In the news, you hear about big business monopolies and conglomerates and how they are controlling the consumer markets around the globe.  The world of Agriculture is very familiar with the topic, especially when it comes to the meat packing industry.

Well, guess what- you are contributing to big businesses getting bigger every day without even knowing it.  Take a look at these parent companies and the subsidiaries that they own:

Nestlé Corporation

Nestlé is a food and drink company based in Switzerland.  It was founded by Henri Nestlé in 1866 and is estimated to own or control over 2000 brands worldwide.

What food companies are under their umbrella:

• Gerber Baby Food
• Kit Kat Brand (Hershey owns the rights to make the product)
• DiGiorno Pizza
• Hot Pockets
• Stouffer’s
• Lean Cuisine
• Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream
• Carnation
• Chefmate
• Maggi
• Milky Bar
• Smarties
• Toll House

Beverage Brands:

• Starbucks Coffee at Home
• Coffe Mate
• Nescafé
• Perrier Water

Other brands owned by Nestlé Corporation:

• Purina
• Friskies
• Fancy Feast

Of course, these were the brands that I was familiar with.  How about some other companies that have many brands

I was amazed when I went through my house and started looking to see who owned who.  My cupboards, shelves and refrigerator is full of huge companies, and I wasn't even aware that I was supporting them. Randy

Proctor & Gamble

The company was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It is head quartered in Ohio. Even though P&G focuses on personal health, consumer health, personal care and hygiene products, the company has ventured into other areas in the past. Currently P&G has about 65 brands under its umbrella.

Cleaning Products:

• Bounty
• Cascade
• Dawn
• Downy
• Ivory

Hygiene:

• Charmin
• Crest
• Gillette
• Head & Shoulders
• Oral B
• Pampers

Surprising Other Companies:

Clorox

• Hidden Valley Ranch
• Burt’s Bees
• KC Masterpiece
• Glad
• Formula 409
• Kingsford
• Kitchen Boutique
• Pine-Sol
• Scoop Away

So what does this all mean?  I picked two well known companies and went down the rabbit hole to see all of their subsidiaries and learned that big business is truly BIG BUSINESS!  You can boycott a brand because your don't like their political agenda or their humanitarian focus (or lack of), but be aware you may be supporting them in 100 different ways with out knowing.

How do you know who owns whom?  Look for the small print on the back of your product or google, who owns the product you are using.

Do me a favor- take a look around your house and let me know what you found that surprised you. Send me an email, details below.

If you have a story idea or something you want to learn more about, give Randy a call at 406-788-3003 or send me an email at randall.bogden@townsquaremedia.com