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corporate campaigning

some ideas from the activist toolbox

Campaigns against corporations and their destructive social and environmental activities are nothing new, and there is a rich history of corporate activism for current campaigners to draw upon. Here are a few of the most effective and widely-used tactics to trip up your least favourite corporation and to help you to cook up new ways to turn up the heat for misbehaving companies.

boycotts
Companies selling consumer products are very sensitive about their profits and their images, and a well-planned, strategic boycott – or even just the threat of one – can have an enormous impact. FoEI affiliate Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has enjoyed several boycott successes over the past years. In the late 1980s, the group targeted Burger King for its import of beef raised in destroyed rainforests. The boycott led to a 12 percent decrease in sales for the hamburger giant, and the subsequent cancellation of rainforest beef imports. According to RAN, "The rainforest issue also began to gain ground in the public's awareness, and consumers began to appreciate the power they have to change things through their purchasing choices." In December of 2000, RAN called off its long-standing boycott of Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Electric after the company committed to changing its wood and paper purchasing policies.

Another FoEI affiliate, International Rivers Network, is currently calling for consumers to snap their Discover credit cards in half and send the pieces back to the parent company, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, in protest of the company's financial involvement in China's Three Gorges Dam. The US-based organization Infact, a leader in the ongoing boycott of Nestle for its inethical marketing of babymilk products, is running a boycott of Kraft food produced by parent company Philip Morris in protest of the tobacco company's Marlboro Man campaign, which encourages underage youth to smoke.

Many FoE groups are active in the global boycott of Exxon/Esso for the oil company's continued sabotage of international action on climate change. The boycott involves international days of action and weekly vigils outside US embassies, and maintains a website from which stickers and pamphlets can be downloaded (visit www.stopesso.com and www.pressurepoint.org for details).

Boycotts require widespread support, resources, careful planning and patience. For tips on planning a successful boycott, see www.conscientiousconsuming.com/Keys_of_successful_boycott.htm.

shareholder activism
Shareholder activism involves buying shares in a company in order to push for change in corporate policy and behaviour. The possession of shares allows activists to file shareholder resolutions and to attend the company's annual meeting. Although environmental resolutions rarely gather enough votes to mandate company compliance (50 percent is required), they are an effective way to increase awareness and media attention around a particular issue.

FoE United States has a programme in which shareholders authorize FoE to coordinate resolutions on their behalf. The resolution, which contains the names of all FoE members supporting the resolution, is filed on FoE letterhead. If the resolution makes it onto the shareholder ballot, FoE works to get large investors, such as pension funds, to vote in favour of the proposal. FoE US is also part of the Shareholder Action Network (SAN, www.shareholderaction.org) which serves as a clearinghouse of information and analysis to the socially responsible investing community on shareholder advocacy.

Shareholder resolutions on environmental and social issues are having an increasing impact. In 1997, shareholder resolutions were responsible for Pepsico and Texaco's withdrawal from Burma. According to SAN, a May 2001 resolution presented at ExxonMobil's annual meeting requesting that the company diversify its energy mix by investing more in renewable energy sources received nine percent of the vote. Resolutions on genetically modified organisms were filed with 21 companies in 2001. Most called upon companies - including Monsanto, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Campbells, Heinz, General Mills, and Kellogg - to stop selling products with GM ingredients until further tests have been carried out. A resolution presented at Occidental Petroleums 2001 AGM calling for the company to stop exploratory oil drilling on the sacred lands of Colombia's U'wa people gathered over six percent of the vote.

Shareholder actions can be particularly effective if members of affected communities turn up at the annual meetings. The Ilisu Dam campaign, for example, in which FoE EWNI has been very active, turned up at the Balfour Beatty general meeting with hundreds of Kurdish people whose communities were affected by the proposed dam. While a few campaigners asked questions inside, the costumed Kurdish people played music and demonstrated outside the meeting. At Occidental Petroleum's 2001 annual meeting, U'wa leader Roberto Perez led a colourful demonstration together with labour, environmental and entertainment industry activists.

For more information, see 'Confronting Companies Using Shareholder Power: A Handbook on Socially-Oriented Shareholder Activism' on the FoE US website: www.foe.org/international/shareholder.

occupations and blockades
Occupations, blockades and other demonstrations carried out in or around the offices of TNCs, corporate lobby groups or other involved bodies can be an effective tool for applying pressure on companies and generating media attention. Indigenous peoples, affected communities, workers and campaigners all rely on these tactics to draw attention to their cause.

Occupations may involve activists entering and "locking on" to office equipment, holding press conferences inside the occupied building, discussions with company management, the screening of videos on the company's less admirable activities to staff, the presentation of "awards" and so forth. A recent successful example is the December 2001 occupation by A SEED and other activists of the Brussels headquarters of the powerful chemical industry lobby group CEFIC. The occupiers managed to barricade the staircase and drop banners from the office balcony; outside, demonstrators made music and distributed pamphlets (see www.aseed.net for a full report of the occupation).

Blockades generally take place at project sites and outside of company offices, embassies or related ministries. For example, community members, students, and environmentalists are currently occupying trees in the mountains of the Mindo Nambillo Cloudforest in order to stop construction of Ecuador's new heavy crude pipeline. In 1996, FoE groups around the world carried out a coordinated blockade of Shell stations in order to draw attention to the company's appalling human rights and environmental abuses in Nigeria.

subvertising
Subvertising involves the manipulation of an established brand or logo in order to spotlight a specific company, its activities and products. FoE's Shell Demon, for example, is a 2.5 metre high costume with a snarling head made out of the Shell logo. The demon carries a staff topped by a smoking planet, useful for highlighting the company's role in global climate change. The Frankenfood monster has also become a frequent participant in FoE anti-GMO demonstrations around the world, as has the pot-bellied Exxon oil executive who wears a cowboy hat and drags a few submissive politicians around with his lassoo.

Plenty of inspiration for would-be subvertisers can be found at www.adbusters.org.

web activism
Activists have been harnessing cyberspace for their corporate campaigning in recent years. Some forward-thinking activists bought up corporate domain names before the companies themselves had done so, resulting in embarrassing and expensive lawsuits. Many corporate 'spoof' websites have also been created (for a partial list see page xx). One example is the www.whirledbank.org website, launched by activists in time for the 2000 spring meeting of the World Bank. The site, which looks remarkably like the official World Bank site, provides detailed information about the corporations that profit and the countries that lose out from the Bank's activities.

writing, phoning, faxing
Tried and true tactics for getting a message across. Fax-ins and phone-ins can be successful in shutting down corporate communications for hours, and even days at a time. FoE Netherlands and other groups distribute colourful postcards on specific issues to the public that can then be mailed to corporations, institutions or politicians. Many organizations, including FoEI, now have automated functions on their websites that allow letters to be e-mailed to corporate headquarters at the push of a button. For example, over 150,000 people participated in FoE Europe's "flood Bush" e-protest action which protested the US attempt to wreck the climate treaty.

comparing companies and targetting fat cats
Competition between corporations within any given market is fierce. Some campaigns exploit the discrepancies between companies in order to press for change. FoE Netherlands, for example, does an annual ranking of national food chains based on the number of organic products sold. FoE EWNI does a similar ranking of supermarkets' policies on GMOs. Clever and ironic prizes (e.g. the Golden Tortoise Award to the slowest company, the Scorched Earth Award to the one contributing most to climate change) can be given to the best and worst companies. Note: this strategy is best used with care in order to prevent companies from using their "endorsements" by campaigners in order to create divisiveness within the movement

Campaigners can also put direct and uncomfortable pressure on corporate CEOs and politicians working to further corporate interests. For example, FoE campaigners turned up to a recent oil industry meeting holding "WANTED" placards featuring Exxon oil chief Lee Raymond for crimes against the climate. FoE activists dressed up like business fat cats, complete with expensive suits, excessive jewellery, king-sized cigars, sunglasses and "executive padding", in protest of the failure of the 2001 World Economic Forum in Davos to face up to the consequences of economic globalization. And at the January 2000 Biodiversity Protocol meeting in Montreal, FoEI activists gave the press a subversive menu of genetically modified food a few hours before politicians dined in a fancy restaurant.


other resources
The Ruckus Society (www.ruckus.org) provides training in the skills of non-violent civil disobedience to help environmental and human rights organizations achieve
their goals. Their website has useful activist manuals on climbing, hanging from billboards, "scouting" potential action sites, using video camcorders, and addressing the media.
Adbusters is a great resource for those itching to do some brand manipulation and actions directed at consumers. Visit their site at www.adbusters.com.

Ann Doherty, FoEI