Glenview, Illinois – During its annual meeting of shareholders today, Kraft Foods Group, Inc. will face a resolution filed by the Green Century Equity Fund urging the company to refrain from using corporate funds to influence any political election campaign. Kraft Foods spent millions last year to oppose legislation for labeling food containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which shareholders argue exposed the company to significant brand and reputational risks without generating value for shareholders.
“Companies that spend millions to undermine key environmental and consumer protections put both our democracy and shareholder value at risk,” said Lucia von Reusner, shareholder advocate for Green Century Capital Management. “American consumers widely disapprove of corporate money in politics, and shareholders urge Kraft Foods to listen to its customers and keep money out of high-risk political gambles.”
Kraft Foods is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world, and is recognized as among the top five contributors to opposing legislation that would have provided consumers with information about GMOs in their food. Labeling of GMOs is supported by more than 90 percent of U.S. consumers, and companies that spent millions to defeat labeling measures were the subject of significant media coverage and controversy surrounding these initiatives.
“It’s unfortunate that food companies such as Kraft continue to spend millions of dollars to defeat GMO labeling and leave consumers in the dark,” said Dev Gowda, advocate with Illinois Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). “Illinois PIRG fully supports Green Century’s resolution to get Kraft money out of politics.”
“The people of this country want and deserve a democracy in which politicians are elected on the basis of where they stand on issues and how they will serve their constituency,” said Brian Gladstein, director of Programs and Strategy at Common Cause Illinois. “Yet, corporations such as Kraft threaten that fundamental belief by buying votes, influencing politicians and creating legislation through large sums of corporate donations that better serve their profit margin off the back of hard-working Americans. The time has come to organize and take back our democracy through shareholder resolutions such as this one.”
“Growing demand for GMO labeling proves that companies like Kraft, which spend millions to silence consumer demand, will succeed only in tarnishing their brand identity and alienating concerned shoppers,” said Jessica Fujan, Midwest organizerfor Food and Water Watch. “The food industry spent $40 million lobbying the federal government in 2011, and smart shareholders know this is bad for the food system and bad for democracy.”
“Consumers have a right to know what is in their food, shareholders have a right to invest in companies they believe in and voters deserve elections free from corporate influence,” added Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. “By meddling in elections, Kraft has come down squarely on the side of secrecy.”
The public overwhelming disapproves of corporate money in politics, with more than 80 percent of Americans across party lines agreeing that there is “too much money in politics” according to a 2012 Bannon Communications poll. The same poll reported that 79 percent of respondents would boycott a company to protest its political spending, and 65 percent would sell stock in the company.
In addition to being controversial, several academic studies suggest that corporate political contributions do not generate returns to shareholders. Among them is a 2012 study by Harvard Business School professor John C. Coates, which concludes that “in most industries, political activity correlates negatively with measures of shareholder power, positively with signs of agency costs, and negatively with shareholder value … Overall, the results are inconsistent with politics generally serving shareholder interests.”
Expressing concern about the reputational risks that political contributions expose companies to and citing the company’s controversial GMO contributions, Green Century filed a shareholder proposal urging Kraft Foods to refrain entirely from using corporate funds to influence any political election.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.