To most of the media , it ’s the notable instruction reformer Michelle Rhee , ex - DC Schools Chancellor , who ’s controversial , unpopular , even reviled by some , specially teachers’unions.(Interesting read on the subject.)So when Scotts MiracleGro recently named her as a legal guardian , instructor call for a boycott of Scotts , and readers were presumably left with the mental picture that Rhee could threaten the otherwise stellar report of this fine company .
One reportconcludes that her backtrack from national didactics reform and accepting a “ fizgig on the boardof Scotts Miracle - Gro Co. also wo n’t offend her recuperation from class in the trenches . ” Because , I guess , Scotts is just a garden party . No contestation there , right ?
So to the world-wide medium in DC and anyone following the career of this infamous teaching reformer / union - killer ( depending on your position ; I do n’t have a dog in the competitiveness myself ) , you ’ll find reports of plenty of arguing surrounding the company in the archive of GardenRant . It ’s no stretch to call Scotts the most hated company in the gardening world and here ’s a quick update on why that is .
We’re told to want this weird-looking monoculture.
The CEOLet ’s start with a much - read consultation with Scotts ’ notorious CEO Jim Hagedorn by Wired Mag , competently called“Turf Warrior ” .
“ I ’d like to see biotech in every backyard , ” he says .
Andthis Wall Streert Journal clause about Hagedorn ’s “ Cursing in the Board Room”includes a video of the ex - fighter pilot trace byplay as warfare , among other gems .
Reports of Hagedorn ’s cursing were widespread in the business cosmos . Trustees left over it ! There was an prescribed reprimand . Googling“Hagedorn ” and “ cursing ” bewilder spate of hits .
And though unreported in the news , everyone in the garden center business knows about the F - bombs Hagedorn launch from the soapbox at their largest trade show , which caused people to walk out in protest or disgust . The guy ’s kinda hard to like .
We ’re tell to want this eldritch - look monoculture .
We’re told to want this weird-looking monoculture.
Gardening Products
Oh , where to bug out ? And how to not get process ? I ’ll just point reviewer to the product themselves , their constituent , and reports in the media about them , particularly the pesticide and synthetic plant food . Let ’s just say there are objections .
Then there ’s the multi - million - one dollar bill ad campaign to convince consumer that they need those products and in the case of lawn fertiliser , need them to be applied at the prison term of class when federal agency exhort us to protect our waterways bynotusing them .
speak of Roundup , Scotts is the sole U.S. electrical distributor of this Monsanto - made product . And you love how much love we all have for Monsanto .
Bird - Killing Bird Food
People still on the fencing about the company turned anti - Scotts after one exceptional upshot , which was reported wide in the stage business medium , with headlines like “ Scotts Miracle - Gro , the Bird - Killing troupe ” In 2012 they were fin $ 12.5 million for knowingly selling bird food that was kill birds ( the seed had been sprayed with pesticides to increase its shelf lifespan ) .
That news snowballed into a chronicle about the National Wildlife Federation ’s partnership with Scotts which , unluckily for the NWF , had been announced maybe two days before the effectual closure and amercement were announced . Many NWF help expressed so much outrage that the NWF finally relented and abandoned the partnership ( and the $ $ $ ) .Here ’s our story about that .
More Greenwashing
give money to the NWF is n’t the only effort by Scotts to look well . They ’re also big assistant of the Garden Writers Association , which gives them the chance to parade their“chief sustainability officer”before writers at their annual meeting . Let ’s just say that partnership is very controversial within the garden - author humans and I was happy to see that Scotts spoke to this year ’s jailed consultation of garden writers about something noncontroversial – digital merchandising .
Legal Stuff
Under the category of worldwide dickishness is the case of Scotts rip off garden writerC.L. Fornari’smedia campaign , then copyright the full term she ’d made pop . Amy Stewart wrote about it here on the Rant in an capably title post : “ Dear Scotts , Just try one time not to be so shitty . ” After C.L. started a medium cause about it , they back off .
In other legal action , Scotts is all over the place .
Martha !
With what ’s now know about the party , I inquire if Martha Stewart is rethink her tie-up with them . In 2011 she was invited by Hagedorn to speak at the society ( fee unknown ) andlater gushedabout him “ and his endearing wife Karli ” . Sigh .
