrician Emmett Holt advocated <a href="https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0655.htm">his own method of making formula</a>. <a href="https://archive.org/details/carefeedingof00holt/page/20/mode/2up">In his bestselling book, first published in 1894</a>, Holt claimed infants could be harmed by mother’s milk that was corrupted by emotion. Holt also advised mothers to schedule brief breastfeeding sessions and limit physical contact. Such advice <a href="https://dro.dur.ac.uk/26620/1/26620.pdf">impeded the physiology of breastfeeding</a>, which relies on frequent, responsive feedings and close contact – and contributed to growing reliance on supplementation with formula. </p>
<p>Physicians ultimately <a href="https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0655.htm">incorporated formula into their routine medical practices</a> and institutionalized them in <a href="https://history.wisc.edu/publications/brought-to-bed-childbearing-in-america-1750-1950/">hospital childbirth protocols</a>. </p>
<h2>Global spread</h2>
<p>In the first half of the 20th century, colonial administrations spread these new “scientific” infant care norms and products around the globe. They saw bottle-feeding as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/121.4.1196">solution to infant mortality, disease and malnutrition</a> – and ultimately as an answer to labor shortages in the colonies. </p>
<p>In the 1950s, Nestlé used marketing techniques perfected in Europe to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03086534.2020.1816624">dramatically expand its market in Africa</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/121.4.1196">Asia and other parts of the world</a>. The growing number of infant deaths associated with the use of these products drew international attention and ultimately led to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/121.4.1196">Nestlé boycott in 1977</a>. </p>
<p>Nestlé’s practices were not unique among formula-makers. Growing concerns about the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-4887.1972.tb04042.x">role of inappropriate marketing practices</a> in declining breastfeeding rates and infant illness and death led to the development of the <a href="https://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/code_english.pdf">International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes</a>, which was adopted by the World Health Assembly 40 years ago, in 1981. The U.S. was the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2011-301299">only nation that voted against it</a>, driven by formula lobbying efforts.</p>
<h2>Milking profits</h2>
<p>In the 1950s through the 1970s, multiple social movements fueled <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2080604">increased interest in breastfeeding in the U.S.</a>. Medical experts supported these movements with a growing body of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/121.4.1196">scientific research demonstrating the importance of breastfeeding for infant, child and maternal health</a>. But despite <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01024-7">significant gains in breastfeeding</a> in some settings, like the U.S., the formula industry <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01044-2">continues to expand</a>. </p>
<p>Between 2005 and 2019, global <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13097">formula sales increased 121%</a>, led by middle-income countries. The global industry is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13097">currently valued at US$50.6 billion</a> and <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/01/29/2166545/0/en/Global-Infant-Formula-Market-Size-Will-Reach-USD-110-26-Billion-by-2026-Facts-Factors.html">projected to double by 2026</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401411/original/file-20210518-15-emjp6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman stands in front of a massive grocery store display of infant formula." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401411/original/file-20210518-15-emjp6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401411/original/file-20210518-15-emjp6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401411/original/file-20210518-15-emjp6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401411/original/file-20210518-15-emjp6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401411/original/file-20210518-15-emjp6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401411/original/file-20210518-15-emjp6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401411/original/file-20210518-15-emjp6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Infant formula is big business.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/rear-view-of-young-asian-mother-groceries-shopping-royalty-free-image/1255253039">d3sign/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Formula-makers devote <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13097">billions of dollars each year to marketing</a> that co-opts scientific and medical authority and <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240006010">undermines breastfeeding globally</a>. These marketing practices have <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240006010">continued to defy the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes</a>. </p>
<p>As in the 19th century, <a href="https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-practice/our-featured-reports/dont-push-it">formula marketing</a> still <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-020-00597-w">presents breastfeeding as an inherently problematic</a>, unreliable process to which formula provides the solution. </p>
<p>Yet most breastfeeding challenges, like the perception of insufficient milk and the difficulties faced by lactating workers, are the product of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01044-2">structural and social conditions</a> that can be addressed by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01044-2">investing in policies</a> that provide quality perinatal care, skilled breastfeeding support, parental leave and workplace accommodations for lactating parents. </p>
<h2>More than a food</h2>
<p>Formula companies focus on human milk as the only important element of breastfeeding – and claim near equivalence between their product and human milk. Yet human milk is a living, life-sustaining substance with a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Breastfeeding-New-Anthropological-Approaches/Tomori-Palmquist-Quinn/p/book/9781138502871">long evolutionary history and cultural meaning</a>. </p>
<p>Human milk is <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/milk">specific to our species</a>. It is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23564">dynamic and adaptive</a> – ever-changing in response to local environments. Human milk contains <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23564">bioactive compounds</a> and has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.22994">a unique microbiome that varies by setting and over time</a>. New technology, including <a href="https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2020/12/17/TurtleTree-Labs-raises-6.2m-to-support-cell-cultured-milk-platform">the culturing of human cells</a>, cannot replicate any of this. </p>
<p>Through complex interactions among mothers, infants and their communities, breastfeeding provides infants with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01024-7">optimal nutrition and protection from infectious disease</a>. Across cultures, lactation and human milk create <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Breastfeeding-New-Anthropological-Approaches/Tomori-Palmquist-Quinn/p/book/9781138502871">relationships that bind families</a> and communities together. </p>
<p>Families need accurate information free of commercial influence to make informed decisions about breastfeeding. I believe when lactation is not possible or desired, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30402-4">families could benefit</a> from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0890334419850820">donor human milk</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01044-2">Government investment in policies</a> that protect, promote and support breastfeeding remains key to creating an environment in which breastfeeding can thrive.</p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cecília Tomori has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, US Health Resources & Services Administration, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Michigan.</span></em></p>Around the globe, 823,000 child deaths could be prevented annually with appropriate breastfeeding. Formula makers continue to defy a 40-year-old international code on marketing their product.Cecília Tomori, Associate Professor and Director of Global Public Health and Community Health, Johns Hopkins University School of NursingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1573832021-03-19T13:52:53Z2021-03-19T13:52:53ZDanone’s CEO has been ousted for being progressive – blame society not activist shareholders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390395/original/file-20210318-21-p9ywue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mmmmmm. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/los-angeles-california-usa-12-june-1425790226">Il.studio</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Danone’s chief executive and chairman, Emmanuel Faber, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-danone-management-idUSKBN2B60PN">is to step down</a> after activist shareholders called for his removal. In particular Artisan Partners and Bluebell Capital Partners, which together <a href="https://www.just-food.com/news/us-investor-artisan-partners-return-to-attack-on-danone_id145285.aspx#:%7E:text=In%20a%20letter%20to%20the,both%20currently%20held%20by%20Faber%2C">own less than 6%</a> of the Paris-based food giant, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-danone-m-a-bluebell-idUSKBN29N1VL">explicit requested</a> the board find a replacement.</p>
<p>They <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2df158fb-357a-499a-b51c-025b4f1d5c97">blame Faber</a> for “a combination of poor operational record and questionable capital allocation choices”. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2df158fb-357a-499a-b51c-025b4f1d5c97">Bluebell</a> said that Faber’s Danone “did not manage to strike the right balance between shareholder value creation and sustainability”. </p>
<p>It was well known that for the chief executive of Danone, whose brands include Actimel, Alpro and Evian, the goal was to balance purpose with profit. “<a href="https://fortune.com/2020/07/07/for-danones-ceo-stakeholder-capitalism-is-a-fact/">Stakeholder Capitalism is a Fact</a>” was the title of a Fortune Magazine article published about him in July 2020. This was encapsulated in Danone’s logo, with a child looking up at a star next to the strapline, “One Planet. One Health”.</p>
<p>Unfortunately Danone’s share performance has been very weak compared to rivals Nestlé and Unilever. Danone is perceived to have cared more about people, the planet and social responsibility than its shareholders, and Faber is paying the price. If we measure a strategy’s success by the extent to which the shareholders accept it, “One Planet. One Health” has been a failure.</p>
<p>To many <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/content/?keywords=danone%20stakeholder%20capitalism%20&origin=CLUSTER_EXPANSION">it seems unfair</a> that old-fashioned capitalism, targeting short-term gains, has been defeated here by the idea of a new form of stakeholder capitalism in which companies pursue the interests of employees, society and future generations, at the expense of investors. They are partly right but partly wrong, and even insofar as they are right they are blaming the wrong people. Let me explain. </p>
<h2>Shareholders and the long term</h2>
<p>Doing what shareholders want is not incompatible with other stakeholders – rather, the opposite. Long-term shareholders are more long-termist than any other stakeholders in an organisation. Customers can take their business elsewhere; employees can change jobs when they do not share the company’s values. </p>
<p>Yes, there are so-called “short-term” shareholders. But they are not the majority of pension funds and mutual funds who hold most publicly traded shares and want to preserve the long-term value of a company. </p>
<p>Even institutions focused on short-term gains require stupid investors on the other side. If Artisan wants to hold Danone’s stock for just months, it will have to sell to someone. And if the stock has been inflated via a short-termist strategy, who will buy it?</p>
<p><strong>Food giants’ share performance</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390404/original/file-20210318-13-1y0c67b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390404/original/file-20210318-13-1y0c67b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390404/original/file-20210318-13-1y0c67b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390404/original/file-20210318-13-1y0c67b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390404/original/file-20210318-13-1y0c67b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390404/original/file-20210318-13-1y0c67b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390404/original/file-20210318-13-1y0c67b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Danone = blue, Nestlé = orange, Unilever = turquoise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://uk.tradingview.com/chart/UajHAaVc/">Trading View</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is worth reflecting on Nestlé here. In July 2018, activist shareholder Daniel Loeb from US investor Third Point Management sent an <a href="https://www.10xebitda.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Third-Point-Nestl%C3%A9-Presentation-July-2018.pdf">angry letter</a> to Nestlé’s chief executive, Mark Schneider, following a similarly dismal share performance. </p>
<p>Schneider, a newcomer to the largest consumer goods company in the world, had implemented a strategy based on diversifying away from Nestlé’s traditional business of coffee and chocolate into health science. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nestle-thirdpoint-loeb-analysis-idUSKBN1JS2P8">Third Point wanted</a> Nestlé to sell off certain businesses, while arguing that it should take on more debt to take advantage of low interest rates. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390401/original/file-20210318-21-7upzuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Nestle logo with an ice cream" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390401/original/file-20210318-21-7upzuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390401/original/file-20210318-21-7upzuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390401/original/file-20210318-21-7upzuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390401/original/file-20210318-21-7upzuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390401/original/file-20210318-21-7upzuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390401/original/file-20210318-21-7upzuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390401/original/file-20210318-21-7upzuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nestle’s CEO changed tack to avoid being wafered.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/logstor-denmark-august-23-2017-nestle-1034893138">ricochet64</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.euronews.com/2019/02/21/hedge-fund-third-point-praises-nestle-chief-in-letter-to-investors">Schneider complied</a> with this supposedly short-termist plan, and the share price has risen 32% since July 2018. In contrast, Danone is down 2% over the period, while Unilever has only gone up 3%. Today everybody at Nestlé, <a href="https://www.flagstaffbusinessnews.com/employees-love-working-nestle-purina/">including customers and employees</a>, is extremely happy with the changes imposed by Third Point. Seen in this light, perhaps we should be congratulating Danone’s activist shareholders. </p>
<h2>Sustainability</h2>
<p>If you want to do more for other stakeholders, such as future generations, the underlying problem is the rules of governance. They <a href="https://www.begbies-traynorgroup.com/articles/director-advice/understanding-a-company-directors-fiduciary-duties-and-consequences-of-failing-these-duties">stipulate that</a> shareholders’ interests must be given top priority by company directors. I remember an executive summit in Copenhagen a couple of years ago where the chief executive of a top European company, replying to concerns about the firm’s environmental policy, candidly said that if he made it greener, “my profit margin would fall 3% per year, my stock price would fall 15%, and I would get fired”. </p>
<p>Stakeholder capitalism ultimately needs enforced by politicians, and politicians are chosen by people. If western democracies are mostly run by political parties fostering traditional capitalism, it is our fault – it is because most people do not want to be sustainable.</p>
<p>Danone is not the last company whose shareholders are going to rebel when the company does not create value for them. If we want a new form of capitalism, but expect executives to change the system without politicians changing national and international regulation, we have two choices.</p>
<p>The first is that companies cater to different shareholders: if you want to have a higher purpose than profit, appeal to investors who are willing to lose money to preserve society and the environment. </p>
<p>Incidentally, don’t kid yourself that you can rely instead on investment giants like Blackrock who run index funds that exclude companies that don’t meet criteria around sustainability, while <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/17/stakeholder-capitalism-set-to-become-more-and-more-important-says-blackrocks-fink.html">claiming that</a> stakeholder capitalists will be the winners of the future. </p>
<p>These institutions manage other people’s money, and transfer the burden of sustainability to the ultimate holders of the shares. Shareholders in the new capitalism will be those willing to sacrifice personal financial gains for a social benefit. Are you one of them?</p>
<p>The second choice is to rely on innovative executives to come up with new business models that find a way to generate shareholder returns while being sustainable. This is not easy. Most business models that I see either impose the cost of sustainability on shareholders by achieving lower returns, or on suppliers by paying them less, or on customers in the form of higher prices. </p>
<p>Only a few create truly sustainable business models. For example <a href="https://www.vestergaard.com/">Vestergaard</a>, a Swiss-headquartered company, patented a product to provide clean water to rural populations in Africa which was financed by selling carbon credits. <a href="https://hbr.org/2014/10/capture-more-value">In such a model</a> customers, users, suppliers, owners and government authorities won. A chief executive running a business like that should be safe from being removed for caring too much about sustainability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arturo Bris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Emmanuel Faber was trying to pursue a form of stakeholder capitalism.Arturo Bris, Professor of Finance, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1501782020-11-18T18:55:18Z2020-11-18T18:55:18ZRenaming of Red Skins and Chicos is a shaky step towards leaving discriminatory ideas in the past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369961/original/file-20201118-21-d88237.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1914%2C1434&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nestle</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, it was announced two types of Allen’s lollies, Red Skins and Chicos, will be known from January 2021 as Red Ripper and Cheekies.</p>
<p>The Swiss-headquartered Nestle Corporation decided the original names did not express their brand values, presumably because of the racist connotations of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/07/03/redskins-name-change/">redskins</a> (Native Americans) and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/23/red-skins-and-chicos-sweets-to-be-renamed-with-nestle-calling-brands-out-of-step">chicos</a> (Latin Americans).</p>
<p>But don’t be surprised if the Nestle marketing department requests a further name change. As the Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8955597/Outrage-Allens-non-racist-lollies-Redskins-named-serial-killer.html">reported</a>, “Red Ripper” was the moniker of a notorious Soviet criminal, Andrei Chikatilo, responsible between 1978 and 1990 for the violent deaths of 52 women, some of whom he ripped apart. </p>
<h2>Haven’t you heard of Google?</h2>
<p>Nestle is not the only corporation neglecting to Google before using language that causes offence. </p>
<p>Two episodes of the Emmy-award-winning children’s show Bluey were removed from the ABC streaming platform iview and subsequently edited after a complaint from a viewer about the racial connotations of the term “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-20/why-abc-removed-two-bluey-episodes-over-racial-connotations/12577024">ooga booga</a>”.</p>
<p>The viewer pointed out the Macquarie Dictionary defines “ooga booga” as a “stereotypical rendering of what the speaker regards to be the language of those deemed by them to be African savages”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369957/original/file-20201118-23-1y3335n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bluey still" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369957/original/file-20201118-23-1y3335n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369957/original/file-20201118-23-1y3335n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369957/original/file-20201118-23-1y3335n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369957/original/file-20201118-23-1y3335n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369957/original/file-20201118-23-1y3335n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369957/original/file-20201118-23-1y3335n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369957/original/file-20201118-23-1y3335n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Episodes of Bluey were re-edited to remove the phrase ‘ooga booga’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In an apology, the ABC and Ludo Studios said they were unaware of the term’s potentially derogatory meaning and was only intended as “irreverent rhyming slang often made up by children”. </p>
<p>The term “ooga booga” connotes primitivism and superstition. In B-grade movies, when <a href="https://www.thecoconet.tv/coco-talanoa/guest-writer/ooga-booga/">uttered by a witch-doctor</a>, it could mean anything at all and saved any more complex scriptwriting. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-systemic-racism-and-institutional-racism-131152">Explainer: what is systemic racism and institutional racism?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The racism or otherwise of the term today is, however, entirely dependent on context. Today, it can be considered a satirical term for the inauthentic representation of indigenous people as savages. </p>
<p>When the leading Indigenous art collective <a href="https://proppanow.wordpress.com/about-us/">proppaNow</a> exhibited works under that title, they used it critically to <a href="https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/3473/why-you-paint-like-that-marshall-bell/">play on the absurdity</a> of various traits attributed to Aboriginal people by white Australians. </p>
<p>But if used to deride a culture itself, it is profoundly offensive.</p>
<h2>Our changing norms</h2>
<p>Noddy’s golliwogs have been <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-10-19/noddy-returns-without-golliwogs/1108156">exiled</a>, as has the “n” word <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/books/07huck.html">in Huckleberry Finn</a> and elsewhere. Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree children Fanny and Dick were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/22/childrens-classics-faraway-tree-enid-blyton">renamed</a> Frannie and Rick — raising the ire of many devotees and sending them scrambling to second-hand bookshops for early editions. </p>
<p>Discriminatory language — in the form of ageist, classist, racist, and sexist expressions — has long been unacceptable in Australia and other parts of the world. The Black Lives Matter movement has dominated the headlines this year, raising awareness of racism in word and deed. </p>
<p>But why has it taken so long for American food companies such Quaker Oats and Dreyer Icecream to feel the pressure to rename Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix and Eskimo Pie? Aunt Jemima, based on a black “mammy”, is <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/17/business/aunt-jemima-logo-change/index.html">disappearing altogether</a> and Eskimo pie is <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dreyers-retires-derogatory-eskimo-pie-name-99-years/">now called Edy’s</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369981/original/file-20201118-17-1rhs3hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369981/original/file-20201118-17-1rhs3hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369981/original/file-20201118-17-1rhs3hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369981/original/file-20201118-17-1rhs3hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369981/original/file-20201118-17-1rhs3hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369981/original/file-20201118-17-1rhs3hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369981/original/file-20201118-17-1rhs3hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1922 ad for Eskimo Pie — the brand also only changed its name in 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One part of the world that has not seen the necessity to rename products with racist connotations is mainland China. One of south east Asia’s best-selling toothpaste brands is “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlie">Darlie</a>”. From 1933 to 1989 there was a “k” where the “l” now is, constituting a longstanding racial slur against African Americans. </p>
<p>Colgate Palmolive must have been aware of how disgustingly racist the name was when they bought into the company in 1985. It took them four years to change the English name — but the Chinese language name still translates to “black people toothpaste”.</p>
<h2>Language shapes our world</h2>
<p>Of course, the Allen’s lollies’ name change has been called unnecessary by some critics, who have <a href="https://junkee.com/redskins-chicos-nestle/258965">derided</a> “political correctness” and “cancel culture”. </p>
<p>In recent years these movements have been allied to “wokeness”, which has also been subjected to derision, though its concern is being attentive to important issues —especially issues of racial and social justice.</p>
<p>George Orwell’s 1946 essay, <a href="https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-and-the-english-language/">Politics and the English Language</a>, focused on the political dangers of not caring for language. Language is everyone’s business.</p>
<p>Surely our stance should encompass empathy, respect and civility? In the quest for this empathy, these name changes are a small but important step forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150178/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roslyn Petelin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From next year, lolly shelves will stock Red Rippers and Cheekies. It’s not a flawless renaming — but it is important.Roslyn Petelin, Course coordinator, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1386662020-05-18T17:23:43Z2020-05-18T17:23:43ZBlockchains can trace foods from farm to plate, but the industry is still behind the curve<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335372/original/file-20200515-138610-8i7yhi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">App-etising?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-using-mobile-phone-while-shopping-159873317">LDprod</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Food supply chains were vulnerable long before the coronavirus pandemic. Recent scandals have ranged from modern slavery <a href="https://seafish.org/media/Publications/SeafishEthicalProfile_Vietnam_Jan2020.pdf">in Vietnamese fisheries</a> to the persistent problem of <a href="https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slavery-chocolate/">child labour</a> in the cocoa industry. Perhaps the most well known fraud was the UK’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/feb/15/horsemeat-scandal-the-essential-guide">horsemeat scandal</a> of 2013, where up to 60% of products labelled as beef were actually horse. </p>
<p>UK supermarkets have also been found selling <a href="https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/major-supermarkets-reveal-how-much-16442641">contaminated chicken</a> on numerous occasions, while a <a href="https://theconversation.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-fresh-produce-and-e-coli-90230">longstanding issue</a> of romaine lettuce in the US causing <em>E coli</em> only recently ended. Such scandals have made the public much more interested in the food supply chain, not <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6479556/">to mention</a> the <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/climate-change-important-consumers">impact of food production</a> on the environment. </p>
<p>Food manufacturers can give consumers detailed information on where our foods have come from using blockchains – the tamper-proof online technology for logging information that is the basis of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Some manufactures are doing this, but many have been slow to adopt this technology for various reasons. There are suggestions that coronavirus could be the gamechanger – but will it be?</p>
<h2>Block power</h2>
<p>Certain jurisdictions <a href="https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/general-food-law">such as the EU</a> now require that food products be traceable to source. In the absence of blockchains, the most common way of doing this has been to use <a href="https://itemit.com/qr-vs-rfid-which-is-better/">digital tagging systems</a> such as RFID (radio frequency identification) or QR (quick response) codes. They enable vendor firms to know where products have been and when, but they don’t let them see what actually happens at each node in a supply chain. As a result, consumers receive little information about their food beyond nutritional content and the country of production. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335373/original/file-20200515-138620-1pu7uti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335373/original/file-20200515-138620-1pu7uti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335373/original/file-20200515-138620-1pu7uti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335373/original/file-20200515-138620-1pu7uti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335373/original/file-20200515-138620-1pu7uti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335373/original/file-20200515-138620-1pu7uti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335373/original/file-20200515-138620-1pu7uti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335373/original/file-20200515-138620-1pu7uti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">QR tagging in action.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-scanning-voucher-code-supermarket-mobile-284500196">Monkey Business Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This points to a <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/carbon-labelling-quorn">competitive advantage</a> for manufacturers offering richer and more reliable information to vendors and consumers, which is why some have been combining digital tagging with <a href="https://theconversation.com/blockchains-first-revolutionary-product-could-be-online-id-128028">blockchains</a>. Firms like Wal-Mart <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-18/wal-mart-tackles-food-safety-with-test-of-blockchain-technology">have been conducting</a> high-profile trials <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/walmarts-foray-into-blockchain-how-is-the-technology-used">that have</a> reduced to a matter of seconds the time it takes to trace a product’s origin. Yet they have been reticent to share most of the results. </p>
<p>This has made it harder for the industry to learn, which has not helped this technology to move forward. To this end, we’ve just published some <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SCM-08-2019-0300/full/html">new research</a> that looks at some blockchain trials by some other players in this space.</p>
<p>One case study comes on the back of various <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/yanzhonghuang/2014/07/16/the-2008-milk-scandal-revisited/#4351758c4105">Chinese infant formula scandals</a> beginning in 2008 that killed at least 18 babies, affected 300,000 and destroyed confidence in a product that many parents relied upon. The culprit was a chemical called melanine, but it was difficult to ascertain where in the supply chain it was being added to the formula. </p>
<p>To <a href="https://www.ccn.com/rakuten-taps-chinese-blockchain-firm-for-60-billion-authenticity-market/">reassure parents</a>, Nestlé hired Shanghai-based blockchain developer Techrock to incorporate the technology into its NAN A2 baby formula. They first created product packaging with an inbuilt RFID chip and antenna. Then the firms throughout Nestlé’s supply chain recorded data on a public blockchain, including details of ingredients, where they came from, and where the product was produced. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335363/original/file-20200515-138644-17euld9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335363/original/file-20200515-138644-17euld9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335363/original/file-20200515-138644-17euld9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335363/original/file-20200515-138644-17euld9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335363/original/file-20200515-138644-17euld9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335363/original/file-20200515-138644-17euld9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335363/original/file-20200515-138644-17euld9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335363/original/file-20200515-138644-17euld9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Now with added antennae.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nestlé</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once the formula was on supermarket shelves, consumers could scan the chip using mobile phones to get all the information – even including a picture of what the package should look like. The products are also designed so that the antenna breaks when they are opened, to reassure customers that products haven’t been tampered with. </p>
<p>We looked at two similar systems in farming and fisheries that also allow consumers to scan products using phone apps. In farming, Australian consumers get access to information on various grain products overseen by commodity management platform Agridigital. Farmers and other operators record where grain was grown, when and where it was milled, and where and how it was transported to supermarket shelves. RFID tags are then used to monitor the movement of products. The blockchain makes sure the data meets best practice – if not, it can’t be labelled as organic, for example. </p>
<p>A partnership between World Wildlife Fund and Fijian blockchain provider TraSeable focuses on sustainable fisheries. This time, data is recorded on where fish are caught, the route that boats take, catch logs and crew details. Once fish are unloaded, they are tracked to stores with QR tags. </p>
<h2>Remaining challenges</h2>
<p>These trials show how blockchains can make supply chains more visible for consumers, though a number of issues need to be solved if they are to be universally adopted. Supply chains need to be as digitised as possible. Many systems still rely on people to record and enter data. This makes the system fallible and less trustworthy, and calls into question all the data stored on that blockchain. </p>
<p>There are no agreed standards or governance. The industry is going to have to move towards one system, particularly so that consumers can check many products using one smartphone app. </p>
<p>Some food companies may still be reluctant to use blockchains because <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3018844/nearly-70pc-companies-asia-dont-trust-blockchain-technology-survey">they don’t trust</a> them, and also because adopting these systems will inevitably come at a price. For cheaper products like fresh produce, companies may fear that consumers won’t pay a necessary price premium.</p>
<p>Blockchains are potentially useful in the coronavirus crisis. For example, they are <a href="https://www.hyperledger.org/learn/publications/walmart-case-study">already used</a> to collect and securely share data on factory conditions in the meat industry. With numerous processing plants closed because of outbreaks in places like <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-outbreak-closes-german-meat-packing-plant/a-53374478">Germany</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-10/worsening-outbreak-at-colorado-meat-plant-impacts-as-many-as-300">the US</a>, these systems can potentially make it easier to share data on working conditions to ensure that suppliers are minimising risks. This could give consumers peace of mind that workers in plants have been tested. </p>
<p>There <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/tracing-global-meat-related-risks-with-blockchain-amid-covid-19">have been</a> some media reports that such uses are <a href="https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2020/blockchain-finds-new-home-in-retail-food-supply/">spurring on the adoption</a> of these systems. It’s an interesting development, though it’s too early to say whether it will be a gamechanger. There is little evidence, for example, that meat can carry the virus, so the technology’s benefits in this regard may be limited. For now, we need to watch developments closely, while continuing to address the other challenges around getting the industry fully onside.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Rogerson is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glenn Parry has received funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK) to the Dynamic, Real time, On-demand Personalisation for Scaling (DROPS) (EP/R033374/1) and Control and Trust as Moderating Mechanisms in addressing Vulnerability for the Design of Business and Economic Models (ConTriVE) project (EP/N028422/1), which have contributed substantially to the research conducted and the writing of this paper. He was further supported by the British Academy Leverhulme “Blockchain for Good (B4G)” project grant (SG160335).</span></em></p>After years of food scandals caused by supply chain issues, there are hopes in some quarters that coronavirus could be the key to widespread adoption of blockchains.Michael Rogerson, PhD Candidate, University of BathGlenn Parry, Professor of Digital Transformation, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1364422020-05-07T17:34:29Z2020-05-07T17:34:29ZPlastic and the art of stigmatisation – is something amiss?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333127/original/file-20200506-49546-huxwoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C1500%2C1089&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org/photos/6fe39c7d-349f-46f6-a54d-b8ebd28cebb9">Cogdogblog/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Plastic-free aisle”, “No plastic straws”, “Plastic-free Tuesday”. Social media abounds with anti-plastic messages and chilling statistics about the quantity of plastic in our oceans, food, clothes and bodies flash before us in quick succession. Shocking images that circulate widely provoke emotions and <a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2017.1488">generate momentum for action on plastic</a>. </p>
<p>While the contrast of a beautiful beach with plastic waste might be striking, focusing our efforts on cleaning the beaches is unlikely to meaningfully impact plastic pollution. Are we missing the bigger picture of plastic pollution? Through a study of traditional media and social media during the most intense period of public criticism of plastic (2017-2018), we observed that stigmatisation – a process of <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.1080.0367">discreditation and vilification</a> – has focused on a few symbolic objects and corporations, zooming in on the visible, while leaving the majority of plastic production and pollution unexplored.</p>
<h2>Stigmatizing plastic as a strategy to create change</h2>
<p>Plastic is a general name given to a wide range of chemical compounds that are a mix of monomers and polymers. It is everywhere and modern life would be in some ways unthinkable without it. Durable, lightweight and affordable, plastic has many benefits, but there’s another story being told. A 2016 <em>National Geographic</em> article laid the problem bare: <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-waste-pollution-trash-crisis/">“We Made Plastic. We Depend on It. Now We’re Drowning in It”</a>. Plastic has become a contentious issue, stigmatised for its environmental and health impacts, and symbolic of our consumption-centred societies.</p>
<p>Urgent action is required and change in both our production and consumption patterns is necessary. Stigmatising strategies can be a powerful tool for change. This has been the case for whole industries such as armaments and tobacco, which suffered reputational penalties, decreased market value, reduced negotiating power and difficulties in recruiting top talent. Singling out a specific industry or organisation may seem straightforward, but stigma is much more difficult to grasp when the target is a material, that crosses a vast range of uses across many different industries. To unravel this complexity, we sought to understand which objects, organisations and industries were the focus of stigmatisation strategies around plastic and to analyse whether the stigmatisation process had the capacity to create change: namely our detoxification from plastic.</p>
<h2>What are the objects and industries that are being stigmatized?</h2>
<p>We analysed data from four mainstream news organisations in the UK and the Twitter accounts of 19 non-governmental organisations and five NGO heads which were highly active in 2017 and 2018 on the topic of plastic.</p>
<p>Our analysis of both the news organisations and the tweets reveal similar results. The top mentioned object is the plastic bag. The focus on plastic use in the food industry comes next, with highly recurring mentions of single-use plastic: bottles, cups, lids and straws that have facilitated our lifestyles yet litter the planet. The most targeted company is Coca Cola, closely followed by Nestlé, Mars, Starbucks, Pepsi and a number of retailers/supermarkets such as Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose. Companies from the consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors are by far the ones that are the most stigmatised.</p>
<p>While almost <a href="https://www.plasticseurope.org/application/files/9715/7129/9584/FINAL_web_version_Plastics_the_facts2019_14102019.pdf">40% of the demand for plastic comes from the packaging sector</a> (followed by building and construction 19.8%, automotive 9.9%, electrical and electronics 6.2% and household, leisure and sports 4.1%), the items which have caught the headlines do not tell the whole story. For example, plastic straws have become strongly linked to marine pollution and a symbol of unnecessary, even frivolous consumerism, yet represent <a href="https://earth.stanford.edu/news/do-plastic-straws-really-make-difference">less than 1% of 150 million tons of plastic littering the oceans</a>. At the same time secondary and transit packaging such as the single-use plastic films that protect consumer products through manufacturing, storage and distribution are <a href="https://www.citibank.com/commercialbank/insights/assets/docs/2018/rethinking-single-use-plastics.pdf">abundant but seldom discussed</a>.</p>
<p>Notable is the quasi absence from the newspapers and tweets of the plastic producers and petro-chemicals giants such as BASF, ExxonMobil, Dow and DuPont. All are powerful actors in the plastic ecosystem that see plastic resin production as an opportunity for future growth.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plastic is with us everywhere, not only in plain sight, but also deep in the oceans and even in our own bodies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org/photos/12a64e0a-29a4-49c6-8282-578216240328">Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The limits of stigmatisation strategies</h2>
<p>Through the analysis of social media and traditional media’s messages on plastic in 2017 and 2018, we were able to provide an understanding of the stigmatisation processes at play. Stigmatisation, what the industry has named “plastic bashing”, has focused intensively on end-consumer visible symbolic products such as bottles, straws and single-use food packaging. Moreover, the name-shaming has also been concentrated on popular consumer brands such as Coca-Cola.</p>
<p>However, whether stigmatisation strategies have triggered the necessary action to curb the plastic problem is open to question. Plastic production keeps on increasing and industry players are focused on recycling, not on switching to other materials or reducing plastic use. Governments have implemented bans of symbolic targeted objects and legislated on circular economy packages, but recent concerns about Covid-19 have given rise to promotion of single-use plastics as a health-care solution rather than a problem. Indeed, plastic lobbies have asked the European Commission to <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2020/04/12/a-la-faveur-de-la-crise-sanitaire-le-plastique-a-usage-unique-fait-son-retour-en-force_6036357_3244.html">delay implementation of limits on single-use plastic</a>.</p>
<p>Concentrated and coordinated stigmatisation can result in the ban of a limited range of products. However, research indicates that without education or environmental programs, <a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-rid-of-plastic-bags-a-windfall-for-supermarkets-but-it-wont-do-much-for-the-environment-81083">bans can have limited benefits for the environment</a>. Because stigmatisation focuses on downstream visual and symbolic items and known brands, the reaction is itself visible for the general public and the stigmatisers, but without visibility of the upstream production and supply side, flow of plastic entering our society continues.</p>
<p>Stigmatisation could also be detrimental by causing distraction from the wider landscape of plastic production and the pollution that it creates, which is vast compared to the pollution created by the stigmatized (and now banned) items. While changes in plastic use by consumer brands is a welcome step forward, it will not significantly impact the curve of plastic production and pollution. </p>
<h2>Breaking the link between plastic and society</h2>
<p>Deinstitutionalisation – the eradication of widespread practices and products built around a particular substance – is a much longer process. Asbestos and the pesticide DDT were deinstitutionalized when the link between them and human health became undeniable, triggering lawsuits and wide legal bans. To deinstitutionalize plastic, systems thinking would be required, just as with other complex grand challenges. Today plastic use is deeply intertwined with other problems such as food waste, greenhouse-gas emissions, income inequality, waste, biodiversity loss, and oil production.</p>
<p>Stigmatisation is only one of many tactics that can be used to tackle plastic pollution. While it has succeeded in shining a light on the issue, strategies that are both broader and longer term are required. For example, developing a worldwide plastic treaty through the UN – such as that created for ozone-depleting gases – could be an avenue for consideration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136442/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>A media study of public criticism of plastic reveals that stigmatisation may result in limited bans, it leaves the vast majority of plastic production and pollution unexplored.Céline Louche, Professor, Business & Society, AudenciaDelphine Gibassier, Professeur Associé de Comptabilité du Développement Durable, AudenciaJennifer Goodman, Associate Professor, Business & Society, AudenciaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1302952020-04-07T02:48:50Z2020-04-07T02:48:50ZTurning to Easter eggs to get through these dark times? Here’s the bitter truth about chocolate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325930/original/file-20200407-74220-k5rqv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4694%2C3253&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pxfuel</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The coronavirus might make Easter celebrations a little subdued this year, but that doesn’t mean going without chocolate eggs. In fact, South Australia’s chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier reportedly said people should <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/coronavirus-sa-dr-nicola-spurrier-gives-easter-pigout-pass/news-story/3f77065a4a46361487eb399a06c415b6">partake in the Easter treats</a> “to cheer ourselves up … I’ve certainly got a good supply of chocolate eggs already”.</p>
<p>But before you fill your shopping trolley (online or virtual) with chocolate, we urge you to think twice about whether it’s ethically produced.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-chocapocalypse-looming-why-we-need-to-understand-whats-at-stake-101548">Is ‘chocapocalypse’ looming? Why we need to understand what’s at stake</a>
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<p>Most chocolate consumed globally, including in Australia, comes from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-chocapocalypse-looming-why-we-need-to-understand-whats-at-stake-101548">Ivory Coast and Ghana</a> in West Africa - which together account for about 60% of global cocoa supply.</p>
<p>Cocoa farming is a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-014-0282-4">major driver of deforestation</a> in the region. Despite growing global demand for chocolate, farmers <a href="https://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/pdf/10.1596/29014">live in poverty</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-modern-slavery-bill-is-a-start-but-it-wont-guarantee-us-sweeter-chocolate-102765">child labour</a> continues to plague the industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325931/original/file-20200407-96658-1w09qdz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More work is needed by big chocolate companies to ensure cocoa is produced sustainably and fairly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CHRISTOF KRACKHARDT</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Spotlight on Nestlé</h2>
<p>The US Department of Labor has estimated that <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/our-work/child-forced-labor-trafficking/child-labor-cocoa">2 million children</a> carry out hazardous work on cocoa farms in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340394344_A_Sticky_Chocolate_Problem_Impression_management_and_the_shaping_of_corporate_image">Our research</a> has examined Nestlé, which <a href="https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/business/news/14134353.nestle-to-use-sustainable-cocoa-in-its-chocolate/">claims</a> its chocolate produced for specific markets is sustainably sourced and produced. A number of its chocolate products are certified through the <a href="https://utz.org/what-we-offer/certification/products-we-certify/cocoa/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAjfvwBRCkARIsAIqSWlNZBYVygX7OW50BepsLoIRCaghfZKG58lt5AnFciy0pyIRsJB71Rg8aAh3CEALw_wcB">UTZ</a> and <a href="https://fairtrade.com.au/Fairtrade-Products/Chocolate-cocoa">Fairtrade</a> schemes.</p>
<p>Nestlé has adopted the Fair Labor Association (FLA) <a href="https://www.fairlabor.org/our-work/code-of-conduct">code of conduct</a> that forbids child or forced child labour, and requires certain health and safety standards, reasonable hours of work and fair pay. Nestlé’s <a href="https://www.nestlecocoaplan.com">Cocoa Plan</a> also outlines the company’s commitment to sustainability in its Ivory Coast cocoa supply chain. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-cocoa-farmers-are-trapped-by-the-chocolate-industry-124761">Ghana’s cocoa farmers are trapped by the chocolate industry</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But a <a href="https://www.fairlabor.org/report/standard-supply">2016 FLA report</a> said 80% of Nestlé’s cocoa procurement took place outside this plan. Of this part of the supply chain, just 30% was monitored by certification systems. </p>
<p>For the 70% of Nestlé cocoa farms outside certification programs, there was no evidence of training on labour standards or monitoring of working conditions. Assessors also found issues such as child labour, and health and safety issues.</p>
<p>More recently, Nestlé <a href="https://www.nestlecocoaplan.com/article-tackling-deforestation-progress-report-2020">has stated</a> its cocoa plan now covers 44% of its global cocoa supply, and the company is committed to sourcing 100% of cocoa under the plan by 2025.</p>
<p>On the issue of child labour, Nestlé <a href="https://www.nestle.com/sites/default/files/2019-12/nestle-tackling-child-labor-report-2019-en.pdf">last year reported</a> it was “not proud” to have found more than 18,000 children doing hazardous work since a monitoring and remediation system began in 2012.</p>
<p>However the company would continue trying to eradicate the practice, including “helping children to stop doing unacceptable activities and, where needed, helping them to access quality education.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325934/original/file-20200407-103690-1vswz0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cocoa producers in West Africa are often poorly paid and subject to dangerous working conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sweet sorrow: an industry problem</h2>
<p>Other big chocolate players, such as Mars, Cadbury (owned by Mondelēz International), Hershey and Ferrero are also exposed to problems facing cocoa farming.</p>
<p>Many are taking action. <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKCN1TY1R5-OZABS">Mars recently supported</a> Ghana and the Ivory Coast in setting a floor price for cocoa, to increase the money paid to farmers. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/ferrero-pledges-to-end-slavery-on-farms-that-supply-its-cocoa-by-2020-ahead-of-its-peers-can-it-deliver">In 2012</a>, Ferrero <a href="https://www.ferrerocsr.com/News-CSR/Ferrero-Takes-Action-Against-Child-Labour">promised</a> to remove slavery from its cocoa supply by 2020. </p>
<p>Others have made moves towards <a href="https://ethicalwarrior.com.au/blog/chocolate/are-child-slaves-making-your-chocolate">better certification</a>, including Hershey, <a href="https://www.thehersheycompany.com/en_us/sustainability/shared-business/cocoa-supply-chain-traceability.html">which says</a> it pays certification premiums to farmer groups who meet labour standards.</p>
<p>But despite years of pledges, progress across the sector is slow. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/business/hershey-nestle-mars-chocolate-child-labor-west-africa/">last year reported</a> major chocolate companies had missed deadlines to remove child labour from their cocoa supply chains in 2005, 2008 and 2010. It said brands such as Hershey, Mars and Nestlé could still not guarantee their chocolates were produced without child labour.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325936/original/file-20200407-160446-4dvvu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Child labour issues continue to plague the chocolate industry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public Domain Pictures</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bad for the planet</h2>
<p>Cocoa farming is a major driver of deforestation as farmers <a href="http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/jwsr/article/view/731/951">cut down trees</a> to clear farmland. For example in 2017, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/13/chocolate-industry-drives-rainforest-disaster-in-ivory-coast">the Guardian reported </a> cocoa traders selling to Mars, Nestlé, Mondelez and other big brands had sourced beans grown illegally inside protected rainforest areas in the Ivory Coast.</p>
<p>Rising demand for chocolate - <a href="https://theprint.in/economy/india-china-to-sweeten-chocolate-sales-in-asia-as-global-production-falters/350115/">particularly in India and China</a> – also encourages farmers to increase cocoa yield by using fertilisers and pesticides.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0963996918301273">2018 study</a> found the chocolate industry in the UK produces the equivalent of more than <a href="https://www.popsci.com/chocolate-carbon-emissions/#page-3">2 million tonnes</a> of carbon dioxide each year. It took into account chocolate’s ingredients, manufacturing, packaging and waste.</p>
<p>And <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-takes-21-litres-of-water-to-produce-a-small-chocolate-bar-how-water-wise-is-your-diet-123180">research last year</a> by the CSIRO showed it takes 21 litres of water to produce a small chocolate bar. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tips-to-reduce-your-waste-this-easter-but-dont-worry-you-can-still-eat-chocolate-113916">Tips to reduce your waste this Easter (but don't worry, you can still eat chocolate)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In response to the problem, <a href="https://www.mars.com/news-and-stories/press-releases/action-plan-deforestation-free-cocoa-supply-chain">Mars</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cocoa-deforestation-chocolate/nestle-says-cuts-deforestation-in-its-cocoa-supply-chain-idUSKBN21E1S6">Nestlé</a> have pledged to make their cocoa supply chain sustainable by 2025. Ferrero has <a href="https://www.ferrerocsr.com/our-responsibility/agricultural-practices/sustainable-raw-materials/?lang=EN">committed to source</a> 100% sustainable cocoa beans by 2020, and <a href="https://www.cocoalife.org/progress/CFIprogress2019">Mondelēz intends</a> to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10% by 2025, based on 2018 levels.</p>
<p>But pledges do not necessarily transform into action. At a United Nations climate change conference in November 2017, big chocolate producers and the governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast <a href="https://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/initiative/cocoa-forests-initiative/">committed to</a> stopping deforestation for cocoa production. A year later, satellite mapping <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/07/africa-cocoa-industry-failing-deforestation-pledge-campaigners">reportedly revealed</a> thousands more hectares of rainforest in West Africa had been razed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325938/original/file-20200407-104477-1j7jp7p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s a chocolate lover to do?</h2>
<p>Given the above, you might be tempted to stop buying chocolate brands that source cocoa from West Africa. <a href="https://www.upboostllc.com/blog/don-t-ban-cocoa-imports-invest-u-s-aid-better">But this would cut off the incomes of poor cocoa farmers</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, choose chocolate independently certified by the <a href="https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/chocolate">Rainforest Alliance</a>, <a href="https://utz.org/what-we-offer/certification/products-we-certify/cocoa/">UTZ</a> or <a href="http://fairtrade.com.au/Fairtrade-Products/Chocolate-cocoa">Fairtrade</a>. This increases the chance that the cocoa was produced with minimal environmental damage, and workers are treated well.</p>
<p>If you can, check if the company has direct connections with producers, which means farmers are <a href="https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/chocolate">more likely to be fairly paid</a>.</p>
<p>If all this sounds too hard to work out yourself, websites such as <a href="https://thegoodshoppingguide.com/subject/chocolate/">The Good Shopping guide</a>, <a href="https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/easter-eggs">Ethical Consumer</a> or <a href="https://guide.ethical.org.au/guide/">Shop ethical!</a> can help you find Easter eggs that are both ethically made, and delicious.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/it-takes-21-litres-of-water-to-produce-a-small-chocolate-bar-how-water-wise-is-your-diet-123180">It takes 21 litres of water to produce a small chocolate bar. How water-wise is your diet?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Before you stock the pantry with chocolate this Easter, think twice about whether it’s ethically produced.Stephanie Perkiss, Senior Lecturer, University of WollongongCristiana Bernardi, Lecturer in Accounting, The Open UniversityJohn Dumay, Associate Professor - Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1057712018-11-06T23:09:28Z2018-11-06T23:09:28ZAll-you-can-eat food packaging could soon be on the menu<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243539/original/file-20181101-83632-qxzwlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Plastic packaging could soon be compostable or edible.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Within a year, single-use plastics and excess packaging have become Public Enemy No. 1.</p>
<p>A recent Greenpeace-led audit looked at the companies behind the waste lining Canadian waterways. Much of the plastic trash cleaned up from Canadian shorelines this fall was <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/press-release/5375/press-release-coca-cola-pepsico-and-nestle-found-to-be-worst-plastic-polluters-worldwide-in-global-cleanups-and-brand-audits/">traceable to five companies</a>: Nestlé, Tim Hortons, PepsiCo, the Coca-Cola Company and McDonald’s. All these companies are part of the food industry, which is hardly surprising. </p>
<p>With consumers looking for convenience and portable food solutions, this problem will not go away anytime soon. In fact, it could get worse if nothing is done. </p>
<p>The number of meals in Canada consumed outside the home is only increasing. Canadian households spend roughly <a href="https://www.dal.ca/news/2017/12/13/canadians-will-spend-more-in-restaurants-in-2018--canada-s-food-.html">35 per cent of their food budget</a> outside a grocery store, and that percentage is <a href="https://www.dal.ca/news/2017/12/13/canadians-will-spend-more-in-restaurants-in-2018--canada-s-food-.html">increasing every year</a>. </p>
<p>The number of people walking around with plastic containers and bags, wrappers and cups will likely increase, and the food service, retail and processing sectors are all <a href="https://www.timhortons.com/bcrecycles/">fully aware</a> of this environmental conundrum. </p>
<p>What is brutally unclear for companies is how to deal with it. But making the issue of plastic use a political one is creating some movement, everywhere around the world.</p>
<h2>Compostable containers</h2>
<p>In the food industry, conversations about green supply chains focus on compostable and even edible solutions. Plenty of technologies exist. </p>
<p>On the compostable front, we have come a long way in just a few years. In 2010, PepsiCo Canada came out with the <a href="http://www.pepsico.ca/en/PressRelease/SUNCHIPS-INTRODUCES-THE-WORLDS-FIRST-100-PERCENT-COMPOSTABLE-CHIP-BAG02032010.html">first compostable chip bag for SunChips</a>. This new package was meant to completely break down into compost in a hot, active compost pile in approximately 14 weeks. <a href="https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/03/18/pepsis-biodegradable-backlash-snack-bag-was-too-noisy">Some tests concluded that it did not</a>. </p>
<p>But what really attracted the attention of consumers to this novelty was how noisy the bag was. An <a href="https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/fritolay-sunchips-packaging-debacle-lesson-when-not-listen-your-customers">influential social media campaign led to the bag’s downfall</a>. The company pulled it from the market less than a year after its introduction. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A volunteer collects trash for the Greenpeace plastic polluter brand audit in Halifax in September 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.greenpeace.org/">(Anthony Poulin/Greenpeace)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since then, pressure from cities has helped boost the presence of compostable packaging. With cities increasingly accepting <a href="http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/rae/article/view/10071">food packaging in organics bins</a>, retailers shouldn’t shy away from promoting these green solutions. They might even adopt new green packaging schemes for some of their private-labelled products. </p>
<h2>Milk wrap</h2>
<p>Edible packaging is also gaining currency around the world. Imagine one day walking into a grocery store, and everything you see on store shelves can be eaten. </p>
<p>Research has come a long way, but it has not been easy. The first generation of edible packaging was made of starch, which often failed to keep food fresh. </p>
<p>The Unites States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been working on a new generation of edible packaging that may get the attention of food industry pundits. <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/usda-edible-food-packaging-9caa16d7d4fd/">Casein-based food packaging</a>, made from milk proteins, isn’t just edible, it’s also more efficient than other types of packaging as it <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/09/have-your-food-and-eat-the-wrapper-too/">keeps oxygen away from the food for an extended period</a>, keeping it fresher for longer. The casein-based edible fabric can be infused with vitamins and probiotics. This technology from the USDA should be ready in 2019. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indonesian company Evoware is producing seaweed-based packaging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Evoware)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another organic matter getting attention is seaweed. We have wrapped sushi with seaweed for centuries, so it is only natural to extend the practice beyond Japanese delicacies. Costs and availability are still unclear. </p>
<h2>Eating your garbage away</h2>
<p>While these may be promising technologies, no business model has yet been developed and we still don’t know how edible packaging will affect retail prices. This is certainly of great concern to retailers and restaurants. </p>
<p>Other issues have come up as well when considering edible packaging. Taste and food safety are obvious ones. </p>
<p>The idea that we can reducing plastic waste by eating more packaging is intriguing, but not every consumer would think of such a concept as appetizing. A case has to be made for consumers to eat their garbage away. </p>
<p>Logistics are certainly an issue with edible packaging. Throughout the supply chain, temperatures tend to vary greatly, which makes it challenging for any edible packaging to preserve the integrity of products that may travel thousands of kilometres around the world.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-clean-up-our-universal-plastic-tragedy-98565">How to clean up our universal plastic tragedy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Start-ups looking at this issue are rampant. According to Transparency Market Research, a global research firm, <a href="https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/edible-packaging-market.htm">demand for edible packaging could increase on average by 6.9 per cent yearly until 2024</a> and could become a market worth almost US$2 billion worldwide. </p>
<p>As consumers, we will be given an opportunity to save the planet from plastic waste as we eat our food.</p>
<p>In the mean time, Greenpeace can continue to blame companies for the rubbish we find in oceans and waterways, but it’s actually all of us who are responsible for this mess. </p>
<p>If we want more compostable or edible packages, we may be asked to pay more for our food, to pay for a “planet premium,” once these new technologies come around. Regardless, it may be worth it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sylvain Charlebois does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Much of the trash on Canadian shorelines can be traced to five food companies. We could soon see more compostable and edible packaging.Sylvain Charlebois, Professor in Food Distribution and Policy, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1027652018-10-16T23:11:24Z2018-10-16T23:11:24ZThe Modern Slavery Bill is a start, but it won’t guarantee us sweeter chocolate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240777/original/file-20181016-165885-1xa1gth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many cocoa producers in Ghana and the Ivory Coast use child labour and child slave labour.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Is the Modern Slavery Bill at present before the Senate onerous?</p>
<p>It is if you are Nestle, because it might make your product more expensive. Or so it suggests <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/ModernSlavery/Submissions">in its submission to the Senate inquiry</a>.</p>
<p>The bill will require businesses with more than A$100 million in turnover to report annually on their actions <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_LEGislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6148">to address slavery risks in their supply chains</a>.</p>
<p>Cocoa beans are the main ingredient in chocolate. Most come from West Africa, mainly from the Ivory Coast and Ghana. The low prices paid to producers mean many harvest their cocoa using child labour and child slave labour.</p>
<h2>Where chocolate comes from</h2>
<p>Most <a href="http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/">child slaves on cocoa farms</a> come from Mali and Burkina Faso, two of the poorest nations on Earth. The children, some as young as ten, are sent by their families or trafficked by agents with the promise of money. They are made to work long hours for little or no money. </p>
<p>While our chocolate companies have long known that children and child slaves pick their cocoa, <a href="https://cocoainitiative.org/news-media-post/finding-on-forced-labour-in-cocoa-in-the-2018-global-slavery-index/">it continues to happen to this day</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-australia-have-a-modern-slavery-act-79335">Should Australia have a Modern Slavery Act?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In 2001 a deal was reached to end the practice. Known as the <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_007859/lang--en/index.htm">Harkin-Engel Protocol</a> in recognition of the two US senators who masterminded the agreement between the governments of West Africa, the United States, the International Labour Organisation and the cocoa industry, it has notched up achievements, but has not yet completely ended child slave labour. </p>
<h2>It’s not yet slave-free</h2>
<p>Nestle, which once paid insufficient attention to child labour, claims to have become <a href="https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2017/06/12/Nestle-top-in-child-labor-report">one of the leaders in rooting it out</a>. It touts its <a href="https://www.nestle.com/asset-library/documents/creating-shared-value/responsible-sourcing/nestle-cocoa-plan-child-labour-2017-report.pdf">transparency policy</a> as one of the world’s best. </p>
<p>Yet Nestle and other companies are complaining about the costs. The bill imposes none beyond the costs of examining the producer’s supply chain and preparing reports. The bill imposes <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jun/28/modern-slavery-bill-welcomed-but-no-penalties-for-breaching-act">no penalties for non-compliance</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-analysed-101-companies-statements-on-modern-slavery-heres-what-we-found-95561">We analysed 101 companies' statements on modern slavery – here's what we found</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It’s an approach known as “smart legislation”. It uses roaring (public pressure) rather than biting (hefty fines) to engender change.</p>
<p>It might not work. Companies certainly respond to public pressure, as Nestle did in 2010 after an infamous YouTube video of an office worker biting into an orangutan finger instead of a KitKat.</p>
<p>It said that from then on its Australian chocolate factories would use only <a href="https://www.nestle.com.au/media/newsandfeatures/nestle-australian-chocolate-factory-sustainable-palm-oil">segregated, certified sustainable palm oil</a> that didn’t involve the destruction of rainforest.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-businesses-fail-to-detect-modern-slavery-at-work-82344">Why businesses fail to detect modern slavery at work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But this year Nestle was <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-06-29/nestle-suspended-sustainable-palm-oil/9923238">banned from the industry and non government organisation run Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil</a> because of its failure to submit reports.</p>
<p>It said it was committed to improving supply chain practices “through intervention on the ground, rather than relying on audits or certificates”.</p>
<h2>‘Smart’ might not be smart enough</h2>
<p>The bill is certainly an improvement on what has gone before, but it is far from certain that “smart legislation” will be enough. </p>
<p>In the meantime it will help if we vote with our mouths and buy chocolate <a href="http://www.slavefreechocolate.org/ethical-chocolate-companies/">certified as slave-free</a> because it is made from cocoa sourced from outside West Africa.</p>
<p>But it is hardly a perfect solution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102765/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Modern Slavery Bill before the Senate is touted as ‘smart legislation’, because it asks for information rather than imposes penalties, but it mightn’t be enough.John Dumay, Associate Professor - Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Macquarie UniversityJames Guthrie, Distinguished Professor of Accounting, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1007942018-07-31T14:51:53Z2018-07-31T14:51:53ZKitKat lost its trade mark case: what you need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229974/original/file-20180731-136679-bnupzu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">KitKat lost its decade-long case to protect its four finger biscuit shape.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nestlé</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Picture your favourite chocolate treat. The brand, the packaging – and sometimes the shape of it – will no doubt come to mind. This is the idea behind trade marks: that consumers can easily identify products or services they want to buy from a company they recognise. If a brand can demonstrate this recognition, it is known as being “<a href="https://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre/articles/a-beginners-guide-to-trade-mark-infringement">sufficiently distinctive</a>” in the market. </p>
<p>Trade marks not only protect consumers with quality and consistency, they also provide a significant business advantage. Other companies can’t use these marks because that would confuse customers and possibly cause reputational or financial damage to the original brand. </p>
<p>Due to the potentially indefinite duration of protection, trade marks can confer significant brand value, so many popular brands have become involved in lengthy court cases when competitors challenge a mark’s validity. As the EU is a <a href="https://www.fooddrinkeurope.eu/uploads/publications_documents/DataandTrends_Report_2017.pdf">global leader</a> in world chocolate production – and consumption – this is no trifling matter for confectionery companies.</p>
<h2>The KitKat crisis</h2>
<p>In July 2018 the more than <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=204401&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=1211575">decade-long legal battle</a> to protect the “four-fingered” shape of <a href="https://www.nestle.co.uk/aboutus">Nestlé’s</a> KitKat bar concluded with KitKat losing its appeal against Kvikk Lunsj (owned by Cadbury, now <a href="https://www.mondelezinternational.com/about-us">Mondelez</a>) a Norwegian four-fingered chocolate biscuit. KitKat’s EU shape trade mark is annulled, meaning the Kit Kat shape is no longer a valid trade mark across the EU. It is now only valid in member states where Nestlé has made a successful application as a national trade mark. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229977/original/file-20180731-136652-1mae111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229977/original/file-20180731-136652-1mae111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229977/original/file-20180731-136652-1mae111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229977/original/file-20180731-136652-1mae111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229977/original/file-20180731-136652-1mae111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229977/original/file-20180731-136652-1mae111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229977/original/file-20180731-136652-1mae111.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mondelez’ similar four-fingered Kvikk Lunsj which challenged KitKat in court over its shape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mondelez</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some may be surprised to learn that chocolate is a highly litigious subject. A case for Lindt’s gold-foiled chocolate bunnies failed on <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=123102&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=13121">distinctiveness</a>, and Poundland’s “copycat” Toblerone bar, Twin Peaks, was <a href="https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/buying-and-supplying/new-product-development/poundland-settles-dispute-with-mondelez-over-toblerone-copycat/559277.article">settled out of court</a>.</p>
<p>Outside of chocolate, litigation has also arisen from less digestible shapes such as <a href="http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2017/1729.html">London black cabs</a> and <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=82838&doclang=EN">LEGO blocks</a>, in both cases where trade marks on shape were unsuccessfully defended. </p>
<p>Dispute over shapes is complex in trade mark law. It can be a more straightforward prospect to protect a word as a trade mark – and the KitKat name itself is. Marks like KitKat are inherently distinctive, meaning they’re made up, so only have meaning in relation to that brand. But in the case of shapes, distinctiveness may need to be acquired through commercial use and the average consumer associating the shape with the brand. So with the KitKat shape, the court considered whether the use was proved to acquire distinctiveness.</p>
<p>Generally, longevity in a mark is helpful with proving aspects of distinctiveness, but both companies have used the shape in their confections for a long time. KitKat began using the shape in 1935, and Kvikk Lunsj two years later in 1937 (although Nestlé only applied for trade mark registration of the shape in the EU in 2002).</p>
<p>A shape may come to mind when identifying the product, but KitKat runs into problems here because the shape is not visible when you pick it up in its wrapper. Since an average consumer must be able to recognise the brand by a clear and precise trade mark, this can present a higher hurdle for the shape.</p>
<p>An application may be refused or challenged for many reasons, but one creative challenge to the KitKat shape <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d2dc30dd3694894f99ff4e1b88b4a47655a076ac.e34KaxiLc3qMb40Rch0SaxuSb3f0?text=&docid=167821&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=366440">came in the UK courts in 2015</a>, when Cadbury argued that the KitKat shape was all to do with a technical or design issue rather than an identifying brand feature – that is, it was designed to allow consumers to easily break one bar into four smaller parts. So if the four-fingered shape was actually fulfilling a function, it couldn’t be a trade mark.</p>
<h2>The EU angle</h2>
<p>Ultimately, the most recent <a href="https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_6999/en/">European Court of Justice</a> (ECJ) decision came down to sufficient distinctiveness. Companies can apply for a domestic trade mark at their national intellectual property office, but how would sufficient distinctiveness be proved when applying for an EU-wide trade mark? An applicant must show that the mark is commonly recognised throughout the European Union, under the <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32015L2436">EU Directive 2015/2435</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229984/original/file-20180731-136673-8p7ap3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229984/original/file-20180731-136673-8p7ap3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229984/original/file-20180731-136673-8p7ap3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229984/original/file-20180731-136673-8p7ap3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229984/original/file-20180731-136673-8p7ap3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229984/original/file-20180731-136673-8p7ap3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229984/original/file-20180731-136673-8p7ap3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">London black cabs were not deemed sufficiently distinctive in court for a trade mark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-taxi-drivers-demonstration-on-11th-214613737">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) granted the KitKat shape mark in 2002 on the basis that KitKat had achieved recognition in ten of the then 15 EU countries. But this newest ECJ decision found that, if the EU coverage is insubstantial or omits a single member state, then the mark hasn’t been proved to have acquired distinctiveness. </p>
<h2>The future</h2>
<p>The ECJ <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=204401&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=1211575">decision</a> in many ways is a pragmatic solution, given the challenge of achieving consumer recognition in 28 individual countries. But current trade mark registrations granted on a similar basis as KitKat may also leave existing EU trade marks open to challenge.</p>
<p>This may be good news for chocolate lovers looking for variety in their “technically functional” treats, as there will be more opportunity for competitors to enter the market – although Nestlé still has national trade marks in some countries. It is also likely that, given the stakes, Nestlé will refile for their EU KitKat shape trade mark using new criteria that proves EU-wide distinctiveness in line with the framework of this latest decision.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230032/original/file-20180731-136667-5oyla8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230032/original/file-20180731-136667-5oyla8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230032/original/file-20180731-136667-5oyla8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230032/original/file-20180731-136667-5oyla8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230032/original/file-20180731-136667-5oyla8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230032/original/file-20180731-136667-5oyla8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230032/original/file-20180731-136667-5oyla8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Like KitKat, Lindt’s gold foil chocolate bunny was not considered sufficiently distinctive by the courts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lindt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The trade mark annulment will surely impact the EUIPO’s consideration of applications for trade mark registration and of trade mark oppositions, as this decision holds that proving distinctive character in a substantial part of the territory is not enough.</p>
<p>Shapes, in particular, are a challenge to protect under trade mark law, and recent decisions demonstrate how difficult it can be for a shape to acquire the necessary level of recognition and brand association. New applicants for trade mark protection should perhaps seriously consider creating a mark that is inherently distinctive, rather than a mark that needs to acquire protection through use, like KitKat.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100794/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan Rae Blakely does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s all about being ‘sufficiently distinctive’ and in the multi-billion dollar chocolate business, much is at stake.Megan Rae Blakely, Lecturer in law, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/947202018-05-22T10:45:20Z2018-05-22T10:45:20ZWhy Michigan needs to draw more revenue from its booming bottled water industry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219469/original/file-20180517-26300-pv0bad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All bottled water comes from somewhere</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/5233546650">Steven Depolo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Michigan recently approved Nestle’s request for permission to pump 400 gallons of water per minute from a <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,4561,7-135--465232--,00.html">well in the rural town of Evart</a>, about 80 miles northeast of Grand Rapids. State environmental authorities approved this 60 percent increase despite poor timing and unprecedented opposition.</p>
<p>Public outrage is still simmering, partly because the private company pays relatively little in exchange for its ability to profit off what many Michiganders see as a public resource.</p>
<p>Based on a decade of <a href="https://law.wayne.edu/profile/am0978">water law and policy research</a>, I believe that Michigan should either collect taxes on companies like Nestle that harvest water or significantly raise <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/29/nestle-pays-200-a-year-to-bottle-water-near-flint-where-water-is-undrinkable">the fees</a> water bottlers must pay.</p>
<h2>Water wealth</h2>
<p>Michigan, the “Great Lakes state,” sits in the middle of <a href="https://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/great-lakes-facts-and-figures">one-fifth of the Earth’s surface freshwater</a>. It has a higher percentage of <a href="https://water.usgs.gov/edu/wetstates.html">surface water</a> than any other American state.</p>
<p>But even in <a href="https://www.michiganfoundations.org/resources/water-michigan-and-growing-blue-economy">water-rich places</a>, long-term groundwater pumping can harm wetlands while dangerously decreasing the amount of water in rivers, lakes and streams – <a href="http://issues.org/19-1/glennon/">diminishing water supplies</a>.</p>
<p>Nestle pays Michigan a pittance in exchange for the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/challlenges-to-nestles-bottled-water-strategy_us_59c2dec0e4b0c87def88350a">4.8 million bottles of water a day</a> the multinational company bottles at its Ice Mountain factory there: a US$200 annual permitting fee for each of their groundwater wells. Nestle does purchase water from the town of Evart municipal water system at other locations, which generates <a href="https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/small-town-battling-nestle-michigans-permit-doesnt-end-water-saga">$313,000 in local revenue</a>.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-09-21/nestl-makes-billions-bottling-water-it-pays-nearly-nothing-for">Michigan does not tax bottled water production</a>. State Rep. <a href="http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2017-HB-5133">Peter Lucido</a>, a Republican, has introduced a bill that would charge Nestle and its competitors like <a href="http://blog.mlive.com/muskegon_chronicle_extra/2007/01/nestle_raises_stakes_in_bottle.html">Absopure</a>, <a href="http://michiganradio.org/post/reporters-notebook-how-much-detroit-water-do-coke-and-pepsi-use">Coca-Cola and Pepsi</a> a 5-cents-per-gallon tax on the water they harvest. Lucido estimates that Nestle would have to <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/10/michigan_bottled_water_tax.html">pay $20 million in taxes</a> if his legislation were to become law.</p>
<p>The lawmaker is calling for the state to spend this new revenue on water infrastructure, a <a href="http://michiganradio.org/post/bottled-water-bill-would-cost-nestle-20-million-year">long-neglected spending priority</a>, as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/michigan-says-flint-water-is-safe-to-drink-but-residents-trust-in-government-has-corroded-95358">Flint water crisis</a> illustrates.</p>
<p>The American Society of Civil Engineers recently <a href="https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/state-item/michigan/">gave Michigan’s infrastructure a D+ grade</a>, estimating that the state underfunds drinking water systems by as much as $563 million per year. Gov. Rick Snyder says Michigan should invest <a href="https://www.bridgemi.com/special-report/michigan-needs-4b-more-year-infrastructure-how-pay-it">$4 billion more</a> each year to fix decaying infrastructure of all kinds, including roads, bridges and waterworks.</p>
<p>Yet the state’s <a href="http://www.mlpp.org/enough-is-enough-business-tax-cuts-fail-to-grow-michigans-economy-hurt-budget">leaders have not adjusted tax rates</a> accordingly.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219470/original/file-20180517-26295-cd483y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219470/original/file-20180517-26295-cd483y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219470/original/file-20180517-26295-cd483y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219470/original/file-20180517-26295-cd483y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219470/original/file-20180517-26295-cd483y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219470/original/file-20180517-26295-cd483y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219470/original/file-20180517-26295-cd483y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219470/original/file-20180517-26295-cd483y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters objecting to Nestle’s water bottling in Michigan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sumofus/32467010524/sizes/o/">SumOfUs</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Public resource, private use</h2>
<p>When state authorities sought public feedback, more than <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/03/599207550/michigan-oks-nestl-water-extraction-despite-over-80k-public-comments-against-it">80,000 Michiganders called on the state to deny Nestle’s permit</a> and only 75 people said they supported it. </p>
<p>This unusually high number of comments surely owed something to do with the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/04/us/flint-water-crisis-fast-facts/index.html">Flint water crisis</a> and <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/03/26/more-than-17-000-detroit-households-risk-water-shutoffs/452801002/">Detroit municipal water shutoffs</a>, which have raised awareness regarding the importance of abundant clean water. The state acknowledged that public sentiment was strongly against the permit application, and then granted the permit anyway, citing <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/12/why_nestle_pays_next_to_nothin.html">its laws and regulations</a> – that provide limited grounds for denying this type of permit.</p>
<p>At least one nonprofit group intends to <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/04/nestle_foe_will_mount_challeng.html">mount a legal challenge</a>.</p>
<p>This contentious permit probably sparked more public outrage than it might have had the state not granted it the same week it announced that it would <a href="http://michiganradio.org/post/bottled-water-distribution-ending-flint">stop providing free bottled water to Flint</a> residents impacted by a water crisis. The government there harmed tens of thousands of people by <a href="http://greatlakesecho.org/2016/01/22/failures-to-follow-law-caused-flint-water-crisis/">distributing lead-tainted water</a>, a problem compounded by insufficient oversight and an inept response to the disaster. </p>
<p>Seeking to help, and perhaps sensing a public relations opportunity, Nestle belatedly announced plans to supply Flint residents with <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2018/05/11/nestle-sending-bottled-water-flint/34791133/">100,000 free bottles of water every week</a>. </p>
<h2>Taxing water bottles</h2>
<p>Should Michigan’s leaders become ready to take action, they would have several options to consider in addition to Lucido’s proposal.</p>
<p>Other states like Connecticut and Maine collect fees for <a href="http://legislature.vermont.gov/assets/Documents/2016/WorkGroups/House%20Ways%20and%20Means/Bills/H.222/H.222%7ERep%20Teo%20Zagar%7EState%20water%20extraction%20fees%7E4-7-2015.pdf">bottled water</a> production. The revenue collected from these states and others are minimal, however. </p>
<p>Another approach would be to tax bottled water sales. Chicago has done that since 2008, collecting <a href="https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/fin/supp_info/revenue/tax_list/bottled_water_tax.html">5 cents for each bottled of water retailers sell</a>. Chicago’s tax, designed to reduce plastic pollution by discouraging bottled water sales, generates <a href="https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20151106/lakeview/walgreens-wrongly-charged-chicagos-water-bottle-tax-on-lacroix-perrier/">about $10.5 million in annual revenue</a> for the city and offers a model other communities may want to replicate.</p>
<p>Michigan already collects a <a href="http://www.michigan.gov/taxes/0,4676,7-238-43519_43545---,00.html">severance tax from oil and gas</a> production and runs a <a href="http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79134_81684_79209_81657---,00.html">Natural Resources Trust Fund</a> derived from those royalties. This fund helps cover the cost of public outdoor recreation opportunities across the state. I contend that it’s a great model for what the state might do with revenue from a similar arrangement with water bottlers. </p>
<p>Michigan water law attorney <a href="https://www.envlaw.com/attorney-profiles/james-m-olson/">Jim Olson</a> has also suggested creating a <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/12/why_nestle_pays_next_to_nothin.html">water ombudsman’s office</a>. This new ombudsman would carefully study the <a href="http://chicagopolicyreview.org/2018/03/20/the-conservation-effects-of-a-variable-tax-on-groundwater-withdrawal/">potential water conservation</a> and revenue generation benefits from taxing bottled water.</p>
<p>As long as private companies are selling Michigan’s water, I believe, the state should at least tap portion of their profits to fund public water infrastructure improvements and wetland restoration. Taking this step might also discourage bottlers from endangering the public, wildlife and Michigan’s farmers by harvesting too much water.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94720/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Schroeck receives or has received funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. </span></em></p>Nestle pays the state a pittance in exchange for its water at a time when public awareness of water issues is rising.Nicholas Schroeck, Director of the Transnational Environmental Law Clinic; Assistant Professor of Law, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/896572018-03-04T21:50:32Z2018-03-04T21:50:32ZHow to reduce poverty and re-connect people to nature<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208724/original/file-20180302-65541-lltibu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Farmer-led development projects in places like Tanzania, shown here, can increase access to food and water, and reconnect people to nature.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciliaschubert/15137829173/">(Cecilia Schubert/flickr)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Access to food and water — once considered common goods and a basic human right — are increasingly treated as commodities, like precious metals or lumber. Instead of being necessities for life that are available to all, they are being kept from people who cannot afford them. </p>
<p>The perils of this commodification are rife — and sometimes tragically untold — yet several stories have survived. </p>
<p>Water and food issues in <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/special-features/2014/08/140822-detroit-michigan-water-shutoffs-great-lakes/">Detroit</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/27/573774328/california-says-nestle-lacks-permits-to-extract-millions-of-gallons-of-water">the San Bernardino National Forest in California</a>, <a href="http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509500796">the Global South</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/06/07/make-it-safe/canadas-obligation-end-first-nations-water-crisis#page">First Nations communities in northern Ontario</a> speak to the negative effects of treating food and water as mere commodities. </p>
<p>In each of these crises, people were separated from the basic necessities of food and water, leading to instability, strife and suffering. What’s more, people have been separated — alienated — from each other. </p>
<p>The current free market economic system has promoted and perpetuated such inequality, and it would be illogical to say that it can lead us to a solution. But development, when done well and from the ground up, can improve people’s lives by connecting them to their environment, food production processes and other people in their communities.</p>
<h2>How did we get here?</h2>
<p>The commodification of food and water began to take shape more than three decades ago, when Western governments, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank embraced largely unfettered free market policies. </p>
<p>As governments deregulated their food and water industries, these goods moved <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Food,+2nd+Edition-p-9781509500802">out of public control and into the hands of the few</a>. </p>
<p>These actions spurred entrepreneurship in water and food, in selling necessities for life for a profit. Of course, they are able to do so precisely because water and food are essential to life. </p>
<p>This change in direction further separated people in developing countries from the environment, from their production of food and from each other. It changed the way people saw nature and each other. </p>
<p>When peering through the current free market lens, nature, food, water, land or people themselves are viewed as merely something to extract monetary value from. Food and water have been commodities for a while, but an appeal to history is not a legitimate reason to maintain a harmful system. </p>
<h2>Pressing impacts, making change</h2>
<p>The impacts of commodifying food and water are occurring today and are pressing. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/after-mixed-messaging-fema-clarifies-it-will-not-end-aid-to-puerto-rico">Puerto Rico</a> is in the midst of a food and water crisis. In Canada, Nestlé has been <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/595wy5/nestle-is-extracting-water-from-canadian-towns-on-expired-permits">bottling water on expired permits in Ontario</a>, leading to public pressure to not privatize water. These cases are similar because, while both areas are facing food and water commodification and development issues, people are protesting to enact positive change in their communities.</p>
<p>If we are to see change, it must begin at the community level, later unite with others and <em>then</em> lead to pressing one’s government to act for the good of all people. In <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/10/3/puerto_ricans_protest_trumps_visit_denounce">Puerto Rico</a> and <a href="http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2017/11/27/protests-continue-over-nestle-pumping-and-sale-of-ground-water/">Ontario</a>, community-led protests have tried to effect positive change — people are fighting back. </p>
<p>Development work should aim to improve life by connecting people to their environment, food production processes and other people in their communities. Doing so could promote the importance of the environment, including food and water, and foster a protective relationship that prevents a resource’s exploitation, whether through destruction or privatization. <a href="https://viacampesina.org/en/struggles-la-via-campesina-agrarian-reform-defense-life-land-territories/">La Via Campesina</a>, the world’s largest mass movement of peasants, advocates for a similar strategy.</p>
<h2>Getting involved</h2>
<p>One approach that works well is participatory development, where communities and development professionals work together to reach their goals and find solutions to their problems.</p>
<p>Farmer-led research is but one example of participatory, bottom-up, community-based development. Groups like the <a href="http://www.practicalfarmers.org">Practical Farmers of Iowa</a> and the <a href="https://efao.ca">Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO)</a> do work that tries to reconnect people with the environment, production processes and each other through their research programs. </p>
<p>In some areas, the practice of development has moved away from the top-down approach. <a href="https://agricultureandfoodsecurity.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40066-015-0023-7">An analysis of farmer-led research</a>, conducted in Africa, Central America and Southeast Asia, has found that farmer-led development work promotes interconnectivity between people and a strong exchange of ideas. The study found that participatory development, such as farmer-led research, grew community, a connection with the natural world, and harnessed people’s creativity and ingenuity.</p>
<p>Critics of the participatory development family of approaches might say it lacks rigour and the necessary expertise to enact meaningful change. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A peasant farmer grows vegetables at a small farm near São Paulo, Brazil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horta_150706_REFON.jpg">(José Reynaldo da Fonseca/Wikimedia)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But I have found in my experience with the EFAO, as well as research in participatory development, that continued bottom-up collaboration between locals and professionals as mutually beneficial. Locals benefit from the expertise and support of professionals, and professionals benefit from the perspective and knowledge that locals offer. The participatory approach grounds academics and scientists who often approach these issues with an abstracted, solely technocratic distance.</p>
<p>The increased collaboration between locals and development professionals makes more explicit the public’s disdain for the privatization and commodification of food and water. A participatory approach also engages with, and uses, local knowledge and practices.</p>
<p>Development professionals must shirk the current economic model that has led us to our current predicament of rampant inequality and environmental degradation. Embracing the <em>status quo</em> framework cannot guide us away from this problem that it has initiated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Fioret is a Graduate Research Assistant in the Arrell Food Institute's "Food From Thought" Program. His research group is partnered with the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario. Cameron receives funding from an Ontario Graduate Scholarship.</span></em></p>Farmer-led development work can improve people’s lives, provide access to food and water - and re-connect them to nature.Cameron Fioret, PhD Student in Philosophy, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/925132018-02-27T18:45:38Z2018-02-27T18:45:38ZWhy is the NRA boycott working so quickly?<p>The boycott of the National Rifle Association <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/politics/wayne-lapierre-cpac-speech-nra/index.html">following its response</a> to the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/parkland-school-shooting-gun-control_us_5a9482a6e4b02cb368c4c52b">school shooting</a> in Parkland, Florida, came fast and furious.</p>
<p>Car rental companies, airlines, trucking businesses, tech firms, insurers and a bank that issued an NRA-branded credit card <a href="https://hellogiggles.com/news/nra-boycott-list-of-companies/">all severed their relationships</a> with the gun advocacy group within days of the shooting that left 17 dead. </p>
<p>Predictably, companies that cut ties – such as Atlanta-based Delta – faced their <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/25/nra-hits-back-cowardice-companies-cutting-ties-gun-lobby-backlash/">own backlash</a> from NRA loyalists. In particular, the lieutenant governor of Georgia (and candidate for governor) <a href="https://twitter.com/CaseyCagle/status/968199605803454465">threatened</a> to “kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"968199605803454465"}"></div></p>
<p>Once again, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-corporate-ceos-found-their-political-voice-83127">companies are finding themselves</a> caught in the middle of <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-did-che-guevara-become-ceo-the-roots-of-the-new-corporate-activism-64203">political conflicts</a> that they might have preferred to avoid.</p>
<p>There is nothing new about consumer boycotts – <a href="https://www.masshist.org/revolution/non_importation.php">Americans boycotted British goods</a> in response to the Stamp Act in the years before the Revolution. But as I’ve learned in <a href="https://hbr.org/product/changing-your-company-from-the-inside-out-a-guide-for-social-intrapreneurs/11057-HBK-ENG">my research on corporate activism</a>, two things are different now. First, businesses are being targeted not just for their own actions but for the company they keep – in this case, relationships with the wrong kinds of customers. Second, the speed of the response is unprecedented. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208146/original/file-20180227-36671-lh6q2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208146/original/file-20180227-36671-lh6q2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208146/original/file-20180227-36671-lh6q2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208146/original/file-20180227-36671-lh6q2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208146/original/file-20180227-36671-lh6q2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208146/original/file-20180227-36671-lh6q2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208146/original/file-20180227-36671-lh6q2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Delta found itself in a tricky situation after it said it would stop giving discounts to NRA members.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Markus Mainka/Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Trouble in the supply chain</h2>
<p>Activists have targeted corporations for generations based on their business practices. </p>
<p>One of the most famous corporate boycotts <a href="https://www.nestle.com/ask-nestle/our-company/answers/nestle-boycott">was launched against Nestle</a> in 1977 because of the Swiss food giant’s marketing of infant formula in low-income countries – a practice which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/feb/27/formula-milk-companies-target-poor-mothers-breastfeeding">arguably continues today</a>. The legendary boycott lasted seven years, until Nestle agreed to abide by global best practices. You can even read about it on the company’s own website. </p>
<p>In the 1990s, activists started to target companies not just for what went on within their own corporate boundaries but further back in the supply chain. When the labor practices of Nike’s contract suppliers <a href="http://archive.li/LbQ9Q">brought activist scrutiny</a>, according to a company official, the “initial attitude was, ‘Hey, we don’t own the factories. We don’t control what goes on there.’” </p>
<p>But the first of many boycotts against Nike was followed by <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/morning_call/2013/05/timeline-of-how-nikes-labor-practice.html">corporate efforts at reform</a>, and the company now has a history of holding suppliers to account and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-nikes-struggle-to-balance-cost-and-worker-safety-in-bangladesh-1398133855">cutting off those that don’t measure up</a>.</p>
<p>Today corporations like Nike take for granted that they will be held accountable for the actions of their suppliers and even for the <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_responsibility_paradox">policies of governments of countries where they do business</a>. As <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sulr/vol39/iss2/13/">corporations increasingly rely on contractors</a> for core parts of their business, they are held responsible by ethically minded consumers for actions further back in the supply chain – even the <a href="http://amj.aom.org/content/59/6/1896.abstract">provenance of the mineral tantalum</a> in their electronic devices like smartphones.</p>
<p>And today, 40 years after its first major boycott, Nestle knows better than to disclaim responsibility <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/feb/01/nestle-slavery-thailand-fighting-child-labour-lawsuit-ivory-coast">when activists uncovered slave labor</a> in their cat food supply chain. </p>
<h2>Know thy customers</h2>
<p>With the threatened anti-NRA boycott, corporate responsibility is extending in the other direction, to customers. Businesses can be held accountable not just for how their products are created but the character of the people or groups who use them. </p>
<p>Corporations <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/26/business/business-travel-the-big-get-the-best-of-the-corporate-discounts-at-hotels.html">routinely negotiate discounts</a> for groups such as AAA, AARP, alumni clubs and others. Now these routine business decisions will be subject to an additional level of scrutiny: What does who we serve say about us? </p>
<p>Still, the speed and comprehensiveness of the anti-NRA actions were startling.</p>
<p>Within two days of a <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/corporations-nra-f0d8074f2ca7/">target list</a> being posted on ThinkProgess, a number of major national corporations <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/car-rental-hotels-ditch-nra-following-boycott-818226">had dropped</a> the NRA as a “partner.” And the site keeps a running tally of companies cutting ties with the NRA. </p>
<p>Compared with the seven-year time scale of the Nestle boycott, or the <a href="http://reward0301.superfast-server47.loan/?utm_medium=NQ3aDvyuBCtafRQJPeFC66tm%2bMNW8T%2baflxP0d0AJGo%3d&t=main4">multiyear boycotts</a> of corporations operating in South Africa during the 1980s, this was something new. Social media previously enabled the <a href="https://medium.com/powering-progressive-movements/anpartner-case-study-womens-march-mobilizes-millions-worldwide-1077b5b2b9ed">rapid mobilization</a> of street protests, including the Arab Spring and the Women’s March on Washington. Now even the threat of mobilization on social media can lead companies to change quickly.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208157/original/file-20180227-36700-uncwiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208157/original/file-20180227-36700-uncwiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208157/original/file-20180227-36700-uncwiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208157/original/file-20180227-36700-uncwiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208157/original/file-20180227-36700-uncwiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208157/original/file-20180227-36700-uncwiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208157/original/file-20180227-36700-uncwiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">First National Bank in Omaha, Nebraska, said it will not renew its contract to issue the group’s NRA Visa card.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Nati Harnik</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>With us or against us</h2>
<p>Corporate action is increasingly transparent: Whether a company cuts or maintains ties with the NRA, the world will know it via social media. To <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qdvm6h8WKg">paraphrase George W. Bush</a>, either you’re with us or against us, and it takes only moments to find out which.</p>
<p>The NRA boycott demonstrates that in an age saturated in social media and political polarization, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/business/nra-boycott.html">politics will be inescapable for the corporate sector</a>. </p>
<p>Moreover, what counts as “political” is encompassing an ever greater group of activities, ranging from which websites a company’s ads pop up on to who its customers are. </p>
<p>In this new era, companies will be forced to choose their friends wisely.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jerry Davis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The lightning-quick corporate response to demands for a boycott against the NRA shows that companies can’t escape politics in an age saturated with social media.Jerry Davis, Professor of Management and Sociology, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/774892017-06-05T16:38:07Z2017-06-05T16:38:07ZHow divestment campaigns can change the rules in a profit-driven world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168961/original/file-20170511-32607-1cgksvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Spanish activists protest against retailers using factories in a building in Bangladesh which collapsed, killing more than 600 people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Albert Gea</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in a globally integrated economy where national governments are often unwilling or unable to control corporations. How then can governments, trade unions or environmental groups protect people and environments from exploitation or abuse? What mechanisms might prevent the proverbial <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/race-bottom.asp">“race to the bottom”</a>? </p>
<p>Strong institutional mechanisms for restricting corporate power rarely cross national borders. So activists working on global issues have increasingly turned to <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122414540653">“shaming movements”</a> – broad public campaigns that seek to punish unethical corporations by urging people to reject tainted products or profits. </p>
<p>Shaming campaigns generally take the form of consumer boycotts. Individual consumers are asked to avoid specific products or brands. Divestment campaigns, which call on individuals and institutions to sell or dump their shares in a particular company or industry, are another method. </p>
<p>Shaming movements have a long history. In the late 18th century, British abolitionists refused to drink tea sweetened with <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Bury_the_Chains.html?id=YYsGlsSGRy8C&redir_esc=y">sugar</a> grown on slave plantations. During India’s independence struggle in the 1930s, Mohandas Gandhi urged his countrymen to boycott <a href="http://www.history.com/news/gandhis-salt-march-85-years-ago">commercially-produced salt</a> rather than pay British taxes. </p>
<p>Half a decade later activists boycotted <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/121/4/1196/2581604/Milking-the-Third-World-Humanitarianism-Capitalism">Nestle chocolate</a>. They were protesting the company’s reckless promotion of infant formula to the world’s poorest women. And the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s showed that divestment campaigns could focus global attention on international issues, pushing powerful companies and even governments to change their behaviour. </p>
<p>The rise of globalisation, coupled with increased corporate power, has seen ever more calls for consumer boycotts and divestment campaigns. But do they work? The answer is neither a simple yes nor an outright no. </p>
<p>Consumer boycotts and divestment campaigns have certainly been successful in attracting attention to global issues. In some cases they have forced profit-seeking companies to adopt new norms. But the challenge for activists today is what to do once the shaming has succeeded. Will companies actually adhere to these new norms, or will they simply return to business as usual?</p>
<h2>Fickle consumers and voluntary agreements</h2>
<p>Over the past 30 years most global brands have shifted to <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2013.873369">global supply chains</a>. This involves outsourcing production to different suppliers around the world. There have been repeated <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/oct/28/ethicalbusiness.india">scandals</a> about working conditions and environmental degradation among those suppliers – scandals often highlighted by transnational “shaming campaigns”.</p>
<p>The threat of “shaming” has prompted many brands to voluntarily adopt corporate codes of conduct, promising to respect national labour laws and basic safety codes. Global brands began to hire <a href="http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/the-myth-of-the-ethical-shopper/">factory monitors</a> to assess working conditions at supplier factories and certify that goods are ethically produced.</p>
<p>But do these voluntary corporate monitoring schemes really change the treatment of workers or the environment? Increasingly, the answer appears to be “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Promise-Limits-Private-Power-Comparative/dp/1107670888">no</a>”. Even corporations which boast about a strong commitment to social responsibility can easily <a href="http://casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/seidman">overlook</a> suppliers’ violations. This sometimes happens with the complicity of factory monitors. </p>
<p>When a scandal occurs, the threat of a consumer boycott may prompt global brands to act. But once the world’s eyes turn away, the commitment to ethical production tends to fade. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168958/original/file-20170511-32588-v22umx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Now that the world’s attention has turned away, many brands have failed to fulfill post-disaster pledges to help the families of Rana Plaza’s dead and injured workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Andrew Biraj</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bangladesh’s 2013 <a href="http://www.globallabourrights.org/campaigns/factory-collapse-in-bangladesh">Rana Plaza collapse</a>, which killed over 1000 workers, is a tragic reminder. Despite clear evidence that “codes of conduct” and even national building codes were being violated, brands continued to rely on suppliers who regularly endangered their workers. The disaster and accompanying scandal prompted <a href="https://business-humanrights.org/en/the-accord-on-fire-and-building-safety-in-bangladesh">loud promises</a> from companies around the world. Consumers were assured that Bangladeshi factory conditions would be transformed. </p>
<p>But many of those post-disaster pledges remain <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/04/30/525858799/4-years-after-rana-plaza-tragedy-whats-changed-for-bangladeshi-garment-workers">unfulfilled</a>. Workers in Bangladesh’s garment industry remain vulnerable and unprotected. </p>
<p>This raises real questions about voluntary monitoring schemes, prompting many activists to explore <a href="http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100250150&fa=author&person_ID=5324">new mechanisms</a> that might subject multinational brands to legal controls or regulatory mechanisms. </p>
<h2>Divestment: challenging global rules</h2>
<p>Successful divestment campaigns have a different dynamic from consumer boycotts. Instead of urging individual consumers not to buy particular brands or products, these campaigns mobilise local communities to put pressure on institutional investors. </p>
<p>Universities, municipalities or pension funds are urged to reject profits from specific locations linked to amoral activities, or from controversial industries such as tobacco, fossil fuels or private prison companies. </p>
<p>Divestment campaigns make collective, institutional demands. In doing so, they prompt community discussions about whether specific business practices – and profiting from them – can be ever be considered acceptable. They mobilise global support for new norms, reshaping collective understandings. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Loosing-Bonds-Robert-Kinloch-Massie/dp/0385261675">anti-apartheid divestment campaign</a> offered a remarkably successful example. Students, church groups and trade unions called on local institutions to sell any shares tied to apartheid-linked companies. </p>
<p>Communities around the world were forced to debate the morality of profiting from investments that involved businesses operating under apartheid, accepting the system’s legalised racism. </p>
<p>Corporate boards spent hours debating the moral and financial value of their South African ties. Corporate directors faced questions about apartheid from their children over the dinner table. As public pressure mounted, banks and multinational companies cut once-profitable ties, and pushed national governments to impose mild sanctions on South Africa. And in South Africa itself, business leaders who feared international isolation began to support a transition to democracy. </p>
<p>The power of divestment campaigns is that they stigmatise both immoral behaviours and those who would profit from them. It’s a strategy that often infuriates business leaders, as it can push policymakers to rewrite the rules of ordinary capitalism.</p>
<p>The anti-apartheid campaign, as well as the pro-Palestinian <a href="https://bdsmovement.net/">Boycott Divestment and Sanctions</a> (BDS) movement and today’s surprisingly effective <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13549839.2015.1009825?needAccess=true">fossil fuel divestment movement</a> show the power of this approach. </p>
<h2>Shaming is only the first step</h2>
<p>To be truly successful, “shaming movements” must move beyond mobilising public opinion to reach a point where national governments or international agencies are forced to adopt and enforce new norms, both within national boundaries and beyond. </p>
<p>This means that transnational activists must ensure that new mechanisms are designed to protect communities and environments. </p>
<p>Shaming may be a first step in challenging global corporate practices, but it is only a <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1eEADQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA351&dq=Naming,+Shaming,+Changing+the+World+Gay+Seidman&ots=RIxWbeJiEp&sig=mHo1tsdbu2pSFX9-_fPwAPljkHQ#v=onepage&q=Naming%2C%20Shaming%2C%20Changing%20the%20World%20Gay%20Seidman&f=false">first step</a>. </p>
<p>Increasingly, we need to think harder about what comes next. How do we create global institutions to protect all of us from what the great political economist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/09/economics-creditcrunch">Karl Polanyi</a> might have called the ravages of “savage capitalism”? How do we prevent the drive for private profit from destroying the communities and the environment on which we all rely?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77489/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gay Seidman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>“Shaming campaigns” have been successful in attracting attention to transnational issues like inhumane working conditions and environmental degradation. But shaming guilty corporations is only the first step.Gay Seidman, Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/697612016-12-05T16:13:44Z2016-12-05T16:13:44ZIt’s not a very merry Christmas for Fairtrade chocolate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148439/original/image-20161202-25663-c0w496.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=61%2C23%2C841%2C526&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/pic-523898899/stock-photo-chocolate-bar-chocolate-background-raisin-chocolate-chocolate-tower.html?src=_rNCi48xfiz7hbm7_fiM-w-2-41">Shulevskyy Volodymyr/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At a time when children are waking up every day to a chocolate from their advent calendar, the Fairtrade scheme for cocoa farmers is facing a fraught run-up to Christmas. Cadbury’s has announced it will <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2016/11/28/cadbury-drops-out-of-fairtrade-chocolate-scheme-6287987/">drop out of the benchmark certification system</a> in a move that will undermine the good progress that has been made. </p>
<p>The Fairtrade logo will no longer appear on the front of Cadbury’s chocolate packs and will be replaced by their own Cocoa Life scheme branding. In a puzzling announcement, the UK Fairtrade Foundation told campaigners this was an exciting development. It claimed the move represented a “new global partnership” between the Cocoa Life programme and Fairtrade. The new arrangement will see Fairtrade help Cadbury’s owner, Mondelez, to deliver the Cocoa Life sustainability program, and a “partnering” message will go onto the back of Cadbury’s packs. </p>
<p>But this is hard to accept as good news, particularly for campaigners who have spent decades promoting the Fairtrade Mark and its certification system. When Cadbury’s first converted their leading Cadbury’s Dairy Milk product to Fairtrade <a href="http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/en/media-centre/news/archive/cadbury-dairy-milk-commits-to-going-fairtrade">back in 2009</a> it was a moment to celebrate. It was arguably one of the defining moments in the mainstreaming and growth of Fairtrade in the UK and internationally. Cadbury’s CEO Todd Stitzer stated that “our goal is ultimately to have all of our chocolate bars be Fairtrade”. In reality, however, only Cadbury’s chocolate buttons and Cadbury’s drinking chocolate have switched since. </p>
<p>Fairtrade is both a trading system and a movement that people can get behind and support. As it grows, it ensures farmers are paid sustainably and empowered by the relationship. It builds robust and long-lasting partnerships between consumers, companies and producers to better cope in a world trading system prone to shocks and threats. Following Cadbury’s in 2009, both Nestle and Mars <a href="http://betterwork.org/global/wp-content/uploads/Session-1-Beyond-Fair-Trade.pdf">made commitments to Fairtrade</a> and products proudly displaying the Fairtrade logo were bought by millions of customers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148440/original/image-20161202-25660-1m5l5xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Will Nestle be taking a break too?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jexweber/5522724776/in/photolist-9q2pEG-ovrDvC-9pYowV-9pYozH-9KyzQx-sjgmQ-pg9dup-hyUChZ-83NHfp-6SVa5V-adtVzw-e8AnZX-adrnop-oxrUJN-391TRa-hZxxKp-5A8Zpx-4j7K5p-ofZKuP-7c6xkJ-ehvnUT-btH38V-oxgCZU-7rojo9-9g9NsJ-ovrWJA-4h1iXq-oxtV3c-9q2pSj-ovrPCb-oxrMZL-cgUcAs-bw8DRR-4Cvz2K-4FqwTz-dxBQ7j-a3QSgu-6CyjTQ-7o8uSK-3uLsAj-8WMbYm-JwtboS-3sGTg-Kmi8G-99vb7n-2WUKDW-h595zQ-ofZPvz-ds9vwa-imLDCf">Jesús Pérez Pacheco/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Free radicals</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00076791.2012.692083">In an article</a> co-authored with Dr Iain Davies of the Bath Management School, I cautiously welcomed the announcements that big names had come on board. But it came with a warning. There has always been the potential for mainstream partners to co-opt the more convenient elements of broader fair trade at the expense of the more radical edges. We also predicted that some of the core fundamental principles and standards upon which Fairtrade is based may be watered down to ensure mainstream engagement with the initiative. </p>
<p>It is therefore disappointing, but perhaps not surprising, to hear that Cadbury’s has chosen to opt out of this international social movement for fairer trade and shift entirely to a private scheme. We are concerned for the reputational damage it could do to the Fairtrade system – and its impact on smaller players. </p>
<p>The policies of big players have an effect on 100% fair trade pioneers such as <a href="http://www.traidcraft.co.uk/">Traidcraft</a>, <a href="http://www.divinechocolate.com/uk/">Divine Chocolate</a> and others. They <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00076791.2012.692083">suffered a slowdown</a> in their fair trade chocolate sales when Cadbury’s announced their switch to the Fairtrade programme in 2009 and their message is compromised by strategic corporate manoeuvring in the ethical chocolate marketplace.</p>
<p>The raison d’etre of these pioneers is their social mission. They go way beyond the minimum Fairtrade standards. In the case of Divine, cocoa farmers are made shareholders in the company, all products are certified fair trade, and all other ingredients are fair trade sourced where possible. </p>
<p>The announcement by Cadbury’s has led to headlines suggesting that the Fairtrade scheme <a href="http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/buying-and-supplying/categories/confectionery/as-cadbury-axes-logo-is-fairtrade-finished/545342.article">might be finished</a>, which does little to support the work of other fair trade pioneers. Consumers may lose faith. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148441/original/image-20161202-25653-9x3omd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Has bean?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/99374229@N07/12177230355/in/photolist-jy4ukv-7ZyFns-Dn5G7c-97aJD6-79uTMC-79uJHu-hhnVdT-79uJUs-79uKa3-ovBu3x-aHWyTr-oFxvko-hhouEy-97aKct-81n6E5-aWbK36-79qSTF-hhopEm-hho6Rg-hjjFr6-eBEqRF-hjNjPP-jy6Cfy-hhnYmq-hjMsr7-jy5zTR-hho5sU-f1waW9-hiuQcw-79qSYP-79uJxw-9beHw2-jy7EfA-8necFQ-e1APzh-8vy6uf-e1APu7-eWMpvx-9oRa31-7hPDuG-ebzbKo-p7SRK8-aHXP4v-oN7fen-jy6Dn3-72mZgK-7Y4fJY-cPGL9w-72qZio-72n1nP">USAID's Development Credit Authority/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reality cheque</h2>
<p>Despite the upbeat rhetoric from both sides, the Cadbury’s withdrawal has been a major blow for the UK Fairtrade Foundation. Remember that one of the foundation’s aims since it was set up in 1992 has been to promote and raise awareness of the Fairtrade Mark – its <a href="http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/en/what-is-fairtrade/who-we-are">highly visible stamp of approval</a>. </p>
<p>They have made the most of a difficult situation to ensure via Cocoa Life that Mondelez continues to invest in working with farmers in Ghana and that Fairtrade will report in some way on the Cocoa Life scheme’s progress. But it is slim pickings for the optimists.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148630/original/image-20161205-19399-te8kig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dairy Milk bars bearing the Fairtrade Mark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/ANDY RAIN</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The hope must be that the continued association with Fairtrade means that Mondelez will continue to support smallholder farmers. One of the biggest benefits of the Fairtrade project has been the requirement for smallholder farmers to come together in democratic organisations to decide how to spend the premiums, build their businesses and invest in their communities. <a href="http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/en/media-centre/blog/2016/november/what-is-happening-with-cadbury-and-fairtrade">According to Fairtrade</a>, Cocoa Life must deliver at least equivalent value to the Cadbury farmers as they would have received under Fairtrade, including direct cash loyalty payments to farmers. </p>
<p>Finally, as Cadbury’s moves to its own company private cocoa scheme, it is unclear whether there will be any kind of full and trusted third party verification monitoring of how much money is invested and where. <a href="http://www.globescan.com/news-and-analysis/press-releases/press-releases-2011/94-press-releases-2011/145-high-trust-and-global-recognition-makes-fairtrade-an-enabler-of-ethical-consumer-choice.html">Studies have shown</a> this independent monitoring is crucial to scheme credibility. It is also unclear what role farmers will have in running this programme, and whether, as it is their future that is being decided, they have appropriate influence over the price they get for their cocoa and how the money is spent.</p>
<p>The real danger lies in the fact that other major players are also building <a href="http://www.nestle.co.uk/csv2015/rural-development/nestl%c3%a9-cocoa-plan">their own private schemes</a>. This clearly opens up the possibility that they too will opt out of the independent certification scheme. If this does come to pass, consumers will be left unable to properly assess and compare the benefits to farmers being offered by the different chocolate brands. And that favours the big companies far more than it does those growing the cocoa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bob Doherty does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The benchmark scheme that protects cocoa farmers and local communities could be toppled as big players rethink their role.Bob Doherty, Professor of Marketing , University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/485242015-10-08T13:42:27Z2015-10-08T13:42:27ZChocolate war in the court room as KitKat fingers and Lindt bears take the stand<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97755/original/image-20151008-9682-kwzkl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Battleground. Chocolate firms try to keep you coming back for more.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/5110941023/in/photolist-8MCUGP-mzTmkJ-muMuZF-nu9123-dLfeVH-TFbqx-9tgBve-3YayV-muN4ZX-2RDzB6-oR79JX-5Uy5V-p7pMWF-ge4zhR-oEbbrR-6YdVnJ-bunZdT-qJTaL-9cxMUu-96sqPo-gd5kFu-7aZjud-e2zn81-8MzhyL-8MzhGf-8MzhBU-aM7QGz-5ZrgaS-8FUh5D-8MzgC3-Gb222-toArip-7dAwfj-dq9r2-b42Jv-8HpKYo-6aS4dU-5QYvQr-fcrMeQ-75uBLs-sHgY21-xdQkyy-dsFK4V-cfMKwS-8NTyXb-5R6soV-eyPT6L-96ppwH-7dNeu8-8rX44q">Paul Townsend</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rivals operating in the multi-billion pound world of chocolate branding occasionally launch attacks on one another as they seek to secure your snacking loyalty. They want to defend their existing empires, as well as pursue new territories and markets – and two such trade mark battles have come to the fore in the news in recent weeks which reveal a lot about the tension between the legal protections provided by trade mark law and the competitive nature of the marketplace for chocolate. </p>
<p>First, in mid-September the Court of Justice of the EU ruled on Nestlé’s bid to receive UK trade mark protection for the (allegedly) distinct shape of the four-finger version of the KitKat, long touted as the UK’s favourite chocolate bar. <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3237772/Cadbury-kills-bid-Nestle-trademark-distinctive-shape-KitKat.html">Nestlé’s main aim</a> is apparently to prevent a rival four finger chocolate bar from being marketed by Cadbury. Then, in late September the German Federal court ruled on the dispute between jelly sweet giant Haribo and Lindt over Lindt’s chocolate bears and Haribo’s “Gold Bear” trade mark. </p>
<h2>KitKat Attack</h2>
<p>Dealing first with the KitKat case, Nestlé’s claim over the four finger shape was framed around two fundamental aspects of trade mark law. First, <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/26/contents">it is possible under trade mark law</a> to register a three dimensional shape – in this case the four fingers – as a trade mark, as long as that shape has sufficient “distinctiveness”. It is also possible for a shape to “acquire” distinctiveness through use in the marketplace and consumer recognition. <a href="http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2014/16.html">Cadbury argued</a> that the shape had not acquired sufficient distinctiveness in the minds of consumers. </p>
<p>So far, so simple. But the other key question centred on whether a shape with so-called functional elements in its design could also be protected as a trade mark. In the case of the KitKat, that basically refers to the ability to break off each individual finger to dip in your tea (or however you choose to eat it; I’m aware it is a personal thing). Now, generally, the law does not protect purely “functional” shapes – the reason being that competitors ought to be allowed to produce competing goods.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97757/original/image-20151008-9670-8p6hzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97757/original/image-20151008-9670-8p6hzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97757/original/image-20151008-9670-8p6hzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97757/original/image-20151008-9670-8p6hzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97757/original/image-20151008-9670-8p6hzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97757/original/image-20151008-9670-8p6hzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97757/original/image-20151008-9670-8p6hzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97757/original/image-20151008-9670-8p6hzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ‘functional’ element at work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/threefingers/2246571713/in/photolist-4qwgv4-avr3N4-7UEyip-7q2JLu-dWxve6-jgW6HC-sgtPXf-9svtNJ-d7Fbzh-d7FbWf-4NdFUx-b4aLqz-7v4nJq-qF3CGa-5ZnEK4-88QgKH-7ndYC4-bJy2M2-8Dd2gj-89VEKL-gd9gWW-6i27iZ-5ZnD9x-5ZnDXH-KGcCq-64SAPL-6bsjLu-4KdUc5-4vmiPz-6MZRKm-9t9RYQ-7twsMY-6rvHsW-9t6RBF-bvbD7w-5paSKX-ppH6Af-3d8TCk-9t6SeZ-dWxv6v-6hwE2t-5HDSby-5HDRFo-5HDRRw-98H7J9-97fKF4-dxaeaM-Yv2X1-aHnQWT-9H4YMj">Sean Murray</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the matter of distinctiveness, the court ruled that to obtain trade mark protection, Nestlé had to demonstrate that consumers identify the four finger shape itself - stripped of any packaging or branding - with Nestlé and KitKat. This ruling was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34266169">widely reported in the media</a> as a victory for Cadbury, but the legal reality is more complex. </p>
<p>Nestlé has always claimed that even without its well known red and white packaging or the use of the existing trade mark name, the shape of the bar should of itself be regarded as sufficiently distinct, and it <a href="https://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-os/t-find/t-challenge-decision-results/o25713.pdf">claims some consumer survey evidence</a> to support this. </p>
<p>For Cadbury there is a further sting in the tail. On the issue of functionality the court’s ruling seems to strongly favour Nestlé because the key elements of the four finger shape do not seem to fall within a single category of objection, which means that Nestlé’s four finger shape is likely to survive this test. The case now <a href="http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2014/16.html">returns to the High Court</a> for a determination on the facts. </p>
<h2>The bear facts</h2>
<p>The case between Haribo and Lindt has a similar ring to it, and it is again all about stopping rivals encroaching on your space in the confectionery aisle of the supermarket, however limited that danger might appear to us shoppers. </p>
<p>Their dispute concerned the “Gold Bear” trade mark under which Haribo has long marketed a well known range of gummy bears; the words themselves are protected under trade mark law as a word mark. The problems started when Swiss chocolate maker Lindt began selling a gold foil-wrapped chocolate teddy bear. Haribo was quick to accuse its rival of infringing the Gold Bear trademark. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97759/original/image-20151008-9655-l6uqwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97759/original/image-20151008-9655-l6uqwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97759/original/image-20151008-9655-l6uqwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97759/original/image-20151008-9655-l6uqwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97759/original/image-20151008-9655-l6uqwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97759/original/image-20151008-9655-l6uqwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97759/original/image-20151008-9655-l6uqwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97759/original/image-20151008-9655-l6uqwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flash point. When bears attack.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/foodishfetish/8140351801/in/photolist-dpkqZ8">Jocelyn & Cathy</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Haribo claimed that consumers would confuse the two products and go on to incorrectly associate the Lindt gold bear with Haribo. Lindt, meanwhile, argued that its foil-wrapped chocolate bears were merely a variation on its famous chocolate Easter bunny rabbit design. Lindt pointed out that both the Lindt bear and the Lindt bunny rabbit are typically packaged in gold foil with a red ribbon, and argued there was no intention to associate with Haribo’s Gold Bear mark.</p>
<p>Haribo <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/dec/18/gummy-bear-wins-court-battles">won the first round of this battle</a> when, in December 2012, a German regional court banned future sales of Lindt’s bears. However, a later German appeal court in Cologne rejected that ruling and said that Haribo’s feared consumer confusion between the two products would not in fact occur. This appeal ruling has now been upheld by the German Federal court in a decision that leaves the Lindt bears on the shelf and which brings this particular chocolate war to a fitting close.</p>
<p>If nothing else, these cases are a useful reminder of how valuable you - the consumer - are to makers of sugary snacks, and how fearful companies are that your gaze might be diverted from their offering. Disputes that might on the surface seem petty have pitted together three of Europe’s largest chocolate manufacturers (Cadbury, Nestlé and Lindt) as well as one of its premier sweet manufacturers (Haribo). Behind the scenes of your mid-morning treat is a fierce battle to protect trade marks, market share and, ultimately, profit margins.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke McDonagh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Behind the scenes of your mid-morning treat is a fierce legal battle to protect market share and profits.Luke McDonagh, Lecturer in Law, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/237522014-02-28T13:12:18Z2014-02-28T13:12:18ZBrand history shows marketing is the second oldest profession<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42680/original/y8tcfrmq-1393518423.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C3%2C1020%2C676&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reputational risk</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/52935953@N03/5010744932/in/photolist-8CMnU1-8Ex1pB-9PWYMR-9FzJKc-bVFua6-8wecsF-bsWy7F-dpcNMw-bsWyF2-9ZPgaR-7Q3yUx-dVBMkg-bexKW2-aDRawT-9DtHwV-b4rCDr-9eApet-7NfxcR-9gxVrG-9wTjer-abUw3b-dAQS2Y-e36BNA-9hrGLn-c3gASq-8zYxYZ-b1fpzn-gtLSEw-efVgap-eozGYX-i9SQUn-i7k3Zo-jJnHEG-euPNvS-7FsjGx-8jeuKU">Ernesto Pletsch</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Oxfam has announced the latest set of results from its <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/26/us-food-oxfam-idUSBREA1P00F20140226">Behind the Brands project</a> to influence ten leading food and beverage companies to reform their supply chains. The charity’s efforts are only the most recent in a long and lively history of campaigns to reform business practices across a number of industries.</p>
<p>Rather than encouraging boycotts, Behind the Brands urges companies such as Coca Cola, Danone and Kelloggs to improve by regularly monitoring their performance and providing that information to consumers. <a href="http://www.behindthebrands.org/en-us/campaign-news/turning-the-way-food-companies-do-business-upside-down">The latest results</a> reveal that, during the past year, there has been an improvement in the condition of women in supply chains and in the attention paid by companies to land rights. Oxfam has responded positively to these developments, but has emphasised that the campaign will continue.</p>
<p>There are precedents for campaigns tackling Oxfam’s themes of transparency at the corporate level and improvements for workers from as early as the medieval period. But how was this encouraged and why?</p>
<p>Transparency in business operations was a key concern even for medieval consumers. They wanted to be assured that traders were consistently honest in their business dealings, would treat customers fairly and would sell goods of the correct quality and quantity. Manuals instructed businesspeople to “cherish the honour and the good welfare of your city” and “always act according as is right”. Honesty and integrity in business were principles that also guided the Quaker firms of the eighteenth century onwards, including the chocolate manufacturers Cadbury’s and Rowntree’s.</p>
<h2>Paved with gold</h2>
<p>Transparency can be communicated in a variety of ways. In the medieval period engagement with the local community was crucial. Successful merchants like Richard Whittington made donations to infrastructure projects which reinforced their ties to their local community. Craft organisations in York performed plays of biblical tales related to their professions – the fishmongers performed Noah’s Ark. Long-term investment in the area and codes of behaviour were both emphasised.</p>
<p>Failure to adhere to these standards had serious consequences for firms. Informally, manuals warned medieval merchants of the risk of losing “their trade contacts” if they behaved deceitfully. Formal regulations also governed how firms could operate from around the beginning of the 13th century – and breaking those regulations could result in a large fine, imprisonment or physical punishment. Opportunities for reform and to learn from mistakes were provided. However those who persistently broke the rules were banned from trading for at least a year. There was therefore an incentive for businesses to comply.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42681/original/mzwbt638-1393518844.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42681/original/mzwbt638-1393518844.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42681/original/mzwbt638-1393518844.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42681/original/mzwbt638-1393518844.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42681/original/mzwbt638-1393518844.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42681/original/mzwbt638-1393518844.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42681/original/mzwbt638-1393518844.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42681/original/mzwbt638-1393518844.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shiny happy people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/betsyweber/9233322258/in/photolist-f4Vc2m-8yCcfD-9iQdvd-9iM66B-9iM5ZV-95B12A-95xXqZ-dRPdfJ-95xXCp-95xXHa-9uYNQj/">Betsy Weber</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Oxfam’s desire to improve working conditions also has earlier parallels. Some contemporary companies, such as Nike, now provides consumers with data on the different factories in its supply chain <a href="http://nikeinc.com/pages/responsibility">on its website</a>. But factory inspections have been used in many instances to promote transparency in the treatment of the workforce. Cadbury’s promoted its <a href="http://www.cadbury.co.uk/the-story">factory in Bournville, Birmingham</a> as “the factory in a garden”. Publicity material from the 19th and early 20th centuries, produced for visitors, promotes the amenities for workers, including recreational facilities and housing. </p>
<p>William Hesketh Lever, whose company eventually became part of Unilever, also integrated the treatment of workers at his <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2009/jun/09/walk-guides-port-sunlight-merseyside">factory and village complex Port Sunlight</a> into the broader promotion of Sunlight Soap. The firms benefited from the positive publicity and the workers benefited from improved conditions relative to other factories at the time. The irony of now being one of the targets of the Oxfam campaign won’t be lost on Unilever. </p>
<h2>A sour taste</h2>
<p>The Behind the Brands campaign has developed as consumers are increasingly separated, by both the supply chain and by geographical distance, from those who supply their goods, and there are echoes of that in the arrival of the railways in Britain and the US. </p>
<p>Milk and meat could, for the first time, be prepared and packaged in one location and then transported some distance to another location for sale. In his novel, <a href="http://www.shmoop.com/the-jungle/">The Jungle</a>, Upton Sinclair recounted some of the dangerous practices, including the sale of meat from diseased animals, that occurred in the Chicago meat plants in the early 20th century. He also highlighted the poor working conditions of the employees. </p>
<p>In the UK, the medical profession highlighted the increasing amounts of dangerous chemicals that were being added to milk to preserve it during the train journey from the Home Counties to London.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42683/original/zgs93fmf-1393519109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42683/original/zgs93fmf-1393519109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42683/original/zgs93fmf-1393519109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42683/original/zgs93fmf-1393519109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42683/original/zgs93fmf-1393519109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42683/original/zgs93fmf-1393519109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42683/original/zgs93fmf-1393519109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42683/original/zgs93fmf-1393519109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fresh from the farm?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24920925@N05/3682425202/in/photolist-6BpoHG-6BSQc7-6Tskyk-6TwmwL-72BxUi-76wphH-77aGHz-7b9yvq-7g6BUd-7x7hWA-7x7i5W-9qBSxo-cjr6zW-cJKFGq-cJKG1j-cJKGrS-cJKGMQ-9bYNwa-9c2TjE-9bYP1Z-8C5bYU-7yuMD6-e8r4na-fmPDQN-7QZLcN-aFtwFv-ce6abf-7Y5t4e-9LufhR-ccrtZC-9oLrPo-gsd5Do-gse8Z8-gsdv7n-9qySiv-9qyRUD-9qBTio-caawbo-k6wLQx-9Lx42N-9uJJ5x-f5EYFx-7QWt7n-9Lx5Eb-cpBanS-867u8J-9LugAe-c6bTAy-aWDzEZ-8naRhp-7zfF3x">Adam Edmond</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Media attention was drawn to these issues, and consumers were educated through cartoons and rhymes about how to detect such defaults in their foodstuffs. Although no immediate changes were made in either industry, the presence of problems was highlighted. It is a route that Oxfam acknowledges, choosing to focus on consumer education in its campaign, while accepting that the process of change may be gradual.</p>
<p>And any campaign in the corporate world, especially one as focused as Oxfam’s, brings an element of reputational risk, making a firm’s desire for a positive brand image a hugely important element in any attempts to force reform. Numerous references exist in medieval trade regulations to the “damage” and “scandal” that could occur to a business that broke regulations or failed to meet consumer expectation.</p>
<p>Working with businesses can also encourage action on the part of other stakeholders. Local governments in medieval towns recognised that the business practices of firms in their city reflected on the economy of the city as a whole. In 1344 in London, for example, local government took direct action to ‘maintain the reputation of the skinners’ trade and in 1379 in Leicester the local government appointed inspectors in response to poor business practises amongst the weavers. </p>
<p>One crucial difference between these historical examples and the situation today, of course, is that highly local changes are no longer enough. Throughout history, consumers have had certain expectations of how businesses should behave both towards customers and towards employees, but the shift to a “global market” has changed the ways that consumers and firms can interact. Oxfam will hope it can continue to harness those medieval instincts on a far grander scale.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23752/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Casson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Oxfam has announced the latest set of results from its Behind the Brands project to influence ten leading food and beverage companies to reform their supply chains. The charity’s efforts are only the most…Catherine Casson, Teaching Fellow in Business and Society, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.