{"id":2686,"date":"2018-02-23T13:40:59","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T12:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fairfood.org\/?p=2686"},"modified":"2021-06-29T10:50:57","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T08:50:57","slug":"chatting-with-unilevers-customer-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fairfood.org\/en\/resources\/chatting-with-unilevers-customer-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Chatting with Unilever’s customer service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\n

Chatting with Unilever’s customer service<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

When was the last time you called customer service? I don\u2019t mean for your phone or internet provider, but the customer service of your favorite sprinkle or yogurt company. For instance Unilever’s customer service. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems they aren\u2019t called or contacted very often at all. Yes, maybe when a new allergy hype is on the rise, or if an online discount has a bug, then we\u2019ll contact them. But customer services aren\u2019t exactly contacted by people who want to know where their food really comes from and how exactly it\u2019s made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, it\u2019s crazy how little we, as consumers, care to know about the products we buy. Our clothing will often say \u2018Made in Bangladesh\u2019 or \u2018Made in China,\u2019 but look at a pack of rice milk or canned beans. More often than not, it is not clear which country the main ingredient comes from, let alone how that product was processed or how much the farmer was paid for it. For the diehards: you can often find a two-digit code by the expiration date which refers to the country of origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that the company’s box labeled ‘critical consumer who wants to know more about product origin’ is in any case ticked off in the daily report.<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Recently I have been contacting customer services via mail and social media. I am often struck by how little many of these companies know about the country of origin and production steps of their products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A standard conversation goes something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Me: \u201cDear customer service from XX, I am wondering how much the coconut farmers are paid for your product X. I cannot find anything about that on your website.
Customer service: \u2018Dear Lonneke, Thank you for your interest in our product X. We pay the farmers a fair wage, according to international standard Y.
Me: \u2018How do you know for sure that the farmers can get by on the wage they\u2019re receiving?\u2019
Customer service: \u2018We know that because we are also affiliated with international standard Y that monitors international standard X.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t find out much more than that, but I think that the company\u2019s box labeled \u2018critical consumer who wants to know more about product origin\u2019 is in any case ticked off in the daily report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know if these companies were contacted by Unilever regarding the origin of the palm oil in the Calv\u00e9 peanut butter, or Bertolli for their bread, but they have already taken a step forward. They have listed all of their 312 palm oil suppliers online. There is also a map with names and locations of the 1,400 mills where the palm oil fruits are processed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unilever hopes for an industry-wide movement towards transparent production chains.<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Unilever\u2019s press release<\/a>, they are the first consumer products company to do this. Unilever hopes for an industry-wide movement towards transparent production chains. While this is nice management language, what do you\u2014as the consumer\u2014 stop putting in your shopping cart?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Very handy: you can check whether manufacturers do business with seedy types. In the beginning of 2017 Unilever was still featured negatively in the news<\/a> because it continued to do business with Sawit Subermas Sarana, a palm oil company in Kalimantan whose owner had previously been linked to kidnapping and illegal logging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually these things quickly become yesterday\u2019s news, and you stop hearing about it, but I was curious to see if the company was still on Unilever\u2019s list of suppliers. No, it wasn\u2019t. The only mention of this palm oil company was in the footnote<\/a> at the bottom of a list of \u2018suppliers we have stopped issuing orders to in 2017.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unilever now expressly appeals to the public: \u201cBy bringing this data to the attention of the outside world, we made it easier for others to bring challenges and insights to our attention,\u201d their website states. \u201cThis helps us to conduct research and search for solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s hope that Unilever\u2019s customer service phone will ring very often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From now on, follow Lonneke\u2019s bi-monthly blog on our site.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTransparency<\/a>\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t
\n\tShare this article:<\/b><\/span>\n\t