Did Burt's Bees sell? - Page 3

[lisalulu]

Dh and I talk about this issue a lot. On one hand, its great that the bigger company means more people have access to it and that its in the mainstream. But in some cases (many?) its hard to trust the bigger company-if they truly had the same ideals as the small organic/natural company, it seems they would have been in it from the beginning instead.

[JessicaS]

Originally Posted by lisalulu

They are? I had no clue!

Yeah, sorry.

[MoonWillow]

Originally Posted by abimommy

I make a lot of personal care items so I understand that many ingredients that are used traditionally have already been tested on animals. Most EOs, base oils, preservatives ect have already been tested.

However, Clorox *currently* tests on animals.

Burt's Bees, being owned by Clorox is now a part of the same company. Burt's Bees can no longer say they have nothing to do with animal testing. They do, they are *owned* by Clorox, which currently tests on animals. Money spent on Burt's Bees will still line the pockets of a company that does animal testing.

Like the Body Shop, the Body Shop is now owned by Loreal so they also are a part of a company that currently tests on animals.

This is crazy. I heard about the sale right after buying two large gift bags full of BB stuff from the last Frontier co op I was in for my sisters' Christmas gifts. They are still getting them but after that I won't buy anything else from them. I am sure they don't care since they are now available in the mainstream baby aisle.

[Turquesa]

The magazine VegNews recently conducted a poll about whether these corporate buy-outs/sell-outs were a good or bad thing. There were compelling answers on both sides. But ultimately, the profits line the pockets of the CEO who does business as usual with the parent corporation.

BTW, I'm confused about something...

Originally Posted by abimommy

.Like the Body Shop, the Body Shop is now owned by Loreal so they also are a part of a company that currently tests on animals.

I've heard this, too. But when I made a customer inquiry, somebody from L'oreal emailed me and told me that the company stopped testing on animals in 1989. : Am I missing something? If I'm getting off-topic, you can PM me.

[mamabearsoblessed]

actually, I believe Loreal is a Nestle company :Puke:



nak

[Isabello]

I still remember my shock when Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream went corporate. To this day, I am sure that the formula for "Phish Food" was changed. The marshmallow swirl has never been the same. That said, don't give up with the personal care products. There are some amazing small companies out there. Two that are lesser known are Indigo Wild (www.indigowild.com) and the Island Soap Company in Kauai (www.islandsoap.com). Island Soap makes the most delicious lotions and shampoos, right on the island, not to mention soaps, fabulous pineapple or mango lip balms, etc. I also like EO brand, though I'm not sure who they are affiliated with. Almost every community has local products these days....buy local when you can! And, I was recently surprised to see Indigo Wild products on the drugstore.com website which I use for Stretch Island fruit leather...which also just got sold out and no longer ship to Alaska for free. I used to buy cases directly from the family that made the fruit leather. I also think the quality has gone down. It's always something.

[elspethshimon]

I got a very interesting email from Burt's today regarding my very short email indicating my displeasure with their decision to sell. If anyone is interested in seeing a copy, PM me.

[delphiniumpansy]

I still have not gotten a response from them for my email of a week or more ago. :

[Twwly]

There's no way I would ever support Clorox. NO way. Their products are poison. I love(d) the BB's Farmers Friend hand cream, but when I heard they sold, I stopped buying.

[DreamsInDigital]

Well, I can't say I'm surprised. All in the name of the almighty dollar.

[digitsums]

Originally Posted by MotherWren

This is crazy. I heard about the sale right after buying two large gift bags full of BB stuff from the last Frontier co op I was in for my sisters' Christmas gifts. They are still getting them but after that I won't buy anything else from them. I am sure they don't care since they are now available in the mainstream baby aisle.

I think there is good reason not to assume that takeovers like this are OK. For example, Seeds of Change was acquired, I believe, by the M & M company, and they started putting their organic seeds in plastic packages and gradually introducing more chemicals and petroleum-based products. If the companies were large, but separate, and primarily concerned with the stockholder's bottom line, I would not worry so much. However, it looks like the companies are by no means separate. You can trace the biggest corporations back to a complex of only a few companies. There is no competition there to protect the consumer. The Organic Consumers Association has some information on this. I think that capitalist competition helps the consumer. If all successful companies get bought up by a few mega-marketers, then the mega-marketers will win and the consumers will probably lose.

[kpb]

man...I've learned so much today on the activism board--infant foreskins in face lotion and now burt's selling out!!:

what really gets me fired up about all of these corporate takeovers is that all of the eco-minded consumers that truly catalyzed these companies into their economy will eventually hear about the switch and stop buying the product...their place is then taken over by some febrile lunatic who thinks he's doing the right thing by buying this corporately natural product.

reckon it's just the zeitgeist...but still.................

cheers
Kyara

[BathrobeGoddess]

Originally Posted by 2crazykids

I don't know who owns Hyland's but they make a fantastic diaper ointment.

I've stopped using BB's years ago. Never really liked their stuff and there are soooo many better companies and products out there.

Is Jason sold yet?

Originally Posted by dbsam

I hope not, we've been using several of their products. Was there a pending sale?

Just an FYI...
JASON is owned by the Hain Celestial Group which is in turn owned by Heinz Cooperation...so yeah...they were sold a long time ago to a huge cooperation, though Heinz is one of the way less evil ones but they do own a HUGE share of the organic/natural market...

if you want to get really depressed read this...

http://www.endgame.org/organics.html

[delphiniumpansy]

infant foreskin in lotion? What?

[zaner'smama]

Originally Posted by jamsmama

I totally blame Burt's Bees, Tom's and all of the other companies out there for being greedy cowards......not the corporations who bought them out. What is so wrong with staying somewhat small and offering quality? Greed got the best of them IMO.

: Yep, they got greedy. It's too bad. I regularly use a couple of Burt's Bees products and have been replacing them since I found this out. Didn't know about Tom's though. Too bad, I just recently bought one of their new toothpastes to try for my son (to replace the discontinued BB one that we loved). Ugh.

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by funkygranolamama

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
I run a health food store and am in charge of ordering. Where the heck does this lead me? People WANT Burt's Bees. I want it. Now, I don't know what to do. Maybe I should put up a sign by burt's bees that informs people it's been sold (in case they care). Boo.

That sounds like a good idea... maybe add something like "ask a salesperson if you're interested in similar products under different kinds of ownership!" and then make sure salespeople are up to snuff on their products... and make sure you have lots of alternatives in stock.

*so bummed about this sale*

[kaylee18]

Originally Posted by delphiniumpansy

infant foreskin in lotion? What?

These amputated baby parts are routinely used to make ingredients for skin cream, as well as being used to make "artificial skin" for testing many products to see if the products are caustic. They are put on culture media in labs and grown into amounts much greater than the initial area. There are some threads with more details here on MDC.

Originally Posted by Isabello

There are some amazing small companies out there. Two that are lesser known are Indigo Wild (www.indigowild.com) and the Island Soap Company in Kauai (www.islandsoap.com). Island Soap makes the most delicious lotions and shampoos, right on the island, not to mention soaps, fabulous pineapple or mango lip balms, etc.

Island Soap and Candle Works - I've visited, but was not able to determine whether they use artificial colors or "fragrance oils" (which are often synthetic). The descriptor "natural" is not regulated on soap or other non-food products, besides which almost all soap bars have a natural base of saponified lard or oil. In good news, though, the company did just recently switch to solar power.

Indigo Wild - makes very yummy-smelling soap, and all-natural too (except that I did notice their Frankincense and Myrrh scent has "fragrance oil" listed as an ingredient). But made with a goat's milk base, so not acceptable to vegans. I do like that they made the effort to use mineral pigments instead of dyes, though.

Edited to add: Another independent soap company is The Enterprising Kitchen. They make great non-milk-based soaps (not sure whether they use artificial colors or fragrances, and they do use honey).

[groovynaturemama]

this is news to me how lame...

[beansmama]

Originally Posted by Thalia

If you like the Burt's Bees products, you might want to check out the Clear Hills Honey company. They make some really nice beeswax creams and lotions and lip balms, and it's a family owned business.

http://www.clearhillshoney.com/

Wow...thanks for that link. I'm only 45 minutes away from this company and never even knew about them!!

[beansmama]

Originally Posted by delphiniumpansy

I have same question. I think it is really cool that Toms is now in major grocery and pharmacy stores now. It opens the market up for them. They could not do that on their own but after they got bought they did. Now more and more people will buy natural deo and toothpaste, etc. Same now for Burts. As long as the products stay the same, it helps them to have access to manufacturing larger quantities and distributing to major stores. So more people will buy them. Seems good for all. More and more people are interested in natural and organic products so everyone wins.

check this out

http://cornucopia.org/index.php/who-owns-organic/

I don't think that the integrity of the company is worth more money...these "natural" companies are selling out to large companies that test on animals and destroy our environment...and only care about profits. How "natural" is that?