How the Biggest Corporations, From Starbucks to Wal-Mart to Barnes & Noble, Claim to Be 'Local'

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



How the World's Biggest Corporations, From Starbucks to Wal-Mart to Barnes & Noble, Claim to Be 'Local'

By Stacy Mitchell, New Rules Project. Posted September 8, 2009.

Hoping to capitalize on growing public enthusiasm for all things local, some of the world's biggest corporations are brashly laying claim to the word "local."




This article has appeared in more than 25 alternative news weeklies, sometimes with additional local reporting. If you'd like to read a version published in your region, go here for a list of links by city.


HSBC, one of the biggest banks on the planet, has taken to calling itself "the world's local bank." Starbucks is un-branding at least three of its Seattle outlets, the first of which just reopened as "15th Avenue Coffee and Tea." Winn-Dixie, a 500-outlet supermarket chain, recently launched a new ad campaign under the tagline, "Local flavor since 1956." The International Council of Shopping Centers, a global consortium of mall owners and developers, is pouring millions of dollars into television ads urging people to "Shop Local" -- at their nearest mall. Even Wal-Mart is getting in on the act, hanging bright green banners over its produce aisles that simply say, "Local."

Hoping to capitalize on growing public enthusiasm for all things local, some of the world's biggest corporations are brashly laying claim to the word "local."

This new variation on corporate greenwashing -- local washing -- is, like the buy-local movement itself, most advanced in the context of food. Hellmann's, the mayonnaise brand owned by the processed-food giant Unilever, is test-driving a new "Eat Real, Eat Local," initiative in Canada. The ad campaign seems aimed partly at enhancing the brand by simply associating Hellmann's with local food. But it also makes the a claim that Hellmann's is local, because most of its ingredients come from North America.

It's not the only industrial food company muscling in on local. Frito-Lay's new television commercials use farmers as pitchmen to position the company's potato chips as local food, while Foster Farms, one of the largest producers of poultry products in the country, is labeling packages of chicken and turkey "locally grown."

Corporate local-washing is now spreading well beyond food. Barnes & Noble, the world's top seller of books, has launched a video blog site under the banner, "All bookselling is local." The site, which features "local book news" and recommendations from employees of stores in such evocative-sounding locales as Surprise, Arizona, and Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, seems designed to disguise what Barnes & Noble is -- a highly centralized corporation where decisions about what books to stock and feature are made by a handful of buyers -- and to present the chain instead a collection of independent-minded booksellers. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/environment/142379/how_the_world%27s_biggest_corporations%2C_from_starbucks_to_wal-mart_to_barnes_%26_noble%2C_claim_to_be_%27local%27/

[izquierdista]

1. Locally grown

It's local to someplace! :silly:

[ejpoeta]

2. some of them will do it by saying they are locally owned.... so they must be local.

my sister is working on a website to highlight local restaurants in her town... nearby to me too. there are a lot of restaurants in this town, but there is also applebee's and denny's... the usual big chains. I love the idea!! and even if the applebee's is included, I think the local ones get a better chance if people know they are there. I only know of a couple of them myself... I will avoid applebee's whenever possible... i prefer to go to a small, local place.

[Berry Cool]

3. Applebee's really does NOT belong on any local restaurant Web site.

How are the local independent restaurants to set themselves apart if the local Applebee's and Denny's are allowed to be part of their indie site? I mean, is the goal to say "Eat local" or "Eat out more often...anywhere"? If the goal is to say "Eat local," your sister should restrict the site to indie restaurants. IMO. After all, the big national ones get the benefit of national ads--the indies don't.

[ejpoeta]

4. my sister WANTS it to promote local things... have local advertisers etc...

and to let people give a review of the restaurant. I think she would rather it be FOR local establishments, but how can you NOT allow an applebees on there if they have a restaurant in the town too. She is still in the planning stages. Considering that I live in the area and didn't even know about half the restaurants in the town, I think they would definitely benefit from SOMETHING. I think people go to places like applebees for the same reason they go to mcdonalds.... you know what you will get there. it may not be the greatest, but at least there are no surprises. being able to view a menu and prices online will give the locals an edge. i don't know what she will do in the end, but I think her intentions are to have it more for local establishments....