Much like with The Body Shop takeover by L'Oreal, I'm basically iffy about this one. It sounds a lot more like whatever green principles the littler company is working with will be eaten up by the rules of the big one. Let's just wait and see, I suppose.

Aveda was purchased by Estee Lauder years ago and has continued to be considered a model company in terms of responsible sourcing of materials, sustainable product and packing design innovations, etc. They have been left alone by the corporate parent, and have even been able to influence upward in many instances.

Hello, your trackback doesn't seem to be accepting my ping on this, so

http://torsrants.blogspot.com/2006/03/toms-of-maine-goes-big-time.html here's a link to my post.

about Tom's of Maine that references your post.

Peace,

Tor

yeah just like aveda (not like ben & jerry's) there is a gooD possibility that Tom will spread his awesome influence through that satanic company (ha ha owait no, that's proctol & gamble)

but seriously, if Tom can spread his brilliant Seven Intentions from his book-- then maybe ColgatePalmolve can grow into a good role in lOHAS soaps and toiletries ...stranger things have happened

Just as a quick aside, if you are ever in Kennebunk, Maine, the Tom's Museum is pretty good toursit attraction. Cheap, fast and fun, it is something I really enjoyed as a kid.

FYI

==== author's response follows =====
Looks as if Pam S. of TomsOfMaine domain attempted to comment. Somehow no text came through beyond "FYI". Please try again if you feel like it Pam.

I find this 'take-over' quite disturbing. Kinda like a 'nightmare'

Thanks so much for the info, boa =) It keeps me hopeful.

This is a horrible decision! One of the main reasons I supported Tom's was because it was a good alternative to products produced by major corporations such as Colgate-Palmolive. I will no longer be buying Tom's products. I'm now going to be calling it "Tom's of SHAME"!!!

My gut reaction was "OH NO!" But we must give this time to play out. I agree, perhaps Tom's Seven Intentions will influence the bigger company.

Ugh. I don't want evil Colgate to gain from Tom's of Maine's gain. They test on animals and stuff! god. Though there are cases like this already. Silk is owned by some dairy company I think. And the dairy comp is very evil but Silk is good. Why do all the evil f*ckers have to gobble up the good companies and taint them with their evilness? metaphorically speaking of course. Good thing I am already on my way from switching away from Tom's of Maine- it's got propolis, from bees. It's a animal product even though for some reason they don't count it as one.

My parents, the last people on earth I thought would start buying natural products, shocked me three years ago on a visit home, when I found a tube of Cinnamint in my mom's bathroom. "Oh, yeah, we love their stuff!" was my mom's reply. They aren't going to quit buying something they love, and now, believe in. If we all panic---and believe me, I know the qualmy feeling news like this brings on---and jump to conclusions about what will happen with the purity of the products in question and stop purchasing them, we're only going to have a negative impact. The message we all want is for the big guys to start acting responsibly for the planet and for the future, and if they see that our money is going to something like the Tom's brand, I don't care whether their marketing departments treat this as "niche purchasing" or a consumer trend, they're gonna pick up on more stuff like this. What will your other alternative be if everybody boycotts?? I want desparately for people in my rural South to be able to walk into a Walgreen's and buy safe and natural things. This is a great opportunity to educate millions of Americans about natural products, because Colgate-Palmolive can carry Tom's into hundreds of new markets.

The whole problem with EXPANDING INTO HUNDREDS OF NEW MARKETS...Expansion will eventually force Toms to start cutting corners so that they can produce more at a faster pace. Stockholders will demand more growth, more money and the issue will be forced. Toms will not be able to keep up, and some business minded chemist will come up with a great new chemical to substitute for a natural ingredient somehow getting everyone in the company to buy into it.....then the Toms of Maine we all got to know and love will be gone.

Look at Wal-Mart, they started out touting their company as a pro U.S. product merchant, then they got so big and out of control they couldn't get enough product from the U.S. Now you will be hard stretched to find a product made in the U.S. at Wal-Mart.

A few years from now...Toms of Maine will be another quasi natural product. First they will stop printing ingredients on the packaging, Then they'll change their mantra, and bam.....The process starts slow, and slow change is hard to monitor.

Soon we will all have to find another all natural product that we can trust.

http://eco-dent.com/dailycare-specialcare-toothpowders.htm

I'm torn between calling them Tom's of Shame now, and waiting and see what really happens.

People, you're seeing it now, money takes over everything, and hopefully it doesn't always turn the good to bad.

Tonight we started on a new tube of Tom's and compared it to the one we were finishing up and noticed two differences: the new Tom's of Colgate had both fluoride and SLS, which the old tube proudly claimed that it did not have. I don't know if Tom's of Colgate still makes a fluoride-free model, but I was disappointed to notice this as we have been using Tom's for years.

Brenda Watson, CNC (The Detox Strategy) assures that Tom's was a reliable source of hygiene products. In a post-Colgate era we need new data to reassure consumers of its purity. Anyone know of private, non-profit labs doing this sort of research AND providing consumer education in this area?

Kathy Gomes - I agree "In a post-Colgate era we need new data to reassure consumers of its purity."

For good reason I no longer trust the motives of 'democratic' governments or companies like Colgate - My newly bought tube of Tom's of Maine Spearmint toothpaste makes a play about excluding fluoride but I see it includes Sodium Lauryl Sulphate - And regardless of the reassuring blurb on the box I remain deeply suspicious - If Colgate includes the ingredient 'water' on the contents then I'm left wondering about the state of that water and how pure it actually is and what it might contain. Here in the UK the government force medicates the public 1mg fluoride / litre in our drinking water - and that despite an independent Science report that they themselves commissioned confirming the appalling truth most of us now know.

So, what if, for example, Colgate take tap water - they could in theory boil away several litres and leave behind several mg of toxic fluoride concentrated in an aquous solution - Is the government's additive going to be listed on Colgate's ingredients? Somehow I doubt it.

Result - without independent laboratory confirmation I will not be using this tooth paste again - I guess the NWO and their buddies will need to buy up every single independent honest brand before they can use their underhand policy of 'medicating' us all - I think the answer is to look at producing a home-made alternative toothpaste. A hassle but better safe than surreptitiously doped and harmed further.