First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. – Mahatma Gandhi
We are close to winning.
Over the last three years, the coalition we have built, the Food Babe Army, has had an incredible amount of success and been featured in major newspapers, magazines, on radio stations, and TV shows across the globe. Together, since we as customers control the income for corporate agribusinesses, they are starting to pay attention.
- We’ve highlighted ingredients that are banned in other countries due to health concerns, and forced companies like Kraft, Subway, and Starbucks to show Americans the same respect they show other countries by committing to remove these ingredients in the US. We also inspired one of the largest fast food companies, Chick-fil-A, to commit to stop using antibiotics in the production of their chicken, and to remove controversial chemicals and other artificial ingredients.
- We’ve demanded transparency. We convince some multi-billion dollar corporations from Chipotle to Anheuser-Busch, (and MillerCoors and Starbucks who are dragging their feet) to finally release their ingredients for the first time in history. Scientists may all not agree about how dangerous these ingredients are, but we have the right to know what’s in our food and why it’s there. Because of our efforts these companies can no longer hide behind antiquated regulations that keep Americans in the dark.
- We’ve educated the public about the food system which in turn inspired more companies to change their ingredients for the better like Chipotle, General Mills, WhiteWave (Silk & Horizon) and Panera Bread. And people now are getting the information they deserve to make educated decisions about what they eat. As human beings, we do not have the option to not eat food, so at the very minimum we should have the right to know what is in our food and the right to choose whether we ingest chemical additives or adulterated food.
And while enticing big companies to change is important, I’m even more excited to learn that smart organic companies are now on the general public’s radar and the organic food movement is continuing to grow. They do the right thing and they deserve our business.
But we still have work to do–and, as our consumer coalition gains power, fueled by the influence of social media, resistance is starting to dig in against change.
With this much game-changing activism and success in a short period of time, it comes as no surprise that some powerful corporate executives and some “independent” voices they help to finance, disagree with our work. An intelligent debate is welcomed, but not all the discussion has been civil.