There seems to be a newish trend among big corporations (new in the last decade) – the moral value product. The problem is that these large companies are playing both ends of the field. Toyota brags endlessly about their high-efficiency hybrid cars (and lately other car companies have joined in) while still hocking plenty of gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. Morningstar Farms specializes in vegetarian foods, but is owned by Dean Foods, who is one of the largest meat-producing companies. Dairy-free soy milks and soy yogurts are now produced by dairy farms.
Diversification is the word of the day and this time, it’s not a good thing. What kind of a world is it, when using moral values to determine which product to purchase ends up putting money into the pockets of companies which are doing precisely the opposite of your desired moral purpose (with many/most of their other product lines)? Which is not to say that we shouldn’t still purchase morally (on the contrary, I think we should always and only buy products whose manufacture and purpose we can stand behind), but it’s troubling that these two-faced companies really would do anything to make a buck.
The truth is, no matter how pretty they talk, if they don’t walk the walk with their whole company and all product lines, then they’re just slick-talking salesmen with divergent marketing. Toyota doesn’t care about helping the environment – their Land Cruiser gets 13 miles per gallon (city), but they’d really like some money from those environmental zealots too. Dean Foods (Morningstar) doesn’t care about slaughtering animals for food. Stonyfield Farms doesn’t care about your lactose-intolerance or veganism. They’re just doing what it takes to maximize profit. And maybe it’s time for those of us who really care to start making more of our own things (starting small companies if need be)…
peddling progress
amoral snakeoil salesmen
whilst dealing distress
