Why Buy Local? Part 1: The Illusion of Choice
This article is part one of a series on why we should support our local businesses.
Walk into any major grocery store’s beverage aisle, and you’ll see shelves upon shelves of different brands from which to choose. But do we really have freedom of “choice”? Or is it just an illusion?
I was surprised that a CapitalOne Shopping survey revealed most Americans don’t understand how the food and beverage products they buy are influenced by only several big corporations. Brands I thought were competitors are actually owned by the same company. Wouldn’t popular beverages like Barq’s, Sprite, Schweppes, and Fanta be in competition with one another? Or Dasani and vitaminwater? Nope. Coca-Cola profits from them all. Here are the key takeaways from the survey:
Americans can’t correctly identify the owners of major brands.
Half of Americans are influenced by organic-sounding companies.
54% of Americans think Honest Tea is owned by a tea company.
Big corporations and their dozens of brands affect nearly every area of our lives, including consumer goods, technology, travel, media/entertainment, and so on. But let’s stick with the food and beverage industry. The fact is, there are several major corporations that own the most notable brands and control every grocery item we buy. Who are they?
While this image is not up to date, it’s a perfect illustration of who owns who.
Why Should We Care?
According to research done by Food and Water Watch (The Economic Cost of Food Monopolies: The Grocery Cartels), “This is not a broken system. It is functioning as it was designed: to funnel wealth from local communities into the hands of corporate shareholders and executives.” The organization examined the market share of the dominant companies across 55 grocery categories. Their research concluded that more than 60 percent of those categories are tight oligopolies/monopolies.
These are global companies making billions of dollars. Their only interest in our communities is how their marketing strategies influence us to buy their (mostly junk) food and beverages. Because of their massive corporate buying power, they make it nearly impossible for start-ups and small businesses to compete.
The Solution
Yes, we can do something about this!
Shop at local farm markets and grocers. Avoid the big box stores.
Search for independent, smaller brands. When you find one you like, stick with it!
Even better, do your body a favor - skip the pop and highly processed foods.
The solution may not be as convenient, and might cost a little more, but isn’t our community worth it? Isn’t your health worth it?
In Part 2, we’ll delve into the market share of these big corporations and their potentially negative impacts to our community.