Corporate Criminals - Part II

Killing Me Softly

Yesterday I talked about corporate criminals behaving like bullies on the international schoolyard. I mentioned Dow Chemical, Lockheed Martin, Phillip Morris, DynCorp and Ford Motors and gave an accounting of their (alleged) sins. I wrote to tell you that Chevron takes home the prize for worst offender in the world. It is, without dispute, Public Enemy Number One.

Originally, I was thinking that I would create an entry to do my part and influence consumer activity but I hadn’t even gotten to Coca Cola or Nestle by the time I ran out of steam. Greedy corporations make me angry, which makes me sarcastic, which makes me tired. That said, today I thought I should finish what I started. So here are more greedy corporations you can feel good about hating.

Caterpillar is a company that manufactures heavy equipment. There’s a Caterpillar distributor in a town near our house. Each Christmas they put some equipment on the front lawn, drape it in Christmas lights and put a plastic Santa in the driver’s seat of one of their bulldozers. It’s cute. Meanwhile, back in Peoria some enterprising salesman at home office is counting his commission after selling bulldozers to the Israeli army. The Israelis use the equipment to destroy Palestinian homes – usually after they’ve violently evicted the occupants, though occasionally when the families are still in residence. Incidentally, the Israelis aren’t keeping this fact a secret from Caterpillar. Caterpillar is charged with contracting with known violators of human rights.


The Coca Cola Company has been around since 1886 and is responsible for producing the world’s most popular soft drink. Remember the commercial they aired back in the 70’s where a handsome and diverse group of vocalists sang, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” while holding bottles of coke in their hands? Didn’t that make you feel good about Coke? Yeah, me too. That feeling subsided when I read that Coca Cola is an industrial leader in the abuse of workers’ rights. Worse still, they’ve been accused of kidnapping, assassination and torture. Here are some statistics from Global Exchange’s website:

• 8 union leaders were killed between 1989 and 2002 after protesting labour practices in Columbian bottling plants;
• hundreds of workers have been kidnapped, tortured and detained by paramilitaries who use intimidation tactics to prevent the workers from unionizing;
• Coca Cola extracted 1.5 million litres of deep well water in India severely depleting groundwater and creating shortages that would affect thousands of people (the water was bottled and sold – Dasani and BonAqua);
• Coca Cola re-sold industrial waste to farmers for use as a fertilizer knowing that it contained hazardous lead and cadmium;
• Coca Cola regularly denies health insurance to employees failing to help stop the spread of AIDS in Africa.

Coke, It’s The Real Thing. Well, it’s some kind of thing anyway. I’m posting a link that will take to you Wikipedia’s list of Coca Cola brands. I’m proposing a boycott. Easy for me to say, I don’t drink Coke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Coca-Cola_brands


I love chocolate. When I saw Nestle’s name on the list, I was scared. It was kind of like finding out that your kid was in a fight at school. You feel disappointed and you want to know what you can do to make things right. I found out Nestle was founded in the 1860’s by a pharmacist who developed food for babies who couldn’t breastfeed. It wasn’t until the 1920’s that Nestle expanded into the chocolate industry. Remember the Nestle Quick Bunny? He was always trying to steal the kids’ chocolate milk. What a character.

Here’s something you may not know…Nestle knowingly buys cocoa beans from farmers who use children illegally as labourers. Global Exchange quotes estimates from the US State Department suggesting that “approximately 109,000 child labourers work in hazardous conditions on cocoa farms in what’s been described as the worst form of child labour.” Save the Children have been involved, as has Unicef and the International Labor Rights Fund. Nestle agreed to end the use of abusive and forced child labour by 2005 but have not done so as yet. According to Global Exchange, Nestle is one of “the most boycotted corporations in the world.” If you want to join in the fun, here’s a link that will take you to a site listing all of their brands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestl%C3%A9_brands

Incidentally, you should know the Nestle has the dubious honor of being the subject of my daughter’s grade 5 social studies assignment. What more could she ask for, a scandal involving chocolate and children. Her presentation was passionate and inspired and so she earned an A-. Today, she prefers Cadbury to Nestle.


Wal-Mart got a mention in yesterday’s blog, but I thought I should share more details about the accusations on Global Exchange. Wal-Mart is accused of workers’ rights violations, labour discrimination and union busting. Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world with over 5000 stores and nearly 2 million workers giving it substantial commercial clout. While this kind of influence could serve as a platform for good, Wal-Mart has lowered the bar by routinely putting its own interests above its workers. I found it interesting to know that Sam Walton received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H. W. Bush in 1992. I guess the CEO of Dow Chemical was unavailable.

Last, but not least, Pfizer stands accused of “killer price gouging.” This is neither new, nor should it come as any surprise. The Pharmaceutical trade has been getting a lot of press these days. Ask any AIDS activist to explain how greedy pharmaceutical companies inflate their products to get rich at the expense of the sick and dying. This is, by far, the most appalling of crimes. I’m not sure how the corporate hot shots at Pfizer sleep at night – scratch that, I’ll assume they take Unisom ®. To make sure that nobody gets a piece of their pie, “Pfizer and other drug companies have refused to grant generic licenses for HIV/AIDS drugs” to impoverished nations whose patients spend up to 70% of their monthly wage on medicine. It takes a special kind of evil to take money from the poor.


Consumerism is a word that describes the relationship between what we buy and the effects it has upon how we feel. Because of this, now more than ever, people strongly identify with the products they buy.

With this in mind, remember that every dime you spend has power. Every time you buy a product from one company, you are by default, choosing not to support their competitor. When many people withhold their support, businesses falter or change models to adapt. They try to win back "consumer confidence." So, if you feel like a chocolate bar, why not buy a Cadbury? It’s a little more difficult to apply a consumer strangle-hold on Lockheed Martin and Dow Chemical. After all, what am I going to do, cancel my Christmas orders for Napalm and Trident missiles? Maybe not, but Dow also makes products for home use. Products also manufactured by other companies.

If you believe, like I do, that every one of your actions has an impact, you naturally feel obliged to act deliberately and will probably think twice before making a purchase. If you cannot be inspired to act out of a sense of duty, perhaps what I have written will offend you enough that you will decide to "stick it to the man". Either way, I hope you decide to share your hard-earned money with companies that choose to have a conscience rather than rewarding those that don't.

Thanks for your time.