Poor Man Survival
Self Reliance tools for
independent minded people…
ISSN
2161-5543
A Digest of Urban
Survival Resources
An Illusion
of Choice-These 11 Companies Control Everything You Buy
The
rapid rise of variation in everyday goods and services, from which cereal we
eat in the morning to which toothpaste we brush our teeth with at night,
gives the perception of unlimited choice. For example, if you’re deciding which
bottled water to buy, the possibilities range from budget brands, like Deer
Park or Ozarka, to higher-end options, like Perrier or S. Pellegrino. But this
appearance of choice is actually manufactured. All of the aforementioned brands
are owned by one company: Nestle.
Despite
the amount of choices in the consumer market, several big companies own a large
majority of major brands, effectively controlling everything you buy.
So,
how much of “choice” is really controlled by big business, and how well do
Americans understand which corporations have a stake in the goods and services
they rely on every day? To find out, we took an in-depth look at the major
companies that own a majority of America’s food and consumer goods. Then, we
surveyed 3,000 Americans about their understanding of which big businesses own
which major brands. Check out our full visual below, or skip ahead to see
our survey findings.
These
11 Consumer Goods and Food Companies Control What You Buy…
Ceiling-high
grocery store shelves may give the perception of endless options, but a closer
look at the brands and the companies that own them reveal a complex
interconnection. Check out our full visual above to get a better sense of just
how intertwined some brands are, and read on to learn more about how well
Americans understand this relationship.
Kellogg’s
Founded:
1906 (as Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company)
2017
revenue: $12.93 billion USD
Major
brands: Cheez-It, Eggo, Famous Amos, Keebler, Town House
General Mills
Founded:
1928
2017
revenue: $15.62 billion USD
Major
brands: Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Gold Medal, Cheerios, Chex
Kraft-Heinz Company
Founded:
2015 (merger between Kraft Foods Inc. and Heinz)
2017
revenue: $18.22 billion
Major
brands: Heinz Ketchup, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Lunchables, Maxwell
Mondelez International
Founded:
2012 (spin-off of Kraft Foods Inc.)
2017
revenue: $25.9 billion
Major
brands: Cadbury, Chips Ahoy!, Nabisco, Oreo
MARS
Founded:
1911
2017
revenue: $35 billion
Major
brands: M&Ms, Snickers, Dove, Uncle Ben’s
Coca-Cola
Founded:
1892
2017
revenue: $35.41 billion
Major
brands: Coca-Cola, Minute Maid, Glaceau
Unilever
Founded:
1929
2017
revenue: $62.62 billion
Major
brands: Ben & Jerry’s, Klondike, Popsicle, Degree, Vaseline
Procter & Gamble
Founded:
1837
2017
revenue: $65.06 billion
Major
brands: Pampers, Tide, Downy, Charmin, Gillette, Crest
PepsiCo
Founded:
1898
2017
revenue: $65.53 billion
Major
brands: Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Quaker, Tropicana
Johnson & Johnson
Founded:
1886
2017
revenue: $76.45 billion
Major
acquisitions: Aveeno, Clean & Clear, Band-Aid, Tylenol
Nestle
Founded:
1866
2017
revenue: $89.79 billion
Major
brands: Toll House, Gerber, Poland Spring, Stouffer’s
Do
Americans Know Which Major Companies Own Which Brands?
To get
a better sense of whether Americans understand how the products they buy are
influenced by big business, we surveyed 3,000 people about the different brands
and their owners.
Major takeaways include:
>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.
>Americans Can’t Correctly
Identify the Owners of Major Brands
Across
the board, Americans were unable to correctly identify the correct owners of
major brands. Respondents came closest with Kashi, which 48
percent correctly
identified as owned by Kellogg’s. Only 30 percent of respondents selected Coca-Cola as the
correct owner of Honest Tea, and just 27 percent of respondents correctly chose General
Mills as the owner of Annie’s Homegrown.
Nearly Half of Americans Think
Health-Focused Brands Are Owned by Organic-Sounding Companies
In a
result that shows the power of marketing, our study found that the majority of
consumers believe brands marketed as health-conscious are owned by companies
with a healthy or organic-sounding name.
For
example, a combined 54 percent of Americans believe that Annie’s Homegrown, which touts
itself as selling “nourishing foods that are good for the planet,” is owned by
either Organic Valley (32 percent) or Nature’s Path (22
percent).
Neither
Organic Valley or Nature’s Path
are run by conventional food companies: Organic
Valley is comprised of an independent cooperative of organic farmers and
Nature’s Path is family owned. Annie’s, however, is owned by food company
General Mills, a fact that only 27 percent of respondents correctly identified.
Similarly,
a combined 42 percent of Americans think Kashi, a food brand
that promotes “simple, natural ingredients,” is owned by either Bear Naked (a
granola brand owned by Kellogg’s) or Cascadian Farm (an organic brand owned by
General Mills). A little less than half of respondents, 48
percent,
correctly identified Kellogg’s as the owner of the Kashi brand.
54% of Americans Think Honest Tea is owned
by a Tea Company
A
combined 54 percent of respondents believe that Honest Tea, which
describes itself as offering “truly healthy, organic beverages,” is owned by a
tea company. Nestle, owner of Nestea, was chosen by 28
percent of
respondents and Lipton, a British brand of tea owned by Unilever, was chosen
by 26 percent.
Only 30 percent of respondents correctly chose the Coca-Cola company
as the brand’s owner.
Other Major Industries
Controlled by Mega Corporations
Consumer
goods brands aren’t the only ones controlled by major companies. There are a
number of industries where major conglomerates own various brands, from media
and movies studios to high-end beauty and luxury fashion.
So, do
American consumers really have freedom of choice? With 11 billion-dollar
consumer good and food companies controlling over 400 major brands, we may not
have that many choices — but we certainly have the illusion of them.
Yours for a brighter season,
Bruce ‘the Poor Man!’
Final Notes…
A toxic
combination of rising rates and lack of affordability in the housing market has
home builders across the U.S. struggling.
“Mad Money” host Jim Cramer has some harsh words for the Federal Reserve whom he believes is “all but ignoring the damage.”
“Mad Money” host Jim Cramer has some harsh words for the Federal Reserve whom he believes is “all but ignoring the damage.”
Has the Housing Bust 2.0 begun? If so, how bad could things get? And what steps
should those looking to pick up values at much lower prices in the future be
taking?
This
week we talk with citizen journalist Ben Jones, property manager and publisher
of TheHousingBubbleBlog --
where he tracks the latest headlines and developments in the housing market.
Food Storage Practices that Reduce Food
Waste
Attention to details could reduce your food bill by over $500!
Attention to details could reduce your food bill by over $500!
The failure of both the Volt and the
Cruze is instructive. The Volt was a very high-priced car that was heavily
subsidized by government policies, both federal and state, favoring electric
vehicles. Many thought its high-price tag doomed it, especially since the
gas-powered Cruze was a very similar car at a lower price point. But neither
achieved the expected sales. These were cars Americans did not want.
Looking at those charts, it was
easy to single out the Fed as the culprit, since the Fed’s hawkishness had
ignited the $USD which in turn put pressure on commodities.
However, what’s happening now is
much bigger than just the Fed. Between June and August, two of the stock
markets that are most closely aligned with global trade (South Korean and
Germany) topped.
"There are hundreds of other
stores that likely don't fit our vision for the future of Gap brand specialty
store, whether in terms of profitability, customer experience, traffic trends,"
CEO Art Peck said Tuesday evening during a call with analysts. "The range
from the very best to the very worst stores is extremely broad."
In Wednesday’s statement, Lars
Petersson, Ikea’s manager for U.S. retail operations, said the company wants to
“create the Ikea of the future by ... being more accessible and fully embracing
technology.”
Ikea has known for some time that
it needed to up its online game and be less dependent on its behemoth
bricks-and-mortar stores.Contributors and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.
Support
Female Troops
If you have full-sized unopened
bottles of shampoo or conditioner, send them to Operation Courage is Beautiful
[OperationCourage.org] This nonprofit will send them to female service members
serving abroad: 9921 Carmel Mountain
Rd., San Diego, CA 92129
Help
Troops Stay Healthy
If you can spare travel-size tubs
of antibiotic ointment or bandages, send them to the Long Island Blue Star
Mothers [BlueStarMothersNY6.org].
They’ll include them in care packages sent abroad. Mail to: Chapter President
LIBSM NY6 c/o Carol Ruane, 193 Glen Dr., Ridge, NY 11961
How to Prepare for a Natural
Disaster…
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Additional
Resources
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SAVE
& MAKE Money
Researched by our editors and
include 100s of tips, tricks and insider methods of saving money, earning extra money [many from the
comfort of your home], the best places to live, How to find little-known
freebies, discounts and other benefits-over 2,000 programs!
or…
How to Survive the War on the Middle
Class
14 of the best reports I’ve assembled on protecting your
freedom-Download link.
A
Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production
4 comments:
It's just like banks, media, pharmaceuticals and everything else-the global elite control everything and as your excellent free ebook [the Washington-Wall Street Cartel] points out they are nothing more than cartels which run the planet and the government. They are, in my opinion the real Deep State.
Just like our freedoms which are continually eroded, our choices of consumption are becoming limited and controlled as well. Sort of like our choice of elections-no choice there either anymore...in our county for instance, Democrats lost by a landslide but the snakes won the state due to union control of majority of our counties along with a plethora of welfare slugs who always vote Democrat in hopes of getting more handouts.
We've always suspected the New World Order revolved around an ever-tightening control and centralization of resources in the hands of a powerful elite and it seems headed that way ever faster...I believe in many respects these groups, perhaps under the guise of the IMF or World Bank call the shots on regional and world depressions as well, wars and other calamities but even they may no longer have any rabbits left to pull out of the hat.
You'd almost be remiss if you didn't include the government in this list. They nickel and dime all of us it is what keeps our family poor. Mostly it is the state government where we live, MI financially rapes its citizens each year with rate hikes for auto insurance [already the highest in the nation], auto registration fees, phone & cable fees [just had another hidden rate hike of $10 per month tucked into our bill with notice] property tax hikes, water bill hikes [already the highest in the Great Lakes region & more than our combined annual electric/gas bills]...they're real bastards when it comes to hammering the Middle Class & yet they deliver substandard roads and other "services."
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