CHAPTER 2 How Ordinary Investors Can Bring Real Change to Big Problems

Have you ever called a major corporation to correct a problem? Once you’ve navigated the endless phone tree and listened to a symphony’s worth of scratchy hold music, you’re finally connected to a representative who, with studied empathy, asks how she can help. This alone feels like a victory. With luck, they’ll correct the problem, and, although there are periods of aggravation during your quest, you hang up, satisfied. As far as it goes, the system works.

However, exactly who do you email about slave labor used in the manufacture of your cell phone? Who do you call if you’re distressed because your donut contains nanoparticles that are small enough to penetrate the blood-brain barrier? How do you find out if your hamburger comes from a steer raised on a concentrated feedlot where it is fed antibiotics? What’s Big Agriculture’s 800 number so you can ask farmers to stop using genetically modified organisms (GMOs)? How do you air your concerns about excessive CEO pay, lack of diversity in the workplace, packaging that is destroying the ocean ecosystems, toxic dumping on the poorest minority groups, the risks of fracking, or the decimation of the rainforests?

Many companies’ operational details and supply chain, if publicly known, would change the way their customers view their brands. Advocates are not creating the risky behavior; the corporations are doing this themselves through lax policies and short-term thinking. Advocates bring the information to the public’s attention through a variety of means. If this results in customers deciding to buy products from a company with mindful policies over one that appears to not care, then let the market decide.