Mitt Romney blurted out recently that in his opinion, "Corporations are people, my friend." So what are some of these incorporated “people” up to these days?
Two familiar corporate giants, Chiquita and Disney, are hooking up. Agreement Links Companies with Long History of Quality Products & Services reads the press release headline. Chiquita will bring its “healthy fresh” products to Walt Disney World Resort and Disney Cruise Line and receive brand exclusivity within their respective categories.
Chiquita, which started its long corporate life in Central America as United Fruit (where its involvement in internal politics led to the term banana republic), may still need an image assist.
In 2007 Chiquita pled guilty to violating US law by making illegal payments to the Colombian rebel group FARC and paid a 25-million-dollar penalty. This past May lawsuits against Chiquita involving this case and allegations of rebel killings of Colombian citizens were consolidated and will be heard in a Florida court this year.
But this is Disney World so: as part of their collaboration, Chiquita will serve as the sponsor of both the "Crush 'n' Gusher" at Typhoon Lagoon (themed around a tropical fruit processing center), and the "Living with the Land" attraction, where Chiquita will join forces with Disney to help teach guests about nutrition.
Amazing it didn’t occur to them that Crush ‘n’ Gusher sounds like a description of United Fruit’s method of repressing peasants, crushing union activity and subverting local governments in their banana-republic glory days. And Chiquita/Disney’s “Living with the Land” attraction more than likely will not highlight the lack of genetic diversity in monoculture growing practices that have already made one type of banana plant extinct and placed a second one now under the same threat.
Guess Disney World couldn’t be a better partner for Chiquita to help remake its image to more closely match the fantasy it wants the rest of us to believe.
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