Is Clorox changing Burt's Bees products?

No. We hear this question a fair amount lately, and we understand why. It’s tough to know what will happen to a company and its products after an acquisition. From John’s posts below, we’re looking to answer your questions about our company on an ongoing basis. Now, it’s my turn to update you on our products.

Clorox is not involved in the creation of new products, changes to existing products or discontinuation decisions on existing products. Burt’s Bees remains focused on creating the most natural, most sustainable, and most effective natural products possible. That is our mission, and Clorox respects our commitment to producing natural products that are of highest quality and effectiveness.

That being said, there are changes going on around here. With the launch of the Natural Standard for Personal Care Products in May 2008, we are comprehensively reviewing our product offering. During this review, we are challenging ourselves with 3 questions:

1. Is the product as natural as possible?
   Our goal is that every Burt’s Bees product should be 100% natural. If it isn’t 100% natural currently - then we’re looking at ways we can improve it.
   


2. Are the sources of our ingredients as sustainable as possible?
   We firmly believe that our ingredients must be derived from renewable and sustainable sources. Some of our existing products will change so that we can meet this commitment.
   
   
3. Is the product as good as, or better than, similar products available to our consumers?
   Sometimes, the answer is a heartbreaking “No.” When we realize that a product isn’t the best it can be then we ask ourselves, “Should we make it?” Sometimes, we’re finding that we shouldn’t.
   
   As tough a decision as it was - our oral care products were discontinued in 2006 because we felt they didn’t measure up. Were they good products? Yes. Were they the best natural toothpastes on the market? No. Does this mean we’re out of making natural oral care products completely? No. We’re still trying to crack it, and we’re working diligently to formulate natural toothpastes and other natural oral care products that will truly deliver against your expectations, and ours.

For our loyal consumers who love certain products, we recognize that some of these changes may be unwelcome. As you start to see the products on store shelves, please let us know what you think. Our goal is to improve, not alienate and we welcome all of your feedback. Only with productive dialogue will we continue to improve our well-loved Burt’s Bees products.

Mia Meachem
Director, Global Marketing

Announcing our first Corporate Social Responsibility Report

We’re delighted to announce Burt’s Bees first corporate social responsibility report, The Greater Good Social and Environmental Progress Report: 2008 and Before. It’s an account of where we are today on our road to truly sustainable business practices, and where we see ourselves headed in the near, and not so near future.

What an honor it is to enjoy the trust our consumers, partners, employees and other stakeholders place in our brand. We’re delighted by and thankful for the “personal relationship” you so often develop with the Burt’s Bees products you love. At the same time, we try to uphold our side of the relationship in the way we direct our operations, manage our workplace, manufacture and deliver our products and interact with our communities. This is what we believe corporate social responsibility is all about. It’s also what our report is about.

So while we've been on the job concocting earth-friendly, all-natural personal care and taking sustainability very seriously, what we've neglected to do is formalize our story in a CSR Report. Today, having finally taken this big step, we’re reflecting on the new lessons we culled along the way. A few things we learned:

1) For a candid picture of the impact a company has on society and on the environment, especially when it’s the first such effort, lots of that company’s people spend serious hours sifting through and delivering data, statistics, perspective and vision. And to paint that picture in an authentic, transparent way, those people need to be willing to hold nothing back. We think we were fortunate enough to find both and hope you’ll agree. Our thanks go to all who contributed, including our friends outside of Burt’s Bees who took time to read the report and enrich our process with their thoughtful commentaries.

2) A history of substantive data and standardized measures is the real beef of a CSR Report. As a company, we've only recently become champions of such discipline and writing this report has made its worth all the more apparent. While a shortage of hard core measures in some of our operations didn't discourage us from writing this first account, we recognize when it comes to practical metrics, consistent measures and grounded goals, more is better. And from here, we intend to go for more.

3) Most importantly, while one of our objectives for this report was to help you, our stakeholders, make informed decisions about Burt’s Bees commitment to sustainability, we discovered its added value as a guide for us and our own self assessment. The report clarifies and formalizes our road map, tells us where we are, and makes us accountable for getting where we say we want to be. To that end, you can expect regular updates on our progress towards our social and environmental goals.

Happy reading and we hope you’ll contact us with your questions and suggestions at csr@burtsbees.com

Yola Carlough
Director of Sustainability