just laura

NOTE: I didn’t write any of this, I just found it in a newsletter online and thought it was intriguing enough to share.

The Body Shop

Founded: 1970
Products: Cosmetics and toiletries
Purchaser: L’Oreal
L’Oreal turnover: £9.8 billion
Date of purchase: March 2000
Price paid: £652 million
‘Before’ Ethiscore: 11
‘After’ ethiscore: 3.5

The Body Shop, and its founders the Roddicks, have developed a reputation as ‘campaigning traders’. Going beyond the development of ethical products, they used the company’s high street position to campaign vocally ‘against animal testing’ as well as on other issues like Shell in Nigeria and multinationals generally. This has made their acquisition, by one of the most vilified multinational groupings in the world (L’Oreal/ Nestle), particularly hard for some former supporters. To some degree the unique voice of The Body Shop had
already been stifled following its stock-market floatation in 1999.3 In addition, pre-takeover reports had identified Body Shop as struggling financially, and in need of a partner to prosper. According to the Economist, ‘L’Oreal says The Body Shop will be able to operate as an independent unit, which sounds sensible. But will L’Oreal really be able to resist slipping its ethically-challenged wrinkle cream onto the shelves next to the bracing and naturally-inspired body scrubs offered by The Body Shop?’

Green & Blacks

Founded: 1991
Products: Chocolate
Purchaser: Cadbury Schweppes
Cadbury turnover: £4.7 billion
Date of purchase: May 2005
Price paid: £20 million
‘Before’ Ethiscore: 16
‘After’ ethiscore: 8.5

This takeover has already been the subject of an extended debate in the letters page of Ethical Consumer. Cadbury Schweppes, although no stranger to controversy over workers’ rights in its chocolate supply chains and other issues, has not attracted the same levels of criticism as other chocolate multinationals. According to William Kendell, Green & Blacks’ chief executive, ‘we would never have sold…the company…if we had not been convinced of their complete
commitment to our values. We know that they will help us bring the benefits of organic farming and ethical trading to more people than we have been able to do’.

Neil Makin from Cadbury Schweppes is also on record as saying: ‘ We wouldn’t want to buy these companies if we were going to destroy their brand. With our Bournville Quaker forefathers we have something of a social and ethical heritage already.’

Ben and Jerry’s

Founded: 1978
Products: Ice Cream
Purchaser: Unilever
Unilever turnover: £28 billion
Date of purchase: April 2000
Price paid: $100 million
‘Before’ Ethiscore: n/ a
‘After’ ethiscore: 3.5

This takeover was the most high-profile takeover of a socially responsible business in its day. What lessons does it hold for the bout of more recent acquisitions? Firstly, sales are good. In 2003 it had already become the top selling ‘premium’ ice cream in the USA with sales of $212m — a 70% increase over 1997.3 However, the ethical culture of the organisation is widely recognised not to have fared so well. Its latest social audit found that only 45% of employees thought that the company was taking its social mission
seriously.13 20% of Ben & Jerry’s employees were fired in the first 3 years after acquisition and Unilever no longer donates 7.5% of Ben & Jerry’s pre-tax profits to charity. Although it is fair to say that disclosing this kind of data in its own social audit shows that some serious commitment remains.

In one way, the Ben and Jerry’s takeover was unusual. It was a ‘hostile’ takeover of a publicly quoted company and, as such, left one founder, Ben Cohen, less than ecstatic. He is on record as saying, ‘I think that most of what had been the soul of Ben and Jerry’s is not gonna be around anymore’. He also offers this advice to other social entrepreneurs considering selling to a large organisation: ‘Don’t do it! Stay independent.’

Tom’s of Maine

Founded: 1970
Products: Toothpaste
Purchaser: Colgate Palmolive
Colgate turnover: £5.5 billion
Date of purchase: March 2006
Price paid: $100 million
‘Before’ Ethiscore: 16
‘After’ ethiscore: 10.5

Tom’s of Maine was America’s top selling ‘natural’ toothpaste brand and it had ECRA’s highest rating for environmental reporting, animal testing policy and for paraben-free products. Colgate Palmolive currently has ECRA’s worst rating in these categories as well as criticisms for involvement in Oppressive Regimes and Political Activity. According to founder Tom Chappel, maintaining ethical standards such as bio-degradability of ingredients and staying in Maine were ‘deal breakers going into the process’.

Other similar takeovers

Small ethical companies being taken over by larger players don’t always make it into the press. There has been a clear trend for some time in the USA and it is now beginning to be felt here.

Samantha and Odwalla (premium juice) by Coca Cola
Natural Boca Burger (veggie burger) by Kraft/ Philip Morris
Cascadian Farm (organic) by General Mills
Stonyfield Farm (organic yoghurt) by Danone
Seeds of Change (pasta) by Mars UK/ Europe
Rachels Organic (dairy) by Dean Foods (USA)
Kallo Foods (wholefoods) by Koninklijke Wessanen
PJ Smoothies (drinks) by Pepsi

My friend Marta just ran and completed her first marathon! Quite impressive! Like many folks, she did it as part of Team in Training to help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. You can check out her recap of the race on her site – it’s an interesting and worthwhile visit (and you can donate if you feel so inclined). http://www.active.com/donate/tntsvmb/tntsvmbMZumwal A portion of it:

“Some highlights/entertaining points of the race:
Mile 3 – a magnificent view of the sun rising over the golden gate bridge.
Mile 5 – an oxygen bar (which I did not partake in – but was tempted)
Mile 11 – a band in golden gate park playing a pretty creative (by creative, I mean atonal) version “eye of the tiger” – Dan can back me up on that one….but they redeemed themselves slightly with a better version of Elvis’s “burnin’ love”
Mile 16 – switching running mates – Dan ran off and Amy joined in. There was an adjustment period – but the dance music on the great hwy defiantly helped :)
Mile 21 – I get a little punchy (Amy can attest to this)- this was the mile around lake Merced where I realize that I am going to be uncomfortable (meaning have pain) for the next 5 miles.
Mile 22 – CHOCOLATE! Ghirardelli turned things around – they have a gift.
Mile 24-26 – realizing that we are almost there makes everything good! We saw the coaches, mentor Mary (who is awesome!) and a great TNT coach from New Mexico who was great fun!
Mile 26.2 – THE FINISH LINE!!

The finish line consisted of gifts (a Tiffany’s necklace handed out by a very nice group of firemen) and a goodie bag which included a race shirt which read “ran like a girl”. Even the boys got this shirt!”

I woke up to get the Centre key from Samuel the night watchman on Friday at 6:30am since Cindy was gone (she usually does it on weekdays). Oddly, when I gradually woke up before my alarm sounded, I remembered the dream I was having. This is highly unusual. Until age 23, I hadn’t remembered having more than 3-5 dreams in my entire life. In a college class about alternative media, I actually had to have other people tell me their dreams and then I’d pretend to analyze them as my own for class assignments. It was maybe the only time I’d ever lied in class… but I couldn’t very well analyze my own dreams if I wasn’t dreaming, could I?

When I was 23, I vaguely remembered having 2-3 dreams in the spring months. I didn’t remember much if any of the content, but was pretty sure I had dreamt. And now this year in Kenya I remember dreams on occasion too. No idea why I don’t usually remember having ever dreamt… I know science tells us we all dream, but if you don’t ever know that you’ve ever dreamt, then that doesn’t mean much, does it?

However, this morning I woke up and knew I’d dreamt. In fact, I could even remember many parts and details of the dream. It felt long and complex and drawn out… something about me being kind of rejected at first and then me kind of being pursued by the same rich, well off dude I didn’t care about too much. Looked like a cross between my rich law student neighbor in college who took great photos and went to Africa and fixed me nice dinner, and a cross between Jude Law or the creepy scary guy from Redeye with the dark hair and piercing blue eyes. Among the odd little bits I remember, there was a scene with the guy’s friends discussing his desire to have dates make paper jewelry to wear on a big date out of A4 paper colored with highlighter markers. (If Magic Marker paper jewelry, twisted on a wooden toothpick, wouldn’t get a classy guy in a suit in a dream to like me, what possibly could? Please… let’s not analyze this and relate it to my “fear” of being unemployed and single and gray haired upon my return from Africa). I tried to type up the dream from memory on the computer, but I haven’t actually gone back yet to see if any of it was coherent. I know I couldn’t remember key details or events of the dream that would’ve helped parts make more sense to me, but the truth is that I remembered more of this dream than any other dream I’ve ever had in my entire life. It’s not the content I was concerned with, it was the fact I remembered the content that was exciting. Bizarre, eh? Longest dream I’ve ever known I’ve had. Just thought I’d share.

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was when I finally got online and tried to find out the results of this week’s US elections. America is so incredibly diverse and it’s very exciting for me to see that more of the diversity of our country is finally being represented in the power structure. Many, many congrats to

• Nancy Pelosi, D-California, the first female speaker in the nation’s history
• Keith Ellison, D- Minnesota, the first Muslim to be elected to Congress
• The Senate with their record number of women (16) – including ones from both Washington and Texas
• Deval Patrick, D-Massachusetts, the second African American elected governor in U.S. history

Let’s hope the Dems use their power for good and not evil and hope they stay focused on making positive change (and not get side tracked on reclaiming power for power’s sake).

And on a side note… congrats to Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock. As a fat, conservative, white man from the South, he’s not exactly the definition of diversity, but he did manage to hang onto his seat. He’s from my home town, and has been around since I was a child. His son and I were on the swim team together, we went to high school together, etc. I don’t know that I even knew he was a congressman, but apparently he is (he used to be a judge locally when I was a kid). And not only that, he’s just announced that he would seek the No. 3 spot in the House Republican Conference, the organization that sets the party’s message. Imagine my surprise reading election news to see “Rep. Carter – Round Rock” in an MSNBC article. “The Republican Party suffered significant losses last night,” Carter said in a written statement announcing his candidacy for conference secretary. “We need to work hard and renew our commitment to the party’s core values, in order to set a course for winning back the House in 2008.” Huh. Crazy.

November 03, 2006

(AP) In the first comprehensive global study of sexual behavior, U.K. researchers found that people aren’t losing their virginity at ever-younger ages, married people have the most sex, and there is no firm link between promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases.

The study was published Wednesday as part of a series on sexual and reproductive health by the U.K. medical journal The Lancet. Professor Kaye Wellings of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicines and her colleagues analyzed data from 59 countries.

Experts say the study will be useful not only in dispelling popular myths about sexual behavior but in shaping policies that will help improve sexual health across the world.

Researchers looked at published studies on sexual behavior in the last decade. They also used data from national governments worldwide. Wellings noted that since the survey results were based on self-reporting, they could be susceptible to error.

Wellings said she was surprised by some of the survey’s results. ”We did have some of our preconceptions dashed,” she said, explaining they had expected to find the most promiscuous behavior in regions like Africa with the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases. That was not the case, as multiple partners were more commonly reported in industrialized countries where the incidence of such diseases was relatively low.

“There’s a misperception that there’s a great deal of promiscuity in Africa, which is one of the potential reasons for HIV/AIDS spreading so rapidly,” said Paul Van Look, director of Reproductive Health and Research at the World Health Organization, who was not connected to the study. ”But that view is not supported by the evidence.”

Wellings said the research implies that promiscuity may be less important than factors such as poverty and education—especially in the encouragement of condom use—in the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.

The survey found that single men and women in Africa were fairly sexually inactive: Only two thirds of them reported recent sexual activity, compared with three quarters of their counterparts in developed countries.

The study also found that contrary to popular belief, sexual activity is not starting earlier. Nearly everywhere, men and women have their first sexual experiences in their late teens—from 15 to 19 years old—with generally younger ages for women than for men, especially in developing countries. That age is no younger than 10 years ago.

Still, there are considerable variations across countries. In the United Kingdom, for example, men and women tend to lose their virginity at ages 16½ and 17½ respectively. In comparison, men and women in Indonesia waited until they were 24½ and 18½ respectively.

Researchers also found that married people have the most sex, reporting engaging in sexual activity in the previous four weeks more frequently than single people. There has also been a gradual shift to delay marriage, even in developing countries.

While that has meant a predictable rise in the rates of premarital sex, experts say this doesn’t necessarily translate into more dangerous behavior.

In some instances, married women may be more at risk than single women.

”A single woman is more able to negotiate safe sex in certain circumstances than a married woman,” says Van Look, who points out that married women in Africa and Asia are often threatened by unfaithful husbands who frequent prostitutes.

There is much greater equality between women and men with regard to the number of sexual partners in rich countries than in poor countries, the study found.

For example, men and women in Australia, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States tend to have an almost equal number of sexual partners. In contrast, in Cameroon, Haiti, and Kenya, men tend to have multiple partners while women tend to have only one.

This imbalance has significant public health implications. ”In countries where women are beholden to their male partners, they are likely not to have the power to request condom use, and they probably won’t know about their husbands’ transgressions,” said Wellings.

Because of the diversity of sexual habits worldwide, Wellings warns that no single approach to sexual health will work everywhere. ”There are very different economic, religious, and social rules governing sexual conduct across the world,” she said.

Speaking of marathons… my friend Pete just finished the Chicago Marathon 277th overall out of 33,000 people! He says, “not too bad, but I hoped for better.” I say, “pretty freaking impressive!”

It’s not that they really have too much time on their hands, it’s just that somehow smart kids always seem to find a way to get themselves into trouble. In high school, it was the Irreverent Walter Cult – the seniors with the top rankings and high IQs who made irreverent t-shirts, pulled pranks, and almost got themselves expelled a few days before graduation.

Seems the smart kids at MIT carry on the tradition carrying out “hacks” over the years. One of the most recent was putting a “MIT Fire Department” truck on the dome of the university (despite the fact the university doesn’t have a fire department). You can check it out and think of anyone you know who might currently be at MIT who’d be involved in such a prank. Go team!

Josh sent me this bizarre link for the first annual synchronized global orgasm for peace day. His one word comment on the event: “yikes.” I’ve been invited to march for peace and pray for peace, and I suppose this is just the next step in our long process towards peace. Did I mention I was highly entertained to see the global orgasm for peace day is scheduled for my birthday on December 22? Everyone be sure to save the date…