"Local Washing"

I recently had a conversation with some friends asking, "How do we know what is truly local?" Wal-mart and many other billion dollar mega corporations have laid claims to the word LOCAL. I encourage you to research our local products here in Columbus. There are endless goodies that are from RIGHT HERE, locally grown, handmade and produced. Here is an excerpt from a post on the trend:     Hoping to capitalize on growing public enthusiasm for all things local, some of the world's biggest corporations are brashly laying claim to the word. This new variation on corporate greenwashing — local-washing — is, like the buy-local movement itself, most advanced in the context of food. Hellmann's, the mayonnaise brand owned by the processed-food giant Unilever, is test-driving a new "Eat Real, Eat Local" initiative in Canada. The ad campaign seems aimed partly at enhancing the brand by simply associating Hellmann's with local food. But it also makes the claim that Hellmann's is local, because most of its ingredients come from North America. It's not the only industrial food company muscling in on local. Frito-Lay's new television commercials use farmers as pitchmen to position the company's potato chips as local food, while Foster Farms, one of the largest producers of poultry products in the country, is labeling packages of chicken and turkey "Locally Grown." ....click link to read more about the current marketing ploy, "Local Washing".
www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content