Food and Beverage Packaging November/December2010 : Page 6

Editor’s Note OF NOISY BAGS AND NOISIER BACKLASHES ’ve always thought that a lot of the support for envi-ronmental initiatives is a mile wide and an inch deep. People think green is great—until it puts them to some inconvenience. Then you have situations like people dedicating Facebook pages to complain about the SunChips PLA bag. I’m sure you’re familiar with the controversy by now, but to recap: Frito-Lay rolled out the 100% poly-lactic acid (PLA) bag for SunChips this spring. Then the backlash started. When handled, the bag makes noticeably more noise than an ordinary plastic bag. We live in the age when com-plaints “go viral,” and before you know it, a Facebook page with the title “Sorry But I Can’t Hear You Over This SunChips Bag” had racked up tens of thousands of hits. Other Facebook pages sprang up, and soon there was mainstream media coverage. Frito made an initial effort to resist the backlash by appealing to the better nature of consumers—which was, of course, the point of the new bag in the ﬁ rst place. But the constant stream of negative publicity got to be too much, and the bags were gone by autumn for all but original-ﬂ avor SunChips. However trivial this whole contretemps may seem, it’s a good ex-ample of the paradox at the heart of corporate social responsibility. Corporations exist to make money. Asking should be them to “get out in front” of a social issue at the risk of losing customers is asking the corporate ofﬁ cers to go against their duties But to shareholders. mean Of course, companies should be ready to shape the good impulses of consumers, regarding sustainability or anything else, into useful, executable strategies. But “shape” doesn’t mean “drag kicking and screaming.” Modern communications make the voices of consumers (some of them, anyway) louder and faster, but the ob-ligation of businesses to listen has always been there. At the end of the day, they’re just giving us what we want. The fault, dear snacker, is not in our SunChips, but in ourselves. NOTE: This is, in effect, a double issue. Starting on Page 47 is our annual Buyer’s Guide—a comprehensive listing of packaging materi-als and machinery suppliers, with categories, plus a list of associations and a 2011 events calendar. Save this issue as a handy reference and a complement to our online guide. F&BP EDITORIAL PAN DEMETRAKAKES Editor pand@bnpmedia.com RICK LINGLE Executive Editor lingler@bnpmedia.com SCOTT HILLING Senior Art Director FRANK MAYERAN Art Director I ADVERTISING MIKE BARR Group Publisher (630) 499-7392 barrm@bnpmedia.com RANDY GREEN Publisher/Midwest Sales Manager (248) 244-6498 greenr@bnpmedia.com STEVE LIPUT East Coast/Southeast Sales Manager (847) 405-4112 liputs@bnpmedia.com CRAIG ZEHNTNER West Coast Sales Manager ( 818) 403-6379 wnjla@aol.com KRISTINA LORIO Inside Sales (249) 786-1579 loriok@bnpmedia.com ERHARDT EISENACHER International Sales +49-228-2499860 info@eisenacher-medien.de CATHERINE WYNN Senior Classiﬁ ed Sales Manager (847) 405-4010 wynnc@bnpmedia.com VINCE MICONI Advertising/Production Manager miconiv@bnpmedia.com AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT KOURTNEY BELL Audience Development Manager ERINN DEEGAN Multimedia Coordinator CAROLYN M. ALEXANDER Audience Audit Coordinator For subscription information or service, please contact Customer Service at: Phone: (847) 763-9534 or Fax: (847) 763-9538 E-mail: FBP@halldata.com Web: www.foodandbeveragepackaging.com LIST RENTAL Postal contact: ROB LISKA at 800-223-2194 x.726 or robert.liska@edithroman.com Email contact: SHAWN KINGSTON at 800-409-4443 x.828 or shawn.kingston@epostdirect.com Companies ready good impulses to shape of consumers. ‘shape’ doesn’t ‘drag kicking and screaming.’ CORPORATE DIRECTORS TIMOTHY A. FAUSCH Publishing JOHN R. SCHREI Publishing RITA M. FOUMIA Corporate Strategy SCOTT KESLER Information Technology ARIANE CLAIRE Marketing VINCENT M. MICONI Production LISA L. PAULUS Finance MICHAEL T. POWELL Creative NIKKI SMITH Directories MARLENE J. WITTHOFT Human Resources EMILY PATTEN Conferences & Events BETH A. SUROWIEC Clear Seas Research BNP MEDIA HELPS PEOPLE SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITH SUPERIOR INFORMATION For Volume Reprints Contact JILL L. DEVRIES Corporate Reprint Manager Phone: 248-224-1726 Fax: 248-244-3934 E-mail: devriesj@bnpmedia.com How to contact PAN DEMETR AKAKES FOOD & BEVERAGE PACKAGING Mail: 155 Pﬁ ngsten Rd., Suite 205 Deerﬁ eld IL 60015 Phone: (847) 405-4000 Fax: (847) 405-4100 Web: www.foodandbeveragepackaging.com Editor pand@bnpmedia.com 6 FOOD & BEVERA GE P A CKA GING NO VEMBER / DECEMBER 20 1 0 WWW . FOOD ANDBEVER A GEP A C KA GING . COM

Editor’s Note

OF NOISY BAGS AND NOISIER BACKLASHES I’ve always thought that a lot of the support for environmental initiatives is a mile wide and an inch deep. People think green is great—until it puts them to some inconvenience. Then you have situations like people dedicating Facebook pages to complain about the SunChips PLA bag. I’m sure you’re familiar with the controversy by now, but to recap: Frito-Lay rolled out the 100% polylactic acid (PLA) bag for SunChips this spring. Then the backlash started. When handled, the bag makes noticeably more noise than an ordinary plastic bag. We live in the age when complaints “go viral,” and before you know it, a Facebook page with the title “Sorry But I Can’t Hear You Over This SunChips Bag” had racked up tens of thousands of hits. Other Facebook pages sprang up, and soon there was mainstream media coverage. Frito made an initial effort to resist the backlash by appealing to the better nature of consumers—which was, of course, the point of the new bag in the fi rst place. But the constant stream of negative publicity got to be too much, and the bags were gone by autumn for all but original-fl avor SunChips. However trivial this whole contretemps may seem, it’s a good example of the paradox at the heart of corporate social responsibility.Corporations exist to make money. Asking them to “get out in front” of a social issue at the risk of losing customers is asking corporate offi cers to go against their duties to shareholders. Of course, companies should be ready to shape the good impulses of consumers, regarding sustainability or anything else, into useful, executable strategies. But “shape” doesn’t mean “drag kicking and screaming.” Modern communications make the voices of consumers (some of them, anyway) louder and faster, but the obligation of businesses to listen has always been there. At the end of the day, they’re just giving us what we want. The fault, dear snacker, is not in our SunChips, but in ourselves. NOTE: This is, in effect, a double issue. Starting on Page 47 is our annual Buyer’s Guide—a comprehensive listing of packaging materials and machinery suppliers, with categories, plus a list of associations and a 2011 events calendar. Save this issue as a handy reference and a complement to our online guide.

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