May 20, 2016
Oxfam private sector researcher/evaluation adviser Uwe Gneiting reflects on 3 years of a campaign to change thebehavior of Big Food Last month we marked the third anniversary of the Oxfamâs Behind the Brands campaign with a new briefing paper that included an updated scorecard of the worldâs ten largest food and beverage companiesâ sustainability policies. As an evaluator looking at
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What have 3 years of campaigning on Big Food achieved? What still needs to happen?
April 19, 2016
Erinch Sahan, acting head of Oxfam’s private sector team, looks back on 3 years of trying to get the worldâs food giants to clean up their act, the subject of a new Behind the Brands report. The captains of the food industry have come a long way over the last few years. The âBig 10â, the worldâs 10 largest food and
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Why is Coca-Cola championing land rights at the UN?
May 16, 2014
I usually try and minimize Oxfamâs excessive tendency for trumpet-blowing, but this one from Oxfam Americaâs private sector czar, Chris Jochnick (@cjochnick), looks worth it â some real progress in working on land rights with the epitome of consumer capitalism This week at the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), Coca Cola publicly declared that âland grabsâ are unacceptable and
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What Makes Big Corporations Decide to Get on the Right Side of History?
February 26, 2014
For the past year, Oxfamâs Erinch Sahan (right) has been working on the âBehind the Brandsâ campaign. Here he reflects on some successes and lessons from his time in the advocacy trenches. On 19 May 1997, the CEO of BP, John Browne, made a speech at Stanford University. Browne: âWe must now focus on what can and what should be done,
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Brands, bankers and big ideas…… talking food to $5 trillion of investment
June 24, 2013
Oxfamâs tame ex-banker Will Martindale has been discussing food security with some masters of the (financial) universe Imagine a million people, each with a million dollars. Then times it by five. Five trillion dollars. That was the total investment represented by bankers and investors that joined Oxfam last week for a meeting to discuss global food security. The context was
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Attack? Equivocate? Engage? How Big Food responds to a tough new campaign
March 6, 2013
Chris Jochnick, director of Oxfam America’s Private Sector Department (twitter: @cjochnick), reflects on the different corporate responses to our ‘Behind the Brands’ campaign launch Companies have had decades to hone their engagement strategies with activists, but still struggle to find the right approach. Initial reactions to Oxfamâs Behind the Brand campaign offer an interesting case in point. The campaign is only
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