The article in the url below provides an interesting case of a corporation that is not afraid to stand on principle:
"Dr. Bronner's, the liquid soap company best known for its teeny-font labels preaching brotherly love and world peace, would like you to consider the benefits of mind-altering drugs."
Specifically:
"The sentiment is promoted on limited-edition soap bottles that sing the praises of psychedelic-assisted therapies, and through the trippy pronouncements of David Bronner, grandson of the company's founder and one of its top executives, who is not shy about sharing details of his many hallucinogenic journeys."
Dr. Bronner's has started offering psychedelic treatments as part of its employee healthcare coverage; it has also campaigned for wider acceptance and adoption of such treatments, and decriminalization and legalization of many drugs that are currently banned:
"Since 2015, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps — yes, that's its official name — has donated more than $23 million to drug advocacy and research organizations, according to corporate documents. They include scientists researching the healing properties of the club drug Ecstasy, activist groups that helped decriminalize psilocybin 'magic mushrooms' in Oregon and Washington, D.C., and a small nonprofit working to preserve habitat for peyote, the hallucinogenic cactus central to some Native American spiritual traditions. Over the years, the company has also spent millions on efforts toward cannabis legalization, including litigation that in 2018 helped reverse a federal prohibition on the cultivation of industrial hemp."
There are many other details about the company in the article that make for fun/uplifting reading:
"But the founder's unconventional approach to business lives on. Top salaries at the company cannot exceed five times that of the lowest-paid worker with five years on the job, which means Michael and David each earn roughly $300,000 a year. Their 300 employees receive an array of benefits, including up to $7,500 in child-care assistance and annual bonuses of up to 10 percent of their annual pay. The cafeteria's vegan meals are free, as are the Zumba classes, back massages and solar-powered electric-vehicle charging stations."
The company is progressive on a number of issues and values its ability to remain independent so it can continue fighting the various causes in which it believes strongly:
"The company regularly spurns the kind of buyout offers that have claimed other independent brands like Burt's Bees (now part of Clorox), Tom's of Maine (Colgate-Palmolive) and Kiehl's (L'Oréal). The offers, the brothers say, go right into the trash. In a good year, the company gives away 45 percent of its profits, or about $8 million, according to the company's annual report. 'If we cashed out, we'd be less effective as a charitable engine,' David said."
Relatedly, in this month's election here in the U.S., CO residents passed a proposition to legalize psilocybin as a medical treatment (along with "psilocyn, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline," see here), with the support of 52% of the vote.
Take care
David
David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2023
Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler6e
Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/
Suds with a Mission
By Andrew Jacobs
March 1, 2022
The New York Times
Late Edition – Final
D1, D5
