The JOON Blog

In 2008, I attended the Natural Beauty Summit held in New York.  Attendees included Burt’s Bees, Aveda, Origins and many large and small cosmetics companies – some natural, some not.  We all were there wanting to learn about this new “trend” in the cosmetics industry.  I always like to hear Mike Indursky, CMO of Burt’s Bees, speak at conferences.  He’s very smart, articulate and always has an interesting perspective.  At the summit, I learned that Burt’s Bees was owned by the Clorox Company.  Wow did that spark a discussion/debate.  Many, including myself, wondered why a large chemical company would invest in a natural health and beauty care company.  Talk about incongruity.  Well it turns out that Clorox is doing quite a lot to evolve into a green and sustainable company.  A few months later, I notice Clorox Green Works products on the shelf in my local grocery store.  Still skeptical, I continued to purchase Seventh Generation products – a great company with a great reputation for making natural cleaning products.  But, I couldn’t help but notice the difference in price of the Clorox products.  I have to admit that it wasn’t until recently that I purchased my first Clorox Green Works product.  I use it to clean my counters and even my baby’s high chair table.  It’s non-odorous and effective.  Being aware of the history Clorox brand, I feel comfortable that things are actually getting clean, just in a more natural, environmentally-friendly way!  I’m a convert.

Interestingly, Clorox is the first home care product to receive the Natural Seal by the Natural Products Association.  Seriously, the FIRST!  I would have thought that Seventh Generation would have been leading this initiative on the home care front.  I commend Clorox for their amazing efforts.  I commend them for acquiring Burt’s Bees and making the brand more accessible in more places.  I’m glad to see natural home care products holding their own right alongside the conventional products.

I just read an article about a natural health and beauty care company for young girls in which the founder of the company stated that she’d like to see mass retailers have a “special section” for natural products – a store-within-a-store concept so that consumers of aisles dedicated to natural products, even suggesting that trained staff educate consumers.  I understand the logic, but then I think about Clorox.  As opposed to segregating (a strong word, but a fitting one) these products, I believe that they should be alongside conventional products.  When I walk into Target and even Sephora and I see the “green aisle” of beauty products, it seems an afterthought.  It’s not where your average consumer would tend to go.  The prevailing perception is that these natural products are more expensive and inaccessible.  I believe that we, as manufacturers, need to do our job to educate consumers on the benefits of natural products.  We need to have a louder voice in advocating for the Natural Products Association.  We need to figure out better ways to merchandise our products alongside conventional ones.  And, we need to figure out ways to offer our products at more affordable prices.  Now, I realize that’s not an easy laundry list of to-dos, but it’s what we need to work toward.  We need to look to Clorox as the standard.  Obviously, we’re not as big as Clorox and we don’t have the distribution or bargaining power that they have as a large company.  But, when we’re sitting down with the buyers at mass retailers, we need to come to the table with creative ways of educating the the mass market and give them a better option in the ways and places that they typically shop.  When it comes to young girls, that means placing JOON right next to Hannah Montana and allowing moms and girls to make a choice that’s right for them.  That means doing everything we can before they get to the store to arm them with information about their product choices.  Eventually, we won’t have to worry about Hannah Montana.  Sorry, Miley.  We love you, but, your health and beauty care products – not so much.

copy and paste the following link into your browser to read more about Clorox and the Natural Products Association http://eon.businesswire.com/portal/site/eon/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100420005717&newsLang=en