Faux Localization: The New Greenwashing?

The big word these days in green and sustainability circles is "Relocalization."

Aware of the community and environmental destruction involved in importing everything from everywhere else, more and more towns are encouraging the return to supporting local businesses and farms.

So how are the big international conglomerates dealing with this challenge?

The trend toward local economies may be convincing the giant multinationals like Starbucks to start disguising the affiliations of their stores to convince unwary locals that they're sipping their latte in a locally-owned shop. A story in AlterNet reports that "Starbucks' new stealth strategy is de-branding: giving stores different names and more local 'community personality.'"

Perhaps the recession can be blamed. Locals in many places are turning to less expensive coffee haunts that tout their home-grown origins. But AlterNet, in a story called "Starbucks' Latest Evil Plan to Take Over (More) of the World" by Privamvada Gopal, reports that

"even before the downturn, [Starbucks'] legendary CEO, Howard Schultz, fretted about what he called the 'watering down of the Starbucks experience' and the loss of 'the soul of the past' in 'the warm feeling of the neighborhood store'...

[But] the transformation of the quirky, the unique and the countercultural into mainstream commodity culture is not new, and Starbucks is hardly alone in enacting this relentless corporate logic... global success is dependent on exploiting local knowledge and cultures. Coca-Cola came to India in the 90s waving the national flag and insisting, in local languages, on its indignity; McDonald's succeeds in Asian countries by serving variants of local cuisines. Don't be too surprised if fast-food joints begin to cater to the "slow food" movement, just as gigantic petroleum corporations now sport bright "green" logos.

So will Starbucks coffee under another name taste any better to the locals in your town?

In the era of global corporate hegemony, is true relocalization really possible?

Or will we see more McDonalds outlets morphing into Uncle Joe's Burgers and Victoria's Secret emporiums disguising themselves as Aunt Polly's Naughty Nighties?

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Comments

[OldBean]

People yak and blab a lot about local communities. Every time a WalMart or store like that sniffs around a community to build a store, a lot of people fight it tooth and nail because they want the Mom and Pop stores and local businesses to survive. Unfortunately, big business knows that these people are way outnumbered. They bully their way through all the permits, open the doors, and voila, saving a nickel on a jar of pickles becomes more important than Mom and Pop.

Oh, well, what can you expect from a society where people pay for water and throw away wads of money on overpriced frappe lappy mocha foamy java? Big business knows that there's a sucker on every corner.

[condor101]

Unfortunately, Big Conglomerates like Wal-Mart are betting that the majority of people will delude themselves in believing that buying locally advertised produce, etc at a their local Big Chain store is the truism of supporting "Local" or being a Locavore.

(continued below)

[OldBean]

Even more unfortunately, they're right.

[condor101]

It's a numbers game, and even though there will always be a percentage of people that see through this mirage, Wal-Mart and their brethen are betting the majority of shoppers will not blink an eye and think for themselves and will act as sheep and will buy from their so-called "farmers markets'.

Big Businesses are cunning and ruthless in their marketing campaigns to manipuate the psyche of the consumer.

I believe more articles have to be written about the importance of Buying Local. However, in a new approach, I would emphasize to the reader the benefits of Local employment as well as the importance of locally grown products to an individuals' health. It should be stressed that buying from true farmers markets and Locally owned stores provides jobs with real "Living" wages, as opposed to the "Poverty" wages of Wal-Mart et al.

People have to be informed that supporting Living wages is better for the entire community and economy because it boosts the spending and saving rates of its' citizens and leads to a robust economy.

We have to defeat the Big Conglomerates at their own game and take back the ownership of the meaning of "Local"; The purchase of Locally originated foods and products from Locally based companies and farmers within a 100 mile radius.

This message must be clear and repeated often through the media.

[DougDeWitt]

"The big word these days in green and sustainability circles is Relocalization.

Aware of the community and environmental destruction involved in importing everything from everywhere else, more and more towns are encouraging the return to supporting local businesses and farms.

So how are the big international conglomerates dealing with this challenge?"

The way they Should be, is by investing in technology and projects that develop renewable resources for the generation of power for local market consumption. In markets like Amarillo, an epicenter of wind resources in the Texas panhandle. This is what the Circles Green refer to as re-localization of infrastructure.

The operating principle of Smart Grid technology is the decentralization of generational resources. What is envisioned is a high-efficiency magnifying solar focusing technology on everybody's roof making all the meters spin backwards on a hot day. Where small 20 MW deployments of wind turbine-derived 100% co-generated electricity are harvested locally in little towns like Clovis, New Mexico. Where regional grids are interconnected by computerized substations that can open and close power pipelines with super efficiency, balancing an entire Interconnect digitally.

This is where All the black energy money should be flocking. America could power the world with long distance HCDC cabling technologies emerging from companies like ABB.

[000Jade000]

I heard that Wal-Mart is hosting a huge farmers market in Chicago to butter the locals up for Wal-mart expansion.

And I've noticed in my own grocery store that they are starting to advertise some of their veggies heavily as coming from local farmers--even going so far as to put booths up outside of the store entryway to make it look more like a farmers market experience.

[Linda Buzzell - Huffpost Blogger]

oooJadeooo, I'm not surprised that these corporations want to get in on a winning concept -- living local -- but we're all going to have to be vigilant so we can avoid getting conned. One way is to build community and community list servs so if a particular company doing business in your town or neighborhood isn't playing fair, we can spread the word quickly. And we can also determine what businesses really ARE local, and support them with our dollars.

A good start would be to find out if there is a truly local bookstore in your area, and keep them in business. Local bookstores can become community hubs.

An essay by environmentalist Bill McKibben www.350.orgg) in our new book "Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind" (Sierra Club Books 2009) reminds us that REAL local community (not phony imitations) is one of the keys to happiness.

[condor101]

Very important subject.
Thank you for writing about the abuse by huge compnaies of the locavore movement.
They are attempting to confuse the consumer at every turn.
I hope there is a way to counter balance this and make people aware that buying local does NOT mean buying at your local wal-mart or other big chain store.

Everyone should support their Local Farmers and Farmers Markets.

Let's not let the Conglomerates own the word "Local"

They have already usurped the words "Green" and "Organic"

We must defend our rights and defeat corporate manipulation.

[chip6bass]

Great article in the Albany, NY weekly Metroland www.metroland.nett) a couple weeks ago, how the big chains promote "buy local" but mean buy at your local Walmart, not buy from local producers.

Find your nearest farmers market. Support nearby farms. It's not much more expensive, and the food healthier for all of us (and I don''t just mean produce, but chicken, beef, and pork as well).

And grow your own! Gardens are prettier than golf course lawns (and a lot less polluting).

[Linda Buzzell - Huffpost Blogger]

You're totally right, Chip!

[Linda Buzzell - Huffpost Blogger]

"Let's not let the Conglomerates own the word 'Local'

They have already usurped the words 'Green' and 'Organic'

We must defend our rights and defeat corporate manipulation."

Condor, the only way I know of fighting back against this kind of trickery is to stay awake and pass along information to other folks in our communities. For example, someone in our town sent us an email about an "organic" company that was cutting corners. We checked it out and found that it was true -- and switched our brand immediately to one that was playing fair with its workforce, animals and customers. It doesn't take too many "switchers" for companies to start getting the message that we're smarter than they think we are...