Behind the Brands Targeted Action

Visitors to the Behind the Brands website will find that it now features  top asks for each of the targeted 10 companies. Each company is called out for the #1 area  across the 7 measured fields (land, water, women, climate, transparency, farmers, & workers) where they need to improve their score.  The 'take action' tab specifically calls for General Mills, who scored the lowest on transparency, to stop the secrecy. The only statistics on its ingredient sourcing available to the public are about palm oil. It's time for General Mills to publish its ingredient sourcing so consumers can know if their favorite brands are being produced ethically.

The good news is that your support for Behind the Brands is not going unnoticed - Unilever recently made public commitments to sign the UN Women's Empowerment Principles, to work to increase economic inclusion and employment opportunities open to women, and to help build their capacity in areas such as financial literacy. Additionally Coca Cola, whose poor performance on land rights and support for small scale farmers kept it from the top of our scorecard, made new public commitments to sustainable agriculture! Coming off the success of the first Behind the Brands initiative to the top 3 chocolate companies (Nestle, Mars, & Mondelez) to commit to ensuring women cocoa farmers in their supply chains are treated fairly, this news is proof that the power of you is working.  

Please join in and help improve our food system. Make a buzz by tweeting the messages below and asking your followers to do the same!

For Twitter:

Who will be top of the #BehindtheBrands scorecard at the next update? Make it your favorite brand http://bit.ly/YUIkn6 

Hey @GeneralMills, my @Cheerios would taste better if I knew where they came from! Publish your ingredient sourcing! #BehindtheBrands 

Well done @Unilever for committing to do right by women & thanks to all #BehindtheBrands supporters for helping make it happen!  http://bit.ly/18Dnlva

Kudos to @cocacola on new commitments to sustainable agriculture! Why not build on that now by joining industry efforts to support small farmers #BehindtheBrands http://bit.ly/12FZJkW

Boston Action Corps Highlight!

Check out this great post from one of our Boston Action Corps volunteers on  recent concert outreach for Food Aid Reform!

(via http://bostonoxfamactioncorps.blogspot.com/)

Fitz and the Tantrums Help Food Aid Reform

June 28th, Oxfam Action Corps volunteers had the exciting opportunity to collect petition signatures for Oxfam's Reform Food Aid Campaign.  Did you know it takes on average 4 to 6 months for lifesaving foodstuffs to make it to countries with starving populations? Half a year is a long time to wait for basic necessities.  Luckily Oxfam is working to raise awareness and change the way the United States gives food aid to countries around the world. By growing crops locally we can empower native farmers and double the amount of food that gets to people who need it. Fitz and the Tantrums understand the importance of food justice, and their fans are big supporters as well!

We arrived at the Paradise Rock Club right at 6 PM and met some of Fitz's bandmates and his tour manager, Kenny.  Some of the biggest Fitz and the Tantrums fans had been there since 1 PM! Before the show began, people in line outside and having drinks at the venue were alreadyexcited to sign the Food Aid petition! We had about 30 signatures before the bands played their first song.  Two of our supporters were already huge fans of Oxfam - instead of a wedding registry, they had friends and family donate to Oxfam using our Oxfam Unwrapped wedding gift ideas (and you can too)!  Once the show started, we set up our Oxfam table by the merchandise area and greeted the concert goers!  People who were waiting in line for merchandise from the awesome opening act, Ivy Levan were excited to hear more about food aid and sign the petition. 

At 10 PM, Fitz and the Tantrums came on and they were definitely a crowd-pleaser.  They played hits off their new album, More Than Just a Dream, and mixed in some of their best songs from Pickin' Up the Pieces.  Everyone danced along to Out of My League and Rich Girls.  The band was so great that the audience got them to come back out for a 3-song encore and everyone sang along to my favorite song, MoneyGrabber.  As the band started finishing up, people lined up again to get signatures and photos.  We used this line once again to our advantage and even got Fitz and the Tantrums to sign! We collected 90 signatures at the concert, listened to some great music, and handed out lots of Oxfam information.  It was a great concert and we are so happy to have Fitz and the Tantrums support Oxfam's amazing mission!

Our biggest tip to future concert liasons is to use LINES to your advantage. People waiting to get into the concert, to buy a t-shirt, or to meet the band, are just future petition-signers you haven't met yet!.


Francesca Villa
Oxfam Action Corps Volunteer