C’mon, food companies. Do you never learn that consumers and journalists like to find out your awful corporate secrets and then post about them on the internet?
From Irin Carmon at Salon, on Eden Foods (maker of Edensoy soy milk, among many other things):
Eden Foods—an organic food company with no shortage of liberal customers—has quietly pursued a decidedly right-wing agenda, suing the Obama administration for exemption from the mandate to cover contraception for its employees under the Affordable Care Act. In court filings, Eden Foods, represented by the conservative Thomas More Law Center, alleges that its rights have been violated under the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.
Eden Foods, which did not respond to a request for comment, says in its filing that the company believes of birth control that “these procedures almost always involve immoral and unnatural practices.” The complaint also says that “Plaintiffs believe that Plan B and ‘ella’ can cause the death of the embryo, which is a person”… The filing also said that “Plaintiff Eden Foods’ products, methods, and accomplishments are described by critics as: tasteful, nutritious, wholesome, principled, unrivaled, nurturing, pure.”
When researching the genetically modified ingredients in all sorts of crunchy, hippie foods, I learned well how many people build lists of morally unacceptable food companies that they (and sometimes their co-ops) should boycott. Like after a bunch of larger food companies that own smaller, hippie-ish brands donated money to kill GMO labeling in California, activists took to the internet to make lists of all those small brands so people would know who to boycott.
This is even worse, though. Even people who don’t scour ingredient lists (and political donation lists) for perfect morality really care when companies fuck with people’s basic rights. See here, here, here—and there’s more. Business owners: The humans buying your products often appreciate that other humans deserve things like health care, access to contraception, and sick leave. You would be wise, just for publicity’s sake, to not fuck with that.
Thanks, Slog Tipper Mr. Herriman!