Companies: capitalism is good, it creates a healthy competition between companies that benefits all of us! Also Companies: we're going to buy every brand/company posible so we can control the market as much as possible.
I know Waterstones isn't ideal and I too love indies but in my experience as a wheelchair user, so many indie bookshops are in inaccessible, small buildings, crammed full so there's no room for me to comfortably browse. Waterstones on the whole are in spacious buildings and well laid out. Without them I'd struggle to browse bookshops and this would be a real loss for me.
I went through my toiletry brands when I was looking into Zero waste options etc a year ago, and I was genuinely shocked by both the number of and named brands owned by unilever - they even own the brand of coal tar soap my father has used for 70+ years 💀 I ended up compiling a list of unilever/nestle/amazon/etc owned brands ordered by section/type (food, toiletries, media, etc) so I can refer to it easier when shopping, because you can't keep them straight otherwise
One that has always stuck out to me are the brand line ups under H&M (COS, Arket, Weekday, Monki, & Other Stories) and Zara (Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Bershka, Pull & Bear) bc cumulatively they take up so much space on the high street.
I know Leena said we shouldn’t make it illegal because it “makes good business sense”, but if your business makes money by lying or not being transparent about how they actually work, it shouldn’t be legal. They should make money by actually being what they appear to be, because if no one wants to buy from them anymore once they’re transparent, then they should have to change
Im only half way through the vid but hey!! I think its an intresting aside that some of the companies would have been fairly 'ethical' at some point (ecover, was once okay. Now owned by unilever) the buy outs are intresting to me, when and how much? They didnt start out trying to trick us, but they are being eaten by a corporate behethmouth
@@LS-im6uc Agreed. There's definitely a certain amount of sneaky business practices going on and a reliance on people not knowing but a lot of these brands are just bought out. And it's often in the news e.g. when The Ordinary was bought out by Estée Lauder making it no longer CF. Or when depop was bought out by Etsy. Or when Cadbury's dropped their Fairtrade status after being bought out by a US company.
two additional points: nestle, and rupert murdoch. in australia we have of the worst media diversity because he owns everything, and even the leftish wing papers you look it up and owned by murdoch. it's pretty much just the abc left and people want to privitise it
nestlé truly owns so many brands, like nespresso, all the purina cat/dog food brands, perrier and so many water brands, at least half a dozen chocolate brands... AND they're a huge shareholder in l'oréal lol
Also Wesfarmers own so many retailers here it’s bananas. Kmart, Bunnings (and a couple of other tool stores), officeworks, Catch, Target, Workwear group(they make uniforms for high profile Aus business) Flybys and Coles.
I did a ton of research on cruelty free brands when I went vegan a few years ago, and basically they're all owned by Loreal (only slight hyperbole). It's actually shocking. The greenwashing going on at the moment is so blatant, with brands like Rimmel banging on about their 'plant based' nail polishes. For books, I was going to recommend Wordery, which was an indie online bookshop. I just checked and it's now been bought by Elliot Advisors who own Waterstones and Barnes and Noble. FML.
So people knitting all those little hats for innocent smoothie's charity campaign are really knitting hats for Coca Cola's charity campaign (who could definitely spend £££ on good causes if they wanted to)
in themselves Innocent are not ethical. I can tell you a whole lot about them from the start when they used to ask customer for ideas promising them names on bottles etc .. they used one of mine and Never even got back to my suggestion email, Haven't bought them since and this was before they sold to Coke
Well, I have never bought an Innocent Smoothie. My boss used to give me Innocent Smoothies for free, but I would never have paid for one assuming that they were donating to a charity.
When I did my Media Studies A-Level, a piece of homework we got was finding the mission statement for a company and doing an analysis. AND LET ME TELL YOU! Unilever's Mission Statement is practically Non Existent! Their ethics are so murky due to the sheer amount of conflicting companies they own that they kinda can't really have a mission statement, or at least one that's true and direct.
On a side note to books, there are really only 11 huge companies that control most consumer goods/foods nowadays, which is why if you can shop local/small businesses it's important to do so. Here's a list of those companies (also most of these are terrible when it comes to environmental impact, packaging, etc): P&G Coca-Cola Unilever Pepsico Kellogg's Mars incorporated General Mills Mondelez Johnson & Johnson KraftHeinz Nestle
There is actually another independent book chain in the uk called toppings and company. They’ve got branches in Edinburgh, Bath and St Andrews that I know of. Their really cool because they offer you free tea at their stores and have old feeling floor to ceiling shelf’s with ladders you can climb up and roll and round the shop on to your 7 year old hearts content. Honesty if you ever find on check it out!
Yeah they are still owned and run by the Topping family aren't they? The Edinburgh one only opened a few years ago but it's loooovely and thankfully always really busy.
Waterstones are p sneaky with how they brand certain shops, they have a branch in Rye called the 'The Rye Bookshop' that is set up to look like an indie. Think they have a few others in various coastal towns as well
I work for primark and it’s owned by ABF (associated British foods) who also own silver spoon sugar, twinnings tea, pataks curry sauce and loads more... very strange diversifying strategy 😂 had no idea until I started my job and wondered why the holiday year starts in September. Apparently it’s to do with the sugar beet harvest and ABF’s calendar... very odd for a clothing chain 😂
wow. i'm just...wow. Coca Cola also owns Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper, Powerade, Schweppes and Fuze Tea, which is blowing my mind. And Nestlé, too, like they own so many brands, I always see them on packaging.
Often times companies sell the exact same product under different brands or sub-brands. They just change the packaging and this way they can sell to different target groups.
The abe books one annoyed me. I'd used it a few times thinking I was doing the good thing of buying second hand only to find out it's Amazon. And I didn't know about book depository so that's something else to be sad about. 😭
One that shocked me is when I heard that Native (mostly known for deodorant) is owned by Proctor & Gamble. That really shocked me so I emailed Native and sadly they confirmed...
I'm so sad about Foyles and Blackwell's. I visited a lot of indies when I studied in London in 2016, so I hope they're still around when I come back to visit!
What’s funny is I did know about most of these! I think when people say this is why individual choices matter so much less than systemic change this is exactly what they mean. And if you think about it, the corporate hierarchy makes sense because capitalism is inherently hierarchical. There’s a concept in user experience design called the illusion of choice and this is exactly that but on a huge scale. This is also why when people believe in simulation theory it’s like yeah… we do live in a simulation, but regardless of whether there’s a technological component, we live in a simulation of ideas due to capitalism. A brand is an idea that you buy into that aligns with your values and reflects something about yourself (from the consumers eyes). We believe that we’re standing up for certain values by doing so, but it’s really a simulation of ideas.
Me too. I'm old enough to remember original Cadbury's and there's no point in buying New Cadbury's. Especially because it tastes slightly like vomit now...
Yeah Cadbury's used to be like top tier chocolate as a kid, I don't eat it anymore bc lactose but after they got bought by Kraft it became so sickly sweet and disgusting, it was so disappointing
It was after this takeover that Cadbury's also started using some palm oil (famous for rainforest destruction) to reduce the amount of cocoa butter in its recipe, making it both cheaper to produce and completely disgusting. If you can get it I really recommend the New Zealand brand Whittakers: completely independently owned (long may that last), they don't use palm oil, and the chocolate is delicious.
Is that why Cadbury tastes gross now? 😫 How depressing. Less depressing than the kidnapping and slave labour of children though, which is why I don't buy their chocolate anymore.
When I first started learning about this brand owning brands thing a few years ago (primarily in the beauty space), I was shocked and dismayed... and now I feel like I've become cynical and unsurprised whenever I find out that an awesome brand has been or is now bought out by a massive multinational corporation. I remember when I found out that Chapters as actually originally an independent book chain in Canada that was bought out by Indigo (now called Chapters Indigo). The company proceeded to buy out a bunch of other small Canadian bookish stores like Coles and subsumed them under their umbrella. Indigo may be the last national bookchain in Canada but to be honest, I don't even know if it's independently owned or if other rich people/companies have controlling stakes in the business. It makes me think about The Good Place and the point it makes on how hard it is to make good, moral decisions when the world is set up against us...
One of my biggest shocks, was when i found out that my go to oat milk brand, was actually owned by the biggest (and most evil) dairy brand in Denmark. A brand that i was very much trying to boycott. I think its so important that there is transparency between consumer and company/brand!
Not being from the UK I didn't know of Daunt Books to begin with but... Daunt Books to Waterstones CEO to Russian oligarch story arc (+Barnes&Nobles) blew my mind! 🤯 And loved the point "some could call that boycotting but I would just call that trying where we can to make choices that align with sanity" 🙌
this video has such awesome 'friend tells you some cool stuff' vibes and i am here for it. im not in the UK but the Waterstones thing is absolutely horrific and sneaky, it's the exact type of 'hiding' that you mention that just seems malicious. and you never know how awful these companies are and where your money is going. i felt way less inclined to subscribing to people on Twitch for example once they got bought by Amazon. this is a huge issue in every branch and i do think we need more transparency. funnily enough i don't think a lot about big companies acquiring brands when it comes to food and such, but it really irks me when it touches on entertainment for some reason. like i don't want these business giants like Amazon or Disney owning everything. even in gaming, these big dev studios are buying out smaller studios and it kinda feels like there ends up being no real competition, especially for the smaller creators.
There’s nothing malicious going on! The owners of Waterstones have invested in bookshop chains. They also bought Barnes & Noble last what. They’re not financially linked in anyway and are still run independently. It’s just how business works.
As much as I agree that consumer choices are critical, nowadays it seems that every time you want to make a good choice, the world is so set up against you. All the big brands are buying up small, good brands and you don't even know. I don't think that we can rely anymore on buying well-known or semi well-known brands because 9/10 times they are probalby owned by some evil big company. The only reliable and 100% morally aligned consumer choice is to buy from local shops. And I literally mean local. Like family-owned businesses that sell on the local market or have online shops that deliver only in your country/area. If you want to buy a sustainable shower gel or soap on the high street/your big name local supermarket, forget about it not already being owned by some evil corporation.
There's a really lovely bookshop in Dublin too, Hoggis and Figgis. It's the oldest in the city and before it was bought by Waterstone, it had been family run for like a hundred years. It's still called Hoggis and Figgis too btw, so that's pretty sneaky.
YEP found this out when I was there a couple of weeks ago. Sneaky sneaky! Waterstones have done something similar with Hatchards but the fact they've done this in a country OUTSIDE THE UK is something else.
I love how you always say "because I've been reading this book..." - you seem to wonder about the topic, read a book about it (or five) and then build your opinion on your reading. This is how I want to form my opinions and learn about the world, too.
kind of on-topic (maybe more like greenwashing tho?): in my country, the leading dairy company/brand (they go by the same name) has recently put out dairy-free products (which apparently are also really good products). so, buying these new vegan products and thus not supporting the dairy industry, is still supporting the dairy industry??? another well-known food brand, mostly known for its sweets and snacks - especially chocolate (which isn't even fair trade but still super pricy! - while we also have storebrand fair trade chocolate sitting on the same shelf..) - also has a new line of dairy-free products. yet the company's production lines aren't guaranteed to be ethical or environmentally friendly.. so, the choices for non-dairy products here are either big domestic companies (with domestic production) that don't align with most eco-friendly values, or foreign brands that do align, but their products have a bigger impact as they are produced elsewhere.
this is such a fucked up way to do business... like i'm sure people who are dairy-free may not be so based on a morals foundation but it's so sneaky to try and appeal to those who try to stay ethical but not be ethical. it's the type of shitty corporate capitalism that riles me up lol
@@puffmaggie It's the same as all fast food venues offering vegan options. If you are getting a McPlant or Vegan KFC you are still supporting their main business of beef burgers and chicken....I just do not get the hype from some vegans-for-ethical-reasons for these options...
While ideally these companies would be separate, at least purchasing from the plant based line will hopefully encourage them to invest more money into that as they see people are interested in it!
this makes me want to set everything on fire so i'll just say that viennetta is pronounced vee-eh-net-tah and how you were pronouncing it actually means "vignette" in italian.
Hi, one of member of my family works for L'oreal, and I remember him telling me they were going to dropp the body shop because they were not really making enought money, and two month it happens ... later I saw a video of an influencer advertising that the body shop leave L'oreal because of their "animal testing policy" (a way of marketing a news I guess) which is not completely exact, (they are quite advance in the artificial skin tech actually) but they can't say they are not testing on animals because they are selling their products to China (where it is mandatory to test product on animals), so if you know a brand which is selling its products to China you can assume they are testing on animals at least for China.
I temped at L'oreal once not proud really needed the money . on my first day i walked in and there was a huge list in the foyer of brands they owned.. had to stop buying Kiehls and a whole lot of others
Actually, China hasn’t been demanding animal testing for cosmetic products for a little while now. So one should still look at the company’s own policies before deciding that selling in China = animal testing. Also, the cruelty-free leaping bunny symbol? You can just pay to have that on your products. Leaping bunny doesn’t verify it. Just so’s you know.
Natura & Co is a Brazilian brand with a strong sense of environmental defense. They advertise a lot about caring for the nature, the small communities and women co-ops and they have a pretty positive image in Brazil and seems to actually do an effort (that noted I know it can have a big gap between to look like earth friendly and actually be earth friendly)
I don't have brands to add to the list, but your discussion of how insanely difficult it is to make ethical consumer choices because of lack of transparency like this is a main point in a favorite show: The Good Place.
In Edinburgh we have one of a small chain of bookshops called Toppings & Co. They have branches in Ely, Bath and St. Andrews as well, so hopefully they wil grow to more branches!
At 5:33 I did a double take bc I thought "I swear this brand is not called Wall's" So I googled it and turns out it was originally called Miko but has like a dozen names depending on the country... Because Unilever bought ice cream brands in each country, kept their names and just slapped the heart logo on each one. I don't know what to do with this information, but there you go
I was gutted realising the posh pop San Pellegrino, with the foil on the top for no reason is owned by nestle waters! I’ve been boycotting nestle nearly 10 years… others I find harder to avoid.
Even though the body shop is no longer under L'Oreal, I still feel uncomfortable supporting them as in some countries it's business model is MLM, and it rubs me the wrong way
Although I was not aware of all of these specific examples, none of them really surprised me. Almost everything in the world is ultimately owned by a handful of companies and people, and that makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I am hoping for, at least, more transparency in the future.
I am always confused by what constitutes an independent bookshop, especially as chains of independent bookshops exist which - in my head at least - seems to be an oxymoron. I would be intrigued to know if Toppings are owned by anyone since you say Daunt Books is the only indie chain left in the UK?
Native deodorant now owned by Procter and Gamble! And the most shocking news for me fairly recently was that Powershop, which was green energy retailer in Australia, sold out to Shell of all the %%5###@ companies.
What a lot people might not know is that Nestle and Mars are buying a lot of vet clinics in Europe (and possibly otherwhere too, but I'm not sure). I work in one that has been bought by Evidensia of which Nestle is one of the main investors.
The ice cream brands that you name are all by the same company, you can notice it because of the little heart symbol. I studied advertisement at uni ( I know, I am a demon... ) and one of my favourite things about that brand of icecream is that it has a different name in different countries. They are called Holanda in Mexico and Frigo in Spain. Walkers did the same with their branding.
HB Ice cream here in Ireland! I always thought that stood for Hazelbrook, as the company was set up there, but it was made by three Hughes Brothers who's family owned Hazelbrook, so it's possible it stands for Hughes Brothers
Foyles say this on their about us page: In 2018, after 115 years of independent bookselling, then-Chairman Christopher Foyle and the Board of Directors sold the company to Waterstones, under the steer of Managing Director James Daunt, with the proviso that the Foyles name must endure. And so begins another chapter in the history of a world-famous bookseller: independent in spirit, with a future ensured, and ready for the next 115 years. But yes, you have to search for it. Plus what does independent in spirit actually mean???????!
it just shows...(probably because my mom worked in marketing when I was a child) to me the difference between company and brand was clear at least till middle school and I was not surprised by one of those ownerships... I actively try to note these thing, and at least in Austria (probably the whole EU?) it is fairly easily possible... I mean Unilevers U is on the backside of each of their products...
Nestlé is another juggernaut that owns a lot of smaller food brands. I prided myself on not buying any Nestlé products and then was upset when I found out they owned my favourite brand of 2min Noodles (Maggi). So I totally agree that they should be more transparent so consumers could make more informed choices.
A particularly terrifyingly omnipresent company is the catering company Aramark. Here in Ireland, they provide shocking food to people in direct provision. There are also countless scandals of the quality of food they provide to prisons in the US. And unfortunately many people don't know, they also own the likes of Avoca, and recently the National Gallery have started a contract with them. They're EVERYWHERE.
Loved this video. Nestlé, Inditex and L'Oreal were the first brands I realised owned so much. And still bothers me how much space they take. Unrelated and not important at all but you look great Leena, love the hair and pink combo.
I am a little late to this, but I think that one issue that wasn't discussed is that all of these companies were separate companies until they were bought out by the bigger company and then became a brand under Amazon or Unilever etc. e.g. Audible was a separate company, as was UA-cam before they were bought/merged by/into Amazon and Google, respectively. I totally agree that this should be announced publicly and maybe more honestly.
Oh yeah, my favourite is always telling someone that next time they're in the supermarket, turn around the packaging of as many things as they like and see just how many are owned by Unilever or Nestle.
I will add as someone in the US, Barnes and Noble is barely a bookstore anymore. Over the past few years, at least half of the store has become devoted to games, toys, fandom merchandise, and now home goods?? Most stores also removed all of the comfortable furniture so there's no place to sit down and read the first few pages of a book before deciding to buy. The vibe has very much changed for the worse.
I just want to point out - Waterstones didn’t ‘buy’ Foyles or Blackwells. It’s actually their owners who bought them, they’re not financially linked. They also own Barnes & Noble hence why James Daunt now works for them.
Looking at the ownership of Primark was a wild ride for me! Associated British Foods brands take up considerable real estate in both supermarket aisles and High streets. A fun little challenge would be analysing a typical basket of shopping and seeing whether you've actually managed to buy products from more than 3 conglomerates...
Just had a thought, people are always talking about have the consumers have the power to boycot and choose another brand, but if all the brands are owned by a few (bad?) companies, we don't actually have that power...
I use to work in a Unilever ice cream factory. So, if you're in America/Canada you may want to know they also own Popsicle, Klondike, Breyers, Magnum, and of course Ben & Jerry's. And thinking back it doesn't make sense but I swear we were making Drumstick even though that's a Nestle product. And that's just what was made at the factory I worked in
LOVED THIS VIDEO. I also consider myself someone that knows a lot about who owns who but this video HUMBLED me. I think it is important to shop smaller when possible and shopping from these big companies is really not helping the financial inequality in this world. Thank you so much for this video and I shall find some new brand of oats to buy. On a side note - it's so interesting in the beauty world especially when you're trying to boycott animal testing and shop 'cruelty free' ... because what happens when a cruelty-free brand (eg Garnier) is owned by a non-CF brand (eg L'Oreal)? - this definitely divides the community! Whilst I personally would still boycott Garnier, what really grinds my gears is that people don't realise that a non-CF brand owns them and aren't really getting to shop as an informed consumer who may otherwise choose better. Rant over, loved the video!
Estée Lauder is another beauty Monolith who own Aveda, Bumble and Bumble, Clinique, MAC, DKNY, Bobbi Brown, Tom Ford, Too faced, Jo Malone, La Mer and so many more. It’s an illusion of choice.
I was so shocked to hear that ben & jerry’s is owned by unilever! They purport themselves as such a “woke” mom and pop brand, and they’re always offering their stance on social injustices.
You sort of get to a size where it's hard to expand without selling out. I've seen it with so many micro breweries. Was reading an article about Ben and Jerry's and it looks as if they're set up a bit differently to most bought out companies... "That’s why they and the then-sitting board together agreed to set up an independent board of directors that acts basically like our benefit corporation director. They are responsible for the social mission, for the integrity of the Ben & Jerry’s brand, our policies. They even get involved in basic things like wage-setting in the factories, where we have a livable wage policy that is overseen by the board of directors. And the directors are self-selecting. Unilever appoints just two seats out of 11 board members".
The one I'm annoyed about is 'love beauty and planet' that is owned by Unilever. Like it already feels like they just threw some buzzwords together, but then also they are owned by Unilever which is so anti-planet.
Most products that have packaging list on the package who owns the product. Unfortunately, that information is usually on the back. I also think there is something to be said about these larger companies that own smaller sustainable brands in terms of voting with your dollar. I think a lot of our first instincts are to "boycott" the smaller sustainable brand because of the parent company, however, if you continue to purchase from the sustainable brand it tells the parent company that those are the products you want. That, in turn can push the parent company to grow more brands like that or shift more of its brands in that direction.
I'm kinda late to the party, but Natura & co is a brazilian company (their main brand is called Natura, a cosmetics brand, and at least here in Brazil they now own Avon) that is very environmentally invested. They're not yet fully vegan nor perfect (they sponsor some fashion shows knows for having animal fur and whatnot, so the company is boycotted a lot by vegans, even though their stance is to not censor designers... which is bullshit but anyway), but they invest a *lot* in sustainable options and are 100% against animal testing. They are responsible for many innovations in this sector here in Brazil, and are very invested in research and sustainable farming, fair wages, fair treatment of animals etc. Imo, The Body Shop being owned by them is very positive.
Wow, I would not have guessed that Loreal was the owner of so many other companies. I didn't think they were that big. It's always weird to find out who owns whom. (It also often makes me wonder what the point is of our anti-trust laws, because they don't seem to be doing a whole lot.)
Waterstones is owned by an American hedgefund and under the same umbrella are Barnes & Noble, Foyles, Blackwells and Hatchards. They function seperately in some ways but you might see similar campaigns in Foyles and Waterstones. You can also use your Hatchards loyalty card in Waterstones and vice versa. They also own a stationary company but I can't remember it's name.
Blackwells was my go to bookstore for ordering English language books in the EU. Waterstones doesn't ship outside the UK, and Blackwells stated they'll continue to deliver globally, but I've already had one pre-order cancelled because Blackwells ran out of stock (which could be a coincidence?). There are now very few places to buy English books from, especially if they're considered more niche - except for a few physical Waterstones stores or Amazon...
What a great video! You have blown my mind!! I also just wanted to say that for some reason, while you were lying down with your books, all I could think of is that your blouse somehow reminded me of a sweet bag 😂 You look lovely 😊
Ohhhh I forgot about Vienetta. My grandma used to buy it whenever we went round when I was a kid. We always pronounced it like "Viennese" but with "-etta" instead of "-ese" (i.e. 4 syllables). Absolutely no idea if that's right or not though.
Aramark (a big part of the prison industrial complex in the US & that's involved in Direct Provision in Ireland) owns Starbucks, Subway, Chopped, Costa, Eden, Mexican Kitchen & Avoca
I work in marketing and to sum up the laws behind advertising (at least where I live) it's pretty much don't be a dick but not everyone follows the rules or just omits details... I always think a funny and informative show that looks into advertising and marketing is the Gruen Transfer if you want to learn more about the laws.
I don't have any other companies to share, but this video is a great complement to a recent video by ASAPscience talking about greenwashing and how often "green" companies are using marketing tactics and legal loopholes to sound sustainable. Many of them are owned by parent companies that are, in fact, very much not sustainable.
I believe Natura are a Brazilian company and are fairly ethical, so fit better with Body Shop values. I've also heard from Body Shop employees that the work climate has changed, for the better, since they were sold by L'Oreal. Employees never liked the L'Oreal ownership (although the values never changed...), as far as I know.
heinz bought kraft a few years ago, many cleaning products are henkel but schwarzkopf is also henkel, alpro soy milk is danone, milka and dairy-milk, oreo and chips ahoy are mondelez (as are many other chocolate things), kinder brand (nutella and kinder bueno, etc.) is ferrero
to be fair, etsy just acquired depop last year so it makes sense that you didn't know. around the time they completed the acquisition, they went hard on influencer/celeb collabs and spons for depop to further expand their gen z reach. it's pretty wild how giant some corporations are
also, going to a uni that has an exclusivity deal with a certain company really makes you accidentally knowledgeable about all the brands they own or other companies they have exclusivity deals with. my uni had an exclusivity deal with Pepsi so we only had PepsiCo brands on campus (we had a burger king but no mcdonalds because they're team coca-cola lol)
Hi Leena! Just some information about Natura: they're a brazilian brand and their whole deal here is no animal testing and reusable packaging. They have a recycling program and have been very involved with preservation of the amazon. They're still a big corporation so I wouldn't give them that much credit but in Brazil they're regarded as a pretty cool company!
Ah, parent companies. The bane of my makeup purchasing life. Here in Aotearoa so many of our food companies are owned by just a handful of parent companies. Including our supermarkets, we have only 2 supermarkets by that reasoning, because parent companies own them!
I’m glad you explained about Waterstones cos I was confused as to why it was bad, cos like it’s still a book shop and not Amazon, but yea it’s my only bookshop and I’m in a big city! I miss Ottakars actually. I knew all the Amazon ones and I do now use wikipedia rather than imdb!
My aunt works at the last independent bookshop in my hometown. It used to be there was at least 5 of them (quite good for a small-ish city) until FNAC moved in (huge multimedia/office chain in France) and started killing them one by one. That and rent prices going through the roof is really making it difficult to run a bookshop. Although on the bright side, last year was a record year for the shop as people started shopping again after confinement, so there's hope yet.
I used to spend so much money in the body shop and I loved it so much. However once I found out it’s an MLM I just refuse to shop there anymore, no matter how much I still love their products.
It blew my mind when I learnt that Boohoo owns loads of fashion companies. PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal, MissPap, Karen Millen, Coast, Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis. Weird.
What do you all think about Danone? Do you avoid their brands? I kind of tend to see Danone as the least evil of the mega companies, but also haven‘t done a lot of research.
I'm not sure what our criteria is for a chain but I believe Topping & Company are still independent, they've got three branches in Ely, Edinburgh and Bath 🙌
I knew of a lot of the makeup ones as another UA-camr I watch did a series on makeup parent companies as she is cruelty free and many CF brands are owned by parent companies that are not. I find it so fascinating to find out who owns what but it’s also depressing as there is way less variety than you think and it’s much harder to avoid certain companies than you think
Companies: capitalism is good, it creates a healthy competition between companies that benefits all of us!
Also Companies: we're going to buy every brand/company posible so we can control the market as much as possible.
CJ the X (referring to Jeff Bezos)
"It's not a free market if 1 guy *OWNS* THE MARKET!"
I know Waterstones isn't ideal and I too love indies but in my experience as a wheelchair user, so many indie bookshops are in inaccessible, small buildings, crammed full so there's no room for me to comfortably browse. Waterstones on the whole are in spacious buildings and well laid out. Without them I'd struggle to browse bookshops and this would be a real loss for me.
Unilever owns so many brands it's actually terrifying
I feel like everything I owned by them. I'm Dutch and If I'm in the supermarket every brand I see is owned by Unilever
I went through my toiletry brands when I was looking into Zero waste options etc a year ago, and I was genuinely shocked by both the number of and named brands owned by unilever - they even own the brand of coal tar soap my father has used for 70+ years 💀 I ended up compiling a list of unilever/nestle/amazon/etc owned brands ordered by section/type (food, toiletries, media, etc) so I can refer to it easier when shopping, because you can't keep them straight otherwise
@@doctorwholover1012 Would you share your list with us? That sounds so useful!
@@doctorwholover1012 please do share with us that list.
One that has always stuck out to me are the brand line ups under H&M (COS, Arket, Weekday, Monki, & Other Stories) and Zara (Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Bershka, Pull & Bear) bc cumulatively they take up so much space on the high street.
OMG Mind blown!!
Oh, wow, I didn't know that...
Massimo Dutti, you're breaking my heart!
Why didn’t I know this :///
STRADIVARIUS, BERSHKA AND PULL AND BEAR?"??!? theyre my favourite noo
I know Leena said we shouldn’t make it illegal because it “makes good business sense”, but if your business makes money by lying or not being transparent about how they actually work, it shouldn’t be legal. They should make money by actually being what they appear to be, because if no one wants to buy from them anymore once they’re transparent, then they should have to change
Im only half way through the vid but hey!! I think its an intresting aside that some of the companies would have been fairly 'ethical' at some point (ecover, was once okay. Now owned by unilever) the buy outs are intresting to me, when and how much? They didnt start out trying to trick us, but they are being eaten by a corporate behethmouth
@@LS-im6uc Agreed. There's definitely a certain amount of sneaky business practices going on and a reliance on people not knowing but a lot of these brands are just bought out. And it's often in the news e.g. when The Ordinary was bought out by Estée Lauder making it no longer CF. Or when depop was bought out by Etsy. Or when Cadbury's dropped their Fairtrade status after being bought out by a US company.
two additional points: nestle, and rupert murdoch. in australia we have of the worst media diversity because he owns everything, and even the leftish wing papers you look it up and owned by murdoch. it's pretty much just the abc left and people want to privitise it
nestlé truly owns so many brands, like nespresso, all the purina cat/dog food brands, perrier and so many water brands, at least half a dozen chocolate brands... AND they're a huge shareholder in l'oréal lol
Also Wesfarmers own so many retailers here it’s bananas. Kmart, Bunnings (and a couple of other tool stores), officeworks, Catch, Target, Workwear group(they make uniforms for high profile Aus business) Flybys and Coles.
yeah yikes
Rupert Murdoch has so much control over the media, even here in the UK. It shouldn't be allowed!
I did a ton of research on cruelty free brands when I went vegan a few years ago, and basically they're all owned by Loreal (only slight hyperbole). It's actually shocking. The greenwashing going on at the moment is so blatant, with brands like Rimmel banging on about their 'plant based' nail polishes. For books, I was going to recommend Wordery, which was an indie online bookshop. I just checked and it's now been bought by Elliot Advisors who own Waterstones and Barnes and Noble. FML.
If you're in the UK I like Hive as an indie online bookseller or World of Books for second hand books!
@@milly6858 Thank you!
Oh that's such a shame about Wordery, I've enjoyed ordering from there in the past
So people knitting all those little hats for innocent smoothie's charity campaign are really knitting hats for Coca Cola's charity campaign (who could definitely spend £££ on good causes if they wanted to)
I knit hats for actual people like the homeless shelter Christmas appeal who ask for them
in themselves Innocent are not ethical. I can tell you a whole lot about them from the start when they used to ask customer for ideas promising them names on bottles etc .. they used one of mine and Never even got back to my suggestion email, Haven't bought them since and this was before they sold to Coke
Well, I have never bought an Innocent Smoothie. My boss used to give me Innocent Smoothies for free, but I would never have paid for one assuming that they were donating to a charity.
When I did my Media Studies A-Level, a piece of homework we got was finding the mission statement for a company and doing an analysis. AND LET ME TELL YOU! Unilever's Mission Statement is practically Non Existent! Their ethics are so murky due to the sheer amount of conflicting companies they own that they kinda can't really have a mission statement, or at least one that's true and direct.
On a side note to books, there are really only 11 huge companies that control most consumer goods/foods nowadays, which is why if you can shop local/small businesses it's important to do so. Here's a list of those companies (also most of these are terrible when it comes to environmental impact, packaging, etc):
P&G
Coca-Cola
Unilever
Pepsico
Kellogg's
Mars incorporated
General Mills
Mondelez
Johnson & Johnson
KraftHeinz
Nestle
There is actually another independent book chain in the uk called toppings and company. They’ve got branches in Edinburgh, Bath and St Andrews that I know of. Their really cool because they offer you free tea at their stores and have old feeling floor to ceiling shelf’s with ladders you can climb up and roll and round the shop on to your 7 year old hearts content. Honesty if you ever find on check it out!
As far as I know it’s not owned by anyone else.
Second this! I love Toppings too. What about Stanfords? I think they’re independent 🤔
Absolutely adore Toppings. Their new shop in Bath is stunning 😍
@@ioneh636 Stanford's isn't a chain though, is it? What Leena's talking about is independent chains.
Yeah they are still owned and run by the Topping family aren't they? The Edinburgh one only opened a few years ago but it's loooovely and thankfully always really busy.
Waterstones are p sneaky with how they brand certain shops, they have a branch in Rye called the 'The Rye Bookshop' that is set up to look like an indie. Think they have a few others in various coastal towns as well
Yes! The one in Deal is the same, looks like an indie! I was convinced it was until they asked for my Waterstones card...
I understand but they are trying to make them fit the surroundings and local market - but with the supply chain support of the chain.
Tescos does that with Harris and Hoole coffee shops.. They set up in my town and I was excited for an indie til I found it it was owned by Tesco
They have done the same with Hodges Figgis in Dublin.
I live on the east coast & ‘Southwold Books’ is really Waterstones 🙄
I work for primark and it’s owned by ABF (associated British foods) who also own silver spoon sugar, twinnings tea, pataks curry sauce and loads more... very strange diversifying strategy 😂 had no idea until I started my job and wondered why the holiday year starts in September. Apparently it’s to do with the sugar beet harvest and ABF’s calendar... very odd for a clothing chain 😂
wow. i'm just...wow.
Coca Cola also owns Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper, Powerade, Schweppes and Fuze Tea, which is blowing my mind. And Nestlé, too, like they own so many brands, I always see them on packaging.
Often times companies sell the exact same product under different brands or sub-brands. They just change the packaging and this way they can sell to different target groups.
The abe books one annoyed me. I'd used it a few times thinking I was doing the good thing of buying second hand only to find out it's Amazon. And I didn't know about book depository so that's something else to be sad about. 😭
One that shocked me is when I heard that Native (mostly known for deodorant) is owned by Proctor & Gamble. That really shocked me so I emailed Native and sadly they confirmed...
Noooooooooooooooo
I'm so sad about Foyles and Blackwell's. I visited a lot of indies when I studied in London in 2016, so I hope they're still around when I come back to visit!
Unilever is open about it. I think it can be found on the packaging of all items. Or at least the majority. But its a small logo
What’s funny is I did know about most of these! I think when people say this is why individual choices matter so much less than systemic change this is exactly what they mean. And if you think about it, the corporate hierarchy makes sense because capitalism is inherently hierarchical. There’s a concept in user experience design called the illusion of choice and this is exactly that but on a huge scale. This is also why when people believe in simulation theory it’s like yeah… we do live in a simulation, but regardless of whether there’s a technological component, we live in a simulation of ideas due to capitalism. A brand is an idea that you buy into that aligns with your values and reflects something about yourself (from the consumers eyes). We believe that we’re standing up for certain values by doing so, but it’s really a simulation of ideas.
This!
I remember when I was a teenager, Cadbury's was taken over by Kraft. That really disappointed me and it's something I still feel really bitter about.
Me too. I'm old enough to remember original Cadbury's and there's no point in buying New Cadbury's. Especially because it tastes slightly like vomit now...
Yeah Cadbury's used to be like top tier chocolate as a kid, I don't eat it anymore bc lactose but after they got bought by Kraft it became so sickly sweet and disgusting, it was so disappointing
It was after this takeover that Cadbury's also started using some palm oil (famous for rainforest destruction) to reduce the amount of cocoa butter in its recipe, making it both cheaper to produce and completely disgusting. If you can get it I really recommend the New Zealand brand Whittakers: completely independently owned (long may that last), they don't use palm oil, and the chocolate is delicious.
Living not far from Bournville, where Cadbury's was originally made, I felt especially saddened by this one too
Is that why Cadbury tastes gross now? 😫 How depressing. Less depressing than the kidnapping and slave labour of children though, which is why I don't buy their chocolate anymore.
When I first started learning about this brand owning brands thing a few years ago (primarily in the beauty space), I was shocked and dismayed... and now I feel like I've become cynical and unsurprised whenever I find out that an awesome brand has been or is now bought out by a massive multinational corporation.
I remember when I found out that Chapters as actually originally an independent book chain in Canada that was bought out by Indigo (now called Chapters Indigo). The company proceeded to buy out a bunch of other small Canadian bookish stores like Coles and subsumed them under their umbrella. Indigo may be the last national bookchain in Canada but to be honest, I don't even know if it's independently owned or if other rich people/companies have controlling stakes in the business.
It makes me think about The Good Place and the point it makes on how hard it is to make good, moral decisions when the world is set up against us...
One of my biggest shocks, was when i found out that my go to oat milk brand, was actually owned by the biggest (and most evil) dairy brand in Denmark. A brand that i was very much trying to boycott. I think its so important that there is transparency between consumer and company/brand!
Not being from the UK I didn't know of Daunt Books to begin with but... Daunt Books to Waterstones CEO to Russian oligarch story arc (+Barnes&Nobles) blew my mind! 🤯
And loved the point "some could call that boycotting but I would just call that trying where we can to make choices that align with sanity" 🙌
this video has such awesome 'friend tells you some cool stuff' vibes and i am here for it.
im not in the UK but the Waterstones thing is absolutely horrific and sneaky, it's the exact type of 'hiding' that you mention that just seems malicious. and you never know how awful these companies are and where your money is going. i felt way less inclined to subscribing to people on Twitch for example once they got bought by Amazon.
this is a huge issue in every branch and i do think we need more transparency. funnily enough i don't think a lot about big companies acquiring brands when it comes to food and such, but it really irks me when it touches on entertainment for some reason. like i don't want these business giants like Amazon or Disney owning everything. even in gaming, these big dev studios are buying out smaller studios and it kinda feels like there ends up being no real competition, especially for the smaller creators.
There’s nothing malicious going on! The owners of Waterstones have invested in bookshop chains. They also bought Barnes & Noble last what. They’re not financially linked in anyway and are still run independently. It’s just how business works.
Disney owning everything gets me really riled up. I'm very afraid they'll set back the industry with their narrowminded ideas.
As much as I agree that consumer choices are critical, nowadays it seems that every time you want to make a good choice, the world is so set up against you. All the big brands are buying up small, good brands and you don't even know. I don't think that we can rely anymore on buying well-known or semi well-known brands because 9/10 times they are probalby owned by some evil big company.
The only reliable and 100% morally aligned consumer choice is to buy from local shops. And I literally mean local. Like family-owned businesses that sell on the local market or have online shops that deliver only in your country/area.
If you want to buy a sustainable shower gel or soap on the high street/your big name local supermarket, forget about it not already being owned by some evil corporation.
There's a really lovely bookshop in Dublin too, Hoggis and Figgis. It's the oldest in the city and before it was bought by Waterstone, it had been family run for like a hundred years. It's still called Hoggis and Figgis too btw, so that's pretty sneaky.
What!!! I didn’t know this 😭
YEP found this out when I was there a couple of weeks ago. Sneaky sneaky! Waterstones have done something similar with Hatchards but the fact they've done this in a country OUTSIDE THE UK is something else.
@@sarahg2721 I know!!!!! Broke my heart!
*Hodges, not Hoggis 😄
The one that blew my mind the most was when I found out that Trinity College in the University of Cambridge owned 51% of Tesco
No wayyyy
I love how you always say "because I've been reading this book..." - you seem to wonder about the topic, read a book about it (or five) and then build your opinion on your reading. This is how I want to form my opinions and learn about the world, too.
kind of on-topic (maybe more like greenwashing tho?): in my country, the leading dairy company/brand (they go by the same name) has recently put out dairy-free products (which apparently are also really good products). so, buying these new vegan products and thus not supporting the dairy industry, is still supporting the dairy industry???
another well-known food brand, mostly known for its sweets and snacks - especially chocolate (which isn't even fair trade but still super pricy! - while we also have storebrand fair trade chocolate sitting on the same shelf..) - also has a new line of dairy-free products. yet the company's production lines aren't guaranteed to be ethical or environmentally friendly..
so, the choices for non-dairy products here are either big domestic companies (with domestic production) that don't align with most eco-friendly values, or foreign brands that do align, but their products have a bigger impact as they are produced elsewhere.
this is such a fucked up way to do business... like i'm sure people who are dairy-free may not be so based on a morals foundation but it's so sneaky to try and appeal to those who try to stay ethical but not be ethical. it's the type of shitty corporate capitalism that riles me up lol
@@puffmaggie It's the same as all fast food venues offering vegan options. If you are getting a McPlant or Vegan KFC you are still supporting their main business of beef burgers and chicken....I just do not get the hype from some vegans-for-ethical-reasons for these options...
While ideally these companies would be separate, at least purchasing from the plant based line will hopefully encourage them to invest more money into that as they see people are interested in it!
this makes me want to set everything on fire so i'll just say that viennetta is pronounced vee-eh-net-tah and how you were pronouncing it actually means "vignette" in italian.
And is also typically very working class 😂😂
Hi, one of member of my family works for L'oreal, and I remember him telling me they were going to dropp the body shop because they were not really making enought money, and two month it happens ... later I saw a video of an influencer advertising that the body shop leave L'oreal because of their "animal testing policy" (a way of marketing a news I guess) which is not completely exact, (they are quite advance in the artificial skin tech actually) but they can't say they are not testing on animals because they are selling their products to China (where it is mandatory to test product on animals), so if you know a brand which is selling its products to China you can assume they are testing on animals at least for China.
I temped at L'oreal once not proud really needed the money . on my first day i walked in and there was a huge list in the foyer of brands they owned.. had to stop buying Kiehls and a whole lot of others
As if last year mandatory animal testing is no longer a legal requirement in China
Actually, China hasn’t been demanding animal testing for cosmetic products for a little while now. So one should still look at the company’s own policies before deciding that selling in China = animal testing.
Also, the cruelty-free leaping bunny symbol? You can just pay to have that on your products. Leaping bunny doesn’t verify it. Just so’s you know.
Waterstones also own Hatchards, the oldest bookshop in London! If they ever buy WHSmith there’s no hope left 😅
Omg I knew that in my bones, how did I leave that one out ?!
@@leenanorms It's a sneaky one that's easy to forget! I only remember because I worked for Waterstones when they took it on
tbh WH Smith only sell hugely popular titles.. :(
@@AthynVixen I know but they do have cracking stationery
just FYI L'Oréal does not own Armani, they have Armani beauty which is just a small portion of the company
Natura & Co is a Brazilian brand with a strong sense of environmental defense. They advertise a lot about caring for the nature, the small communities and women co-ops and they have a pretty positive image in Brazil and seems to actually do an effort (that noted I know it can have a big gap between to look like earth friendly and actually be earth friendly)
I don't have brands to add to the list, but your discussion of how insanely difficult it is to make ethical consumer choices because of lack of transparency like this is a main point in a favorite show: The Good Place.
In Edinburgh we have one of a small chain of bookshops called Toppings & Co. They have branches in Ely, Bath and St. Andrews as well, so hopefully they wil grow to more branches!
At 5:33 I did a double take bc I thought "I swear this brand is not called Wall's" So I googled it and turns out it was originally called Miko but has like a dozen names depending on the country... Because Unilever bought ice cream brands in each country, kept their names and just slapped the heart logo on each one. I don't know what to do with this information, but there you go
I was gutted realising the posh pop San Pellegrino, with the foil on the top for no reason is owned by nestle waters! I’ve been boycotting nestle nearly 10 years… others I find harder to avoid.
Even though the body shop is no longer under L'Oreal, I still feel uncomfortable supporting them as in some countries it's business model is MLM, and it rubs me the wrong way
Although I was not aware of all of these specific examples, none of them really surprised me. Almost everything in the world is ultimately owned by a handful of companies and people, and that makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I am hoping for, at least, more transparency in the future.
They should really be required to slap a sticker on there that says who the big owner is
I am always confused by what constitutes an independent bookshop, especially as chains of independent bookshops exist which - in my head at least - seems to be an oxymoron. I would be intrigued to know if Toppings are owned by anyone since you say Daunt Books is the only indie chain left in the UK?
Native deodorant now owned by Procter and Gamble! And the most shocking news for me fairly recently was that Powershop, which was green energy retailer in Australia, sold out to Shell of all the %%5###@ companies.
What a lot people might not know is that Nestle and Mars are buying a lot of vet clinics in Europe (and possibly otherwhere too, but I'm not sure). I work in one that has been bought by Evidensia of which Nestle is one of the main investors.
If I am not mistaken, they make some of the popular pet food brands...
This makes me sad.
The ice cream brands that you name are all by the same company, you can notice it because of the little heart symbol. I studied advertisement at uni ( I know, I am a demon... ) and one of my favourite things about that brand of icecream is that it has a different name in different countries. They are called Holanda in Mexico and Frigo in Spain. Walkers did the same with their branding.
Omg I thought the Walker's symbol looked like Lay's.
They're called Algida in Italy!
@@kate.cousteils In Australia they are called Thins!
HB Ice cream here in Ireland! I always thought that stood for Hazelbrook, as the company was set up there, but it was made by three Hughes Brothers who's family owned Hazelbrook, so it's possible it stands for Hughes Brothers
Foyles say this on their about us page: In 2018, after 115 years of independent bookselling, then-Chairman Christopher Foyle and the Board of Directors sold the company to Waterstones, under the steer of Managing Director James Daunt, with the proviso that the Foyles name must endure. And so begins another chapter in the history of a world-famous bookseller: independent in spirit, with a future ensured, and ready for the next 115 years. But yes, you have to search for it. Plus what does independent in spirit actually mean???????!
I’m pretty sure more than half of the brands in our supermarkets are unilever. But I’m pretty sure all their products have a tiny unilever logo on it.
I had just gotten home and sat down on the couch, and when I opened UA-cam this was just starting! The timing couldn't have been better
it just shows...(probably because my mom worked in marketing when I was a child) to me the difference between company and brand was clear at least till middle school and I was not surprised by one of those ownerships... I actively try to note these thing, and at least in Austria (probably the whole EU?) it is fairly easily possible... I mean Unilevers U is on the backside of each of their products...
Nestlé is another juggernaut that owns a lot of smaller food brands. I prided myself on not buying any Nestlé products and then was upset when I found out they owned my favourite brand of 2min Noodles (Maggi). So I totally agree that they should be more transparent so consumers could make more informed choices.
A particularly terrifyingly omnipresent company is the catering company Aramark. Here in Ireland, they provide shocking food to people in direct provision. There are also countless scandals of the quality of food they provide to prisons in the US. And unfortunately many people don't know, they also own the likes of Avoca, and recently the National Gallery have started a contract with them. They're EVERYWHERE.
Loved this video. Nestlé, Inditex and L'Oreal were the first brands I realised owned so much. And still bothers me how much space they take.
Unrelated and not important at all but you look great Leena, love the hair and pink combo.
I am a little late to this, but I think that one issue that wasn't discussed is that all of these companies were separate companies until they were bought out by the bigger company and then became a brand under Amazon or Unilever etc. e.g. Audible was a separate company, as was UA-cam before they were bought/merged by/into Amazon and Google, respectively. I totally agree that this should be announced publicly and maybe more honestly.
Oh yeah, my favourite is always telling someone that next time they're in the supermarket, turn around the packaging of as many things as they like and see just how many are owned by Unilever or Nestle.
I don’t know why I’m so shocked about Innocent
Yeah same, I didn't know that and I am so shocked.
The irony with the brand name though...
I will add as someone in the US, Barnes and Noble is barely a bookstore anymore. Over the past few years, at least half of the store has become devoted to games, toys, fandom merchandise, and now home goods?? Most stores also removed all of the comfortable furniture so there's no place to sit down and read the first few pages of a book before deciding to buy. The vibe has very much changed for the worse.
I just want to point out - Waterstones didn’t ‘buy’ Foyles or Blackwells. It’s actually their owners who bought them, they’re not financially linked. They also own Barnes & Noble hence why James Daunt now works for them.
Ben & Jerry’s still managed to stay a progressive and ethical company paying fair wages.
Looking at the ownership of Primark was a wild ride for me! Associated British Foods brands take up considerable real estate in both supermarket aisles and High streets.
A fun little challenge would be analysing a typical basket of shopping and seeing whether you've actually managed to buy products from more than 3 conglomerates...
Just had a thought, people are always talking about have the consumers have the power to boycot and choose another brand, but if all the brands are owned by a few (bad?) companies, we don't actually have that power...
I use to work in a Unilever ice cream factory. So, if you're in America/Canada you may want to know they also own Popsicle, Klondike, Breyers, Magnum, and of course Ben & Jerry's. And thinking back it doesn't make sense but I swear we were making Drumstick even though that's a Nestle product. And that's just what was made at the factory I worked in
LOVED THIS VIDEO. I also consider myself someone that knows a lot about who owns who but this video HUMBLED me. I think it is important to shop smaller when possible and shopping from these big companies is really not helping the financial inequality in this world. Thank you so much for this video and I shall find some new brand of oats to buy.
On a side note - it's so interesting in the beauty world especially when you're trying to boycott animal testing and shop 'cruelty free' ... because what happens when a cruelty-free brand (eg Garnier) is owned by a non-CF brand (eg L'Oreal)? - this definitely divides the community! Whilst I personally would still boycott Garnier, what really grinds my gears is that people don't realise that a non-CF brand owns them and aren't really getting to shop as an informed consumer who may otherwise choose better.
Rant over, loved the video!
Estée Lauder is another beauty Monolith who own Aveda, Bumble and Bumble, Clinique, MAC, DKNY, Bobbi Brown, Tom Ford, Too faced, Jo Malone, La Mer and so many more. It’s an illusion of choice.
The fact that I watched a L’Oréal ad in the middle of this made me actually laugh out loud
I was so shocked to hear that ben & jerry’s is owned by unilever! They purport themselves as such a “woke” mom and pop brand, and they’re always offering their stance on social injustices.
You sort of get to a size where it's hard to expand without selling out. I've seen it with so many micro breweries. Was reading an article about Ben and Jerry's and it looks as if they're set up a bit differently to most bought out companies...
"That’s why they and the then-sitting board together agreed to set up an independent board of directors that acts basically like our benefit corporation director. They are responsible for the social mission, for the integrity of the Ben & Jerry’s brand, our policies. They even get involved in basic things like wage-setting in the factories, where we have a livable wage policy that is overseen by the board of directors. And the directors are self-selecting. Unilever appoints just two seats out of 11 board members".
The one I'm annoyed about is 'love beauty and planet' that is owned by Unilever. Like it already feels like they just threw some buzzwords together, but then also they are owned by Unilever which is so anti-planet.
Most products that have packaging list on the package who owns the product. Unfortunately, that information is usually on the back.
I also think there is something to be said about these larger companies that own smaller sustainable brands in terms of voting with your dollar. I think a lot of our first instincts are to "boycott" the smaller sustainable brand because of the parent company, however, if you continue to purchase from the sustainable brand it tells the parent company that those are the products you want. That, in turn can push the parent company to grow more brands like that or shift more of its brands in that direction.
I'm kinda late to the party, but Natura & co is a brazilian company (their main brand is called Natura, a cosmetics brand, and at least here in Brazil they now own Avon) that is very environmentally invested. They're not yet fully vegan nor perfect (they sponsor some fashion shows knows for having animal fur and whatnot, so the company is boycotted a lot by vegans, even though their stance is to not censor designers... which is bullshit but anyway), but they invest a *lot* in sustainable options and are 100% against animal testing. They are responsible for many innovations in this sector here in Brazil, and are very invested in research and sustainable farming, fair wages, fair treatment of animals etc. Imo, The Body Shop being owned by them is very positive.
Wow, I would not have guessed that Loreal was the owner of so many other companies. I didn't think they were that big. It's always weird to find out who owns whom. (It also often makes me wonder what the point is of our anti-trust laws, because they don't seem to be doing a whole lot.)
Waterstones is owned by an American hedgefund and under the same umbrella are Barnes & Noble, Foyles, Blackwells and Hatchards. They function seperately in some ways but you might see similar campaigns in Foyles and Waterstones. You can also use your Hatchards loyalty card in Waterstones and vice versa. They also own a stationary company but I can't remember it's name.
Blackwells was my go to bookstore for ordering English language books in the EU. Waterstones doesn't ship outside the UK, and Blackwells stated they'll continue to deliver globally, but I've already had one pre-order cancelled because Blackwells ran out of stock (which could be a coincidence?). There are now very few places to buy English books from, especially if they're considered more niche - except for a few physical Waterstones stores or Amazon...
very informative video, I hope it empowers our consumer decisions to support independent shops
Topping and Company Booksellers is still an independent book chain in the UK! Not in London though so generally less famous...
What a great video! You have blown my mind!! I also just wanted to say that for some reason, while you were lying down with your books, all I could think of is that your blouse somehow reminded me of a sweet bag 😂 You look lovely 😊
I am absolutely loving this New hair colour on you. It suits you So Well!
Ohhhh I forgot about Vienetta. My grandma used to buy it whenever we went round when I was a kid. We always pronounced it like "Viennese" but with "-etta" instead of "-ese" (i.e. 4 syllables). Absolutely no idea if that's right or not though.
Yep. Vee. Enn, Ett, Uh.
Aramark (a big part of the prison industrial complex in the US & that's involved in Direct Provision in Ireland) owns Starbucks, Subway, Chopped, Costa, Eden, Mexican Kitchen & Avoca
I work in marketing and to sum up the laws behind advertising (at least where I live) it's pretty much don't be a dick but not everyone follows the rules or just omits details... I always think a funny and informative show that looks into advertising and marketing is the Gruen Transfer if you want to learn more about the laws.
I don't have any other companies to share, but this video is a great complement to a recent video by ASAPscience talking about greenwashing and how often "green" companies are using marketing tactics and legal loopholes to sound sustainable. Many of them are owned by parent companies that are, in fact, very much not sustainable.
I believe Natura are a Brazilian company and are fairly ethical, so fit better with Body Shop values. I've also heard from Body Shop employees that the work climate has changed, for the better, since they were sold by L'Oreal. Employees never liked the L'Oreal ownership (although the values never changed...), as far as I know.
kinda blew my mind that this entire video never breached the 'M' word
...
.
.
(monopoly)
heinz bought kraft a few years ago, many cleaning products are henkel but schwarzkopf is also henkel, alpro soy milk is danone, milka and dairy-milk, oreo and chips ahoy are mondelez (as are many other chocolate things), kinder brand (nutella and kinder bueno, etc.) is ferrero
I really enjoyed you tackling this topic. So informative :)
to be fair, etsy just acquired depop last year so it makes sense that you didn't know. around the time they completed the acquisition, they went hard on influencer/celeb collabs and spons for depop to further expand their gen z reach. it's pretty wild how giant some corporations are
also, going to a uni that has an exclusivity deal with a certain company really makes you accidentally knowledgeable about all the brands they own or other companies they have exclusivity deals with. my uni had an exclusivity deal with Pepsi so we only had PepsiCo brands on campus (we had a burger king but no mcdonalds because they're team coca-cola lol)
Hi Leena! Just some information about Natura: they're a brazilian brand and their whole deal here is no animal testing and reusable packaging. They have a recycling program and have been very involved with preservation of the amazon. They're still a big corporation so I wouldn't give them that much credit but in Brazil they're regarded as a pretty cool company!
Ah, parent companies. The bane of my makeup purchasing life. Here in Aotearoa so many of our food companies are owned by just a handful of parent companies. Including our supermarkets, we have only 2 supermarkets by that reasoning, because parent companies own them!
I’m glad you explained about Waterstones cos I was confused as to why it was bad, cos like it’s still a book shop and not Amazon, but yea it’s my only bookshop and I’m in a big city! I miss Ottakars actually.
I knew all the Amazon ones and I do now use wikipedia rather than imdb!
My aunt works at the last independent bookshop in my hometown. It used to be there was at least 5 of them (quite good for a small-ish city) until FNAC moved in (huge multimedia/office chain in France) and started killing them one by one. That and rent prices going through the roof is really making it difficult to run a bookshop. Although on the bright side, last year was a record year for the shop as people started shopping again after confinement, so there's hope yet.
I used to spend so much money in the body shop and I loved it so much. However once I found out it’s an MLM I just refuse to shop there anymore, no matter how much I still love their products.
The stores aren't. I actually thought they closed the MLM side of the business, but I see you can still join, so I'm mistaken.
It blew my mind when I learnt that Boohoo owns loads of fashion companies. PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal, MissPap, Karen Millen, Coast, Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis. Weird.
Literally every single point in your conclusion is BANG ON. I'm terrified and overwhelmed by the world we live in.
how about that Kylie cosmetics and colourpop are the same makeup made in the same factory but one is about 5x the cost of the other?
You used a clip of St Albans high street and I want to give a shout out to Books on the Hill - a great independent and rare books shop
According to a barista friend and and Wikipedia (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpro), Aplro is owned by Danone!
Wooow. Had no idea! And I look forward to comments under this video for more mind blowing facts.
What do you all think about Danone? Do you avoid their brands? I kind of tend to see Danone as the least evil of the mega companies, but also haven‘t done a lot of research.
kelly gooch has made a video on cosmetics conglomerates. great reccommendation for figuring out who belongs to who
I'm not sure what our criteria is for a chain but I believe Topping & Company are still independent, they've got three branches in Ely, Edinburgh and Bath 🙌
I like to use the rocketship bookshop. As far as I can see it is independent!
I had a Blackwell's shop in my university the whole time i was there and had no idea it was an independent
I knew of a lot of the makeup ones as another UA-camr I watch did a series on makeup parent companies as she is cruelty free and many CF brands are owned by parent companies that are not. I find it so fascinating to find out who owns what but it’s also depressing as there is way less variety than you think and it’s much harder to avoid certain companies than you think