I read Fast Food Nation a few years back, and since then have been trying to inform myself as much as possible about the companies I support, and the brands I purchase. Thought it would be interesting to find out what companies/brands others purposely stay away from, and their reasons for doing so. Here's a few of mine:
McDonald's/Wendy's/BK/etc. - Pick up Fast Food Nation for an in-depth look at these companies and why they are evil. In short, they are serving unhealthy, engineered crap, killing farms and the farming economy, paying workers minimum wage, there are McDonald's food wrappers flying around every parking lot in the city, they feel it necessary to spend billions on incessant, annoying advertising that targets children (!!), and much more.
IAMS pet food- My girlfriend and I were at a farmer's market in EDM last year and stopped to talk to a lady who was handing out pamphlets about animal abuse, only because my girlfriend had just taken in a cat. We talked to her for about 20 minutes, and the animal abuse stories she told us about were unbelievable. I'm nowhere near a hardcore, paint-tossing, PETA nutball, but I was shocked and appalled. IAMS was one of the very worst- feeding animals large amounts of food and then forcing oil into their systems so that the food is regurgitated and can then be analysed, dogs having chunks of muscle cut out of their thighs for "research" purposes, people hitting dogs on the chest to keep them conscious, and a bunch of other crazy stuff. Proctor & Gamble owns IAMS, so I am trying not to purchase their productsas well, but it's sometimes tough (they own hundreds of companies it seems).
Wal-Mart- Biggest clothing retailer in North America, which uses cheap, outsourced labor in third world countries. Enough said, really. I do not want to knowingly and willingly support goods/clothing manufactured in the EPZs companies like Wal-Mart, The Gap, and Nike use, because the human inequality and abuse found there is just staggering. Oh yeah, they're also destroying small business and the fabric of small towns/cities everywhere.
Shell - For their extensive, growing rap sheet full of abuses to the people of Nigeria and the environment as a result of their practices there. And then they spind millions of dollars of advertising to try and make the public think that they are environmentally friendly. Bu!!sh!t.
|