7gen Bloc

Has Ben & Jerry’s helped Unilever to become more socially responsible? Will Tom’s of Maine make Colgate more natural? Will Green & Black help Cadbury Schweppes to be more organic? Over the past five years, many of the leading natural and organic brands that we’ve come to know and love have been purchased by huge multinationals. From Kashi to Odwalla, Balance Bar, Cascadian Farm, Muir Glen, Terra Chips, Arrowhead Mills, White Wave, Horizon, and Solgar to name but a few.

The question of how these small, often pioneering brands will influence the large companies that acquire them has never been studied or analyzed. So I offer my opinion based on conversations over the years with anyone and everyone who has been willing to talk to me.
As the New York Times asked yesterday: Can Burt’s Bees Turn Clorox Green?
Positively and absolutely no.
Any large company that wants to be more “green”, socially responsible or a better corporate citizen will only become so because their senior management is committed to the cause and has developed a business case to support the transition together with a strategy to transform their internal culture.
“Green” is not something a company becomes because of a new product line, a marketing campaign, a decision to be carbon neutral or even the selection an enlightened new CEO. “Green” is about the inside, not the outside of a company. It’s about its DNA, its culture, and its very reason for being.