My most popular diary so far has been And the long love affair ends; g'bye to Ben & Jerry's, where I declared I was no longer going to buy crap from Corporate America.
Turns out, a lot of people felt the same way.
Well, now I've decided I'm tired of taking crap from Corporate America.
Specifically, Mars.
Follow me on the flip:
Mars is a global conglomerate. Mars is Pedigree and Whiskas and Cesar. Mars is Nutro.
Yes, that Nutro that just had another pet food recall for deadly levels of zinc.
Mars is Greenies.
Yes, the Greenies that recently got pulled from supermarket shelves.
Mars is the January 2009 pet food recall. That was salmonella. Mars Nutro is also the huge melamine pet food scandal that killed thousands and pets and made thousands more sick.
I guess they haven't learned a thing.
Turns out, Mars is half pet products.
But it doesn't look like they want my business. That's okay; I'm so sour on Mars I'm certainly not buying ANY of their pet food. And I'm calling on all pet lovers to not buy Mars pet products.
It will send them a message that they can't poison our pets and get away with it. It will send them a message that we can't risk our pets lives, and our own hearts, by buying their products.
A boycott might be the best way to put a bit of a hurt on a global conglomerate that shows a clear and consistent pattern of acting with callous disregard for our pet's well-being.
A boycott is the only thing I can think of to put a bit of a hurt back on them. That's why boycotts are about the only thing that makes them take us seriously, isn't it?
Happens fast, and kicks them the only way they care... in the pocketbook.
Didn't the Religious Right use the Power of the Boycott to try and make certain companies shiver in their boots?
Well, we can certainly do that, too. Not from a corporate attitude that we don't agree with, but from a corporate attitude that kills our dogs and cats.
Personally, I don't find it difficult at all to not buy from a company that might kill James Bond, Reverend Jim, and our new kitten, Olwyn. I don't feel like gambling on thousands in vet bills, or saying goodbye because I can't afford thousands in vet bills.
How about you?
That's a no-brainer, isn't it?
But I'm so ticked off that's not enough. There's the other half of Mars. Twix and Skittles and M&M's and Uncle Ben, Snickers and Dove chocolate. Here's a list of what Mars is, per Wikipedia:
* 3 Musketeers
* Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (recently renamed to Mars Fish Care)
* Banfield, The Pet Hospital
* Bounty (the candy bar)
* Buckeye Nutrition
* Celebrations
* Cesar (Dog Food)
* CocoaVia
* Combos
* Dove Chocolate
* Fling
* Flyte
* Galaxy (Alternative for the Dove range used in the UK, Australia and the Middle East)
* Greenies (under recall)
* Kudos
* Lockets
* M&M's
* Maltesers
* Marathon (UK name for Snickers until it was renamed in 1990)
* Mars Bar
* Mars Delight
* Mars Planets (newly introduced in the UK)
* M-Azing
* Medi-Cal (Prescription Pet Food)
* Milky Way
* Minstrels
* Nutro (under recall)
* Pedigree
* Pill Pockets
* Promite
* Revels
* Royal Canin (Pet Food)
* Schmackos
* Seeds of Change
* Sheba (cat food)
* Skittles
* Snickers Marathon Energy Bar
* Snickers
* Spillers
* Starburst
* Teasers
* Techni-Cal
* Topic
* Tracker
* Twix
* Whiskas (cat food)
* Winergy
Maybe you don't have a dog, cat, or fish.
But maybe you have kids; do you want them to eat candy bars from a company who doesn't care what cheap and dangerous stuff they put in their food; human, or pet?
Because this potential Mars boycott is perfectly designed to reach everyone, everywhere, across the world. Each of these items has a readily available alternative, everywhere, across the world. So what I'm asking is really a small thing.
Which can become a big, big, thing.
I guess the Mars family doesn't care if they sell bad products. They can coast.
The Mars family was among 18 billionaire families who lobbied Congress to eliminate the estate tax. According to Public Citizen, since 1994 the families have spent approximately $500 million on lobbying efforts.
I'm sick of worrying about buying pet food and peanut butter and toothpaste. Corporations just shrug off our concerns because they only care about the bottom line.
So I'm not buying ANY Mars products for the forseeable future.
Will you join me? Will you tell your friends? Will you email or write and call?
Contact Mars, Incorporated.
6885 Elm Street, McLean VA 22101 USA
Phone number: 703-821-4900
So let's do something... that makes them think about the only thing they do care about.
Their money.