#BehindtheBrands...Geared up for Lollapalooza and World Food Day!

By the end of May we had won our first Call to Action towards Mondalez, Nestle, and Mars. We campaigned for women cocoa farmers. You tweeted, updated Facebook statuses and let your voice be heard. All three companies listened to YOU, to us, a people united to demand better upstream practices. In fact, all three corporations boasted signing on to the UN Principles for Women. At the end of the day, it is about helping women, a major support system for most families across the world. They buttress a family ability to attain the basics of food, water, and education. We are now gearing up for our next campaign. Currently we are targeting General Mills to be more transparent in their business practices. If a company is family-oriented, what do they have to hide from the public? General Mills owns brands like Green Giant, Betty Crocker, and Cheerios, which may be some of your favorite brands that you grew up with and rely on. But do we know how they are made? Where the ingredients come from? How those ingredients were obtained? Actually, we are not sure. Thus, to understand the comfort foods that sustain our lives, we are asking General Mills, “What do you have to hide?”

This weekend we are featuring our General Mills and Behind the Brands campaign at Lollapalooza in Grant Park. This is the biggest three-day music festival in Chicago that everyone raves about. This year features anyone from Nine Inch Nails, Icona Pop, to Kendrick Lamar. We have a great group of awesome volunteers who will be tabling at our booth as part of Lolla Cares in the Green Street North area. Come check out our Behind the Brands Scorecard Game and try to win an Oxfam bandana! Make sure to sign the Behind the Brands Pledge. And, as an added bonus, take a picture with our General Mills sign and Tweet live from Lollapalooza. If you are not at Lolla this year, make sure to Tweet the following sample tweets:

-Who will be top of the #BehindtheBrands scorecard at the next update? Make it your favorite brand

-Hey @GeneralMills, my @Cheerios would taste better if I knew where they came from! Publish your ingredient sourcing! #BehindtheBrands

@GeneralMills, I love GreenGiant but is he hiding something? Tell us how you make our family favorites!  #BehindtheBrands

We look forward to our first Oxfam Action Corps Lollapalooza! We are even more excited to see you Tweet, Instagram, and use Facebook to let General Mills know what is important to you as a consumer! This is especially crucial as we begin more Behind the Brands campaigns. Keep up the energy as we continue on to GROW dinner season in October.We are working with our partners at Slow Food Chicago and ONE to host amazing World Food Day dinner on October 16th and a Film Festival in October. Get involved! Tweet us, email us and we would love to hear from you!

Upcoming Events Include:

August

Lollapalooza Tabling 2^nd -4^th

PreSERVE Workday 17^th 10am-12pm

Pilsen Farmer’s Market Tabling 18^th 9 am-3pm

August Monthly Meeting 22^nd 6pm

September

Monthly Meeting 19^th

Logan Square Farmer’s Market Tabling 29^th 9am-2pm