Oxfam’s Behind the Brands Campaign to Change the Food and Beverage Industry

Between 2013 and 2016, Oxfam waged an ambitious campaign to challenge the world’s top 10 food and beverage companies to change the social, ethical, and environmental sourcing in their global supply chains. The campaign bargained on the large, branded companies’ susceptibility to consumer pressure, which created brand risk. But Oxfam mustered not only concerned consumers, but also important industry investors to support the campaign. It also engaged directly with the companies to persuade them that they could do better. Overcoming limited resources and sometimes contentious coordination of a global campaign team, Oxfam employed multiple innovations in this complex global effort that ultimately brought greater human rights concerns to the heart of the industry.