On Apr 5, 2007, at 2:00 AM, Liz wrote:
>We have been avoiding Iams & Eukanuba products (P&G, which I belive
>is short for Proctor & Gamble) since 2002. ...."the company had been
>involved in dozens of horrendous experimental food trials involving
>hundreds of cats and dogs."

Anytime I hear of a boycott, I think this story.

The woman who called the Nestle boycott was a friend of my parents. For
those who don't remember the Nestle boycott, it was called because
Nestle had a program in which they gave free samples of baby formula
to pregnant women in Africa. They were generous, giving about a
three-month supply. Unfortunately, three months is long enough for the
mother's milk to dry up, and then they often did not have enough money
to buy formula. So as a result of this program, there were a lot of
malnourished kids. Well, Nestle finally paid attention, and stopped the
program. So the woman who called the boycott tried to call it off. She
found it had taken on a life of its own, and she simply couldn't stop
it. There are probably still people today, 30 years later, who still
boycott Nestle's.

I don't know the issues around P&G foods, but I'll check out that
link. But we periodically have mention on this list of some boycott or
another. Yesterday Gordon posted about an ongoing 8-in-1 ban campaign
(and the very valid issue of quality control and salmonella poisoning).
Now I avoid 8-in-1 foods, but I think the company is reformable. The
food has things in it that I won't feed my kids, and I've written and
told that to the company - and they have changed their formula. Not
enough, as far as I'm concerned, and it's taking a long time, but they
seem willing to listen. So I'm willing to buy other items from them,
and I'll look closely at their new offerings to see if they have
reformed sufficiently. I think that is a better long-term strategy
than just boycotting them.

I'm just saying that whenever someone is considering boycotting a
company, make sure the issue is timely, and if it is, consider whether
a total boycott is the appropriate way to put pressure on the company.
Just my opinion.

Claire

[Posted in FML 5569]