About a month ago, Greenpeace protesters dressed in orang-utan costumes got the attention of Unilever execs. Greenpeace claimed that the harvesting of palm oil in Indonesia was destroying the habitat of orang-utans. The producers of palm oil often clear forests to meet the demands of Unilever, who is the biggest purchaser of palm oil. A few weeks later, Unilever got the point. They pledged that by 2015 all the palm oil they use will be from sustainable sources. Waiting until 2015 is not enough for Greepeace, who claim that by that time there will be no forest to preserve. So the story…
I was fascinated by an issue that the President of Unilever raised in a story by AdAge, (see story) - the fact that the new generation of marketers were looking for reputations of “ethical marketing” and companies that take positive and global views on the environment.
I know that “green” has been the in-thing lately and many are taking it seriously (thankfully) but I didn’t think that it would start to affect new hires or retention just yet. I am glad that it has though because it makes more companies take a serious look at their processes and values.
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