“Myanmar is one of only three countries on the globe where Coca-Cola does not do business. The other two are Cuba and North Korea,” Coca-Cola stated this week. That's about to change.

The global beverage giant has not done business in Myanmar, a.k.a., Burma, for more than 60 years, but The Coca-Cola Foundation just announced plans to grant $3 million to support women's economic empowerment job creation — a show of goodwill and social and economic investment as a precursor to beginning business in the market as soon as the U.S. government gives sanction.Continue reading...

Fast-food brands aren't going to get out of the meat business any time soon. But Burger King wants to be the first big U.S. fast-food chain to at least do that with chicken and pigs that don’t spend their lives caged up.

The plan is for the 7,200 Burger Kings across America to be using 100 percent cage-free eggs by 2017 and also only buy pork from “suppliers that can demonstrate documented plans to end their use of gestation crates for breeding pigs,” according to a press release. 

The animal welfare announcement comes as the chain is promoting the chicken strips on its new U.S. menu in a celeb-laden (now adding Steven Tyler? Update: yes, Tyler) advertising campaign.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola has committed $2 million to Catalyst Inc., a U.S.-based nonprofit organization focused on accelerating the advancement of women globally.

"At The Coca-Cola Company, we believe the real driver of the 21st century will be women, who will play a pivotal role in shaping our global economy and our society," stated Ingrid Saunders Jones, Chair of The Coca-Cola Foundation. "As we considered the global needs of women and the extraordinary work being done by Catalyst, we chose to support Catalyst in a way that would enable women worldwide to succeed."Continue reading...

The Netherlands-based Clean Clothes Campaign, the garment industry's largest alliance of labor unions and non-governmental organizations, has already convinced apparel retailers and designers including Armani, Versace, Gucci, H&M and Levi Strauss & Co to ban sandblasted jeans for endangering workers' lives.

As the CCC's website details, giving denim that "lived in" look by high-pressured sandblasting contaminates the air and can contribute to silicosis, a fatal lung disease. Now Target has announced it is joining the global ban on the technique; find out more in the budget retailer's blog post. Still under pressure by labor activists to join the ban: Dolce & Gabbana.

Below, watch a Levi Strauss video featuring chief supply chain officer David Love marking the company's first anniversary of no-sandblasting last September.Continue reading...

Amazon.com, ranked at #9 among U.S. retail brands on Interbrand's new Best Retail Brands report, has found itself in hot water with environmentalists.

The Seattle-based company “allows” (or at least has turned a blind eye to) its Japanese website to "traffic in whale and dolphin products,” according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Whaling has been illegal since 1982. Britain's the Mirror states that “animal rights groups found 147 illegal items advertised including whale curry, whale bacon, whale stew and tinned whale hamburger” on the site. That's right: whale burgers.Continue reading...

McDonald's is taking another step to mollify critics as it agrees to push its pork suppliers to stop confining sows in small pens. These "gestation stalls," as explained above, are "not a sustainable production system," the chain said, and there are alternatives that "are better for the welfare of sows."

The move is the latest by McDonald's to engage some of its many critics, demonstrate concern about issues such as animal welfare where it's deemed possible for the business, and make some changes. Recently, for example, McDonald's decided to stop using ammonium hydroxide in its burgers after celebrity chef Jamie Oliver criticized the use of the filler ingredient as "not fit for a dog."

McDonald's announced its move in conjunction with the Humane Society of the U.S. The stalls confine adult female hogs whose offspring are raised and slaughtered for bacon and sausage, giving the sows enough room only to stand up and sit down. They're among the practices criticized by Chipotle on Sunday in its lengthy ad during the Grammy music awards.Continue reading...

McDonald's USA released a video today addressing its animal welfare practices and standards, following animal rights and food activists' complaints over its poultry contractor compliance and food sourcing. The outcry over farm practices has also drawn celebrities including Ryan Gosling and Jamie Oliver to lobby the quick-serve food giant to lead the fast food industry by raising the bar on ethical food practices, while the restaurant chain defends its sustainable supply chain policies.

Discussing the issues in a new video above: Todd Bacon, McDonald's USA Senior Director of Quality Systems, suppliers (a group that McDonald's has been featuring in its farm-to-front-counter advertising campaign) and animal welfare experts incuding Dr. Temple Grandin, the well-known animal behaviorist who is a member of the chain's Animal Welfare Council. Watch the video and weigh in with a comment below.

Causes.com, founded in 2007 by Napster creator and Facebook co-founder Sean Parker and advisor Joe Green, has raised more than $40 million for over 500,000 causes in the last four years.

The concept is simple and social: individuals create grassroots communities called “causes,” focused on specific issues or non-profit organizations. By leveraging Facebook, Causes maximizes the potential of collective action, and has become the world’s largest online platform for activism and philanthropy.

One high-profile example of what Causes.com can do to boost brands' corporate citizenship efforts is how AT&T last month launched Connect For Good with Causes to spur action around three issues: texting and driving, recycling cell phones and the dramatic decline of high school graduation rates.Continue reading...