buyout report...

[Guest guest]

For those that don't know, on April 12 the world ended: Ben & Jerry's was

the victim of a hostile takeover by Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever Corp. After 5

months of resistance, the Board finally caved & voted to accept the buyout.

Ben & Jerry themselves are gutted but this is partially their own fault:

When they decided to take B & J public, they lost control of it. Although

they have remained as " Directors " , all decisions are made by the CEO & the

Board. Going public gave the company a major cash infusion which allowed

them to expand their market, particularly internationally. This attracted

attention from Unilever, Nestle, RJ Reynolds/Nabisco (can anyone even

imagine B & J being owned by a tobacco co?!?) & several other behemoths who

didn't like the little guy getting so uppity. Another well-intentioned but

bad business decision of the founders was to locate their scoop shops in

underprivileged neighborhoods. Whilst they could employ deprived people

from the local areas, they were unsuccessful in getting the locals to

purchase their luxury-priced product.

 

But while we could smile at these types of naEFve mistakes, the current

crisis is fatal. There is a limited time before the transaction is

finalized during which it will be reviewed for regulatory compliance. Use

this time to act! Do the following:

 

1) Boycott Ben & Jerry's - Do not buy any of their products or visit their

factories or promotions.

 

2) LET THEM KNOW WHY you have stopped supporting them. Write to them &

state that, as of April 12, you can no longer give them business & that you

have encouraged everyone you know to follow suit. Use the comments form on

their web page: www.benjerry.com or snail mail: Ben & Jerry's, 30 Community

Drive, So. Burlington, VT 05403-6828. Or phone: 802-846-1500

 

3) Protest at Free Cone Day - Tuesday, April 18, is B & J's annual free ice

cream day at its scoop shops. Go there & refuse a scoop. Bring banners say

ing " You Can't Even Give Away Unilever Ice Cream " & alert your local media

to attend the protest. Bring all your friends & family & try to make up so

me good chants & signs. Remember that Unilever tests on animals & is one of

the worst environmental polluters. Use these unappetizing facts in your

signs.

 

4) Sabotaging Signage - Make signs urging people not to buy B & J & explaining

why. At night, tape them to the doors & windows of your local scoop shop.

& paste them over the windows of all your local grocery store freezer cases

in front of the B & J.

 

5) Write to Unilever & tell them to take their filthy greedy polluting

animal-testing hands off B & J. Use the comments feature on their web site:

www.unilever.com.

 

6) I hope I don't have to tell anyone to stop using Unilever products. In

case there are some guilty parties out there, here is a small list. Their

web site lists more brands they own: Lipton teas; Dove soap; Magnum &

Solerno ice cream bars; Ragu sauces; Colman's mustard; Bird's Eye frozen

foods; Breyer's ice cream; I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Butter; Sure deodorant;

Organics shampoo; Lux soap; Vaseline; Pond's; Mentadent, Signal & Close-Up

tooth pastes; loads of perfumes, laundry detergents & cleaning

products=85the list goes on & on=85

 

Yum, yum! What an appetizing list. DO YOU WANT TO SEE 'BEN & JERRY'S

FORMERLY ALL NATURAL ICE CREAM' ON IT?!?!?!?

 

I'm sure none of you would put any of that crap in/on your body, so I

apologize if I have offended. But if you know anyone who uses any of the

above or see anyone about to purchase them, get your 2p in! Remember,

Breyer's ice cream used to be all-natural until they were acquired by

Unilever.

 

7) Most important of all: Write to Assistant Attorney General Joel I. Klein

at antitrust and tell him not to allow the acquisition. The

lawyerly among you may be able to find some compelling reasons why it could

violate existing legislation. I've been pouring through the statutes on the

DOJ website all weekend & all I've gotten out of it is a headache. There

may be some recourse under =A77 Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. A7 18, which deals

w/creating a monopoly, but this is Unilever's first 'super premium ice

cream' acquisition, so that is unlikely to fly.

 

But don't give up! It doesn't matter what you say, just WRITE. & , finally,

SEND THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. Even people you don't know. Just

pass it along, PLEASE!

 

Remember: Ben & Jerry's have begun to use dioxin-free unbleached cartons.

Unilever will put a quick end to that. B & J pays higher than market prices

to its suppliers & gives its employees 3 free pints a day, in addition to an

all-jeans, all the time 'dress-down code' & unique wage structure. Unilever

exploits their 3rd world suppliers & workers. B & J uses only rBGH-free dairy

products. Unilever uses the most chemical-laden crap it can because it

usually owns the chemical companies too. It has also proven one of the most

resistant corps. to adopting alternatives to animal testing. Every person

who does not buy products that are tested on animals ( & we are many) will

have to stop buying B & J.

 

THIS IS A TRAVESTY. It's like some kind of surreal nightmare. Ben &

Jerry's owned by Unilever?!?!? It doesn't make any kind of sense. Let's

stop it from being a reality. Even if you don't care about animal testing,

pollution or working conditions, do you want to lose your Vanilla Like It

Ought to Be, your Chocolate Fudge Brownie, your Cherry Garcia or your Chunky

Monkey?

 

I wrote this in a hurry to try & get the message out ASAP, so please pardon

any typos & excessive emotional vitriol & email me for more info, including

both the Unilever & B & J press releases, which I would be happy to send you,

as well as copies of the letters I have written to B & J, Unilever & the DOJ

 

Please, please forward this to EVERY email address you have - even your

boss, even people you hate, every mailing list you to, no matter

what the topic. Please do it NOW.

 

Thank you.

 

Amanda Kirk

greengoddess