-American Express & the Body Shop-
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(reprinted without permission from Survival International, 1993)
(Begins with quote from an American Express Advertisement)
Do you know me?
"Trade Not Aid" is a way of trading honourably with indigenous communities
in disadvantaged areas... we listen to what these people need and try to
help them with it...
Customers come into the Body Shop to buy a hair conditioner and find a
story about the Xingu Reserve and the Kayapo Indians who collect Brazil
nuts for us. We showed them a simple process for extracting oil from the
nut... The result is that we pay them more for it, and that gives them an
alternative to their logging income, which in turn protects the rain
forest...
The travel I do is often dangerous. I am in bizarre places, remote
places. What I use for that is the American Express Card. There is no
other option; there is no debate.
American Express knows a lot of stores that are good for your body. And
Anita knows one that's good for your soul.
ANITA RODDICK,
FOUNDER, THE BODY SHOP
(Begin Survival International Article)
In her autobiography, the founder of the Body Shop, A. Roddick, says: "We
have never spent a cent on advertising... I would be too embarassed to do
it." And, "The trouble with marketing is that consumers are hyped out.
The din of advertizing... has grown so loud that... they are becoming
cynical about the whole process. They have heard too many lies."
In spite of these claims, the Body Shop runs joint advertizing campaigns
in the US with American Express. In these A. Roddick extols the virtues
of both her impact on the Kayapo and her credit card.
American Express (through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Lehman Brothers) is
heavily involved in arranging financing for James Bay II, a massive
hydroelectric scheme which will flood vast areas of Cree Indian land in
Quebec. Not surprisingly, the Cree are totally opposed to this. Bill
Namagoose, Executive Director of the Grand Council of the Crees (of
Quebec) said "American Express is involved in arranging financing for the
destruction of our lands. That American corporate interests are using
indigenous peoples' plight for their advertizing is inexusable. That the
Body Shop's ingredients are 'environmentally frie ndly' adds insult to
injury."
American Express has been criticised from several other quarters as well.
It is the subject of two separate boycotts: for its promotion of fur
products; and for its involvement in the "development" of an
ecologically-sensitive area in Colorado. It is also known for its
intimacy with the US government (Kissinger was a director and ex-Presidetn
Ford an adviser) and its trade union wrecking in Pakistan. It was one of
the loudests supporters of the North American Free Trade Agreement and is
also in the forefront of pressing for liberalization in the banking
services trade, which the UN Conference on Tade and Development said,
"spells danger for the Third World."
All this can hardly be squared with Roddick's constant reiteration about
corporate responsibility. She says in her autobiography: "(Green
consumers) will be looking for products which hurt no one, which damage
nothing... Aware of the knock-on effect of w hat we are doing to others,
to the environment, to the Third World and to the planet itself, they will
demand information, want to know the story behind what they buy..." "If
(Body Shop customers) realize the connection between certain products and
major issues like the destruction of the rainforest, global pollution or
the threat to primitive cultures, they will avoid these products."
Like American Express, for example?