Burts Bees, Toms of Maine, Naked Juice: Your Favorite Brands? Take Another Look -- They May Not Be What They Seem One of AlterNets most popular articles of the year: Confident that you are buying good, socially conscious brands? Find out the real story. COMMENT NOW! COMMENT NOW! A A A Email Print March 16, 2009 | This article was AlterNets 6th most popular article in 2009. My first introduction to natural, organic and eco-friendly products stems back to the early 90s, when I stumbled upon Burt’s Bees lip balm at an independently owned health food store in the heart of Westport, Kansas City, Mo. Before the eyesore invasion of ’98, when Starbucks frothed its way into the neighborhood, leading to its ultimate demise, Westport was the kind of hood I still yearn for. It was saturated with historically preserved, hip and funky, mom-and-pop-type establishments, delivering their goods people to people. I was surprised more recently when I saw Burts Bees products everywhere -- in grocery stores, drug stores, corner bodegas and big-box stores like Target and Wal-Mart. I thought to myself, fantastic; the marketplace is working, and good for Burt. He has made his mark, and the demand for his products is on the rise. Needless to say, I was shocked when I recently found out that Burts Bees is now owned by Clorox, a massive corporate company that has historically cared very little about the environment, but whose main industry is directly associated with harmful chemicals, some of which require warning labels for legal sale. Clorox; yes, thats right -- the bleach company with an estimated revenue of $ 4.8 billion that employs nearly 7,600 workers (now bees) and sells products like Liquid-Plumr, Pine-Sol and Armor All, a far cry from the origins of Burt. I now understood. The reason Burts Bees products were everywhere was precisely because they now had a powerful corporation in the drivers seat, with big marketing budgets and existing distribution systems. The story of Burt is a charming one gone bad. Burt Shavitz, a beekeeper in Dexter, Maine, lived an extremely humble life selling honey in pickle jars from the back of his pickup truck and resided in the wilderness inside a turkey coop without running water or electricity. In the summer of 1984, Shavitz was driving down the road and spotted a hitchhiker who needed a lift to the post office. He pulled over and picked up Roxanne Quimby, a 34-year-old woman who eventually became Shavitzs lover and business partner. Quimby started helping him tend to the beehives, and that eventually led to the all natural-inspired health care products made with Shavitzs honey and the birth of Burts Bees products. Burts story and very powerful narrative gave Burts Bees products their legitimacy in my book. Creative entrepreneurs and knowledgeable consumers together working their magic; not the results of a corporate behemoth out to dominate the marketplace. However, Quimby and Shavitzs relationship became sticky in the late 90s for reasons unclear, yet probably having little to do with honey. Their romantic break up carried over to the split of their business partnership as well. In 1999, Quimby bought out Shavitzs shares of the company for a small six-figure sum. Quimby then continued, becoming phenomenally successfully and growing sales to $43.5 million by 2002. In 2003, a private equity firm, AEA investors, purchased 80 percent of Burts Bees from Quimby, with her retaining a 20 percent share and a seat on the board. In 2006, John Replogle, the former general manager of Unilevers skin-care division became CEO and president of Burts Bees. The company was sold to Clorox in late October 2007 for $925 million. Quimby was paid more than $300 million for her stake in Burts Bees. At the time of that deal, Shavitz reportedly demanded more money, and Quimby agreed to pay him $4 million. Quimby now refurbishes fancy, swank homes in Florida, travels the world and buys massive chunks of land in her free time. Our bearded man Shavitz, on the other hand, now 73 and unchanged, continues to reside amidst nature in his now-expanded turkey coop, which still remains absent of electricity or running water.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 02:16:50 +0000
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