Pubdate: Fri, 13 Jun 2014
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2014 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Simon Usborne
Page: 42
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm (Hemp)

ON HIS SOAPBOX

When hemp-clad hippie David Bronner took over the family soap 
business, he turned it into an unlikely commercial hit. But that 
hasn't dulled his idealism, finds SIMON USBORNE

The questions start almost as soon as he leaves our office. Just who 
was that hippie guy you were talking to for an hour? You mean the guy 
with the soul patch dressed in a hemp trilby, hemp coat, hemp 
trousers and hemp shoes? That's David. He's a soap tycoon from San 
Diego who turned a family business with roots in Nazi Germany into an 
unlikely success story. And he only wears a suit when he gets arrested.

David Bronner has come to London to talk about his "magic" soaps, 
which increasingly feature in style pages and the bathroom cabinets 
of the well-heeled and well-scrubbed (Gwyneth Paltrow, Drew Barrymore 
and Eminem are all fans). Since he reluctantly emerged from a 
cannabis cloud in Amsterdam to take over the business a little over 
15 years ago, Bronner has lifted global annual sales from less than 
UKP5m to UKP50m. But first, he wants to talk about Fair Trade, and 
how it's not always, well, fair.

"It's not like I want to be super-harsh on Kit Kat," he says, 
presenting a four-fingered bar, that carries the Fair Trade seal. 
"It's cool that they're doing their thing but in the Nestle 
portfolio, this is like 0.1 per cent of the deal." He then pulls from 
his bag a Boots Mango Bodywash, which also bears the ethical stamp. 
"The only thing Fair Trade about this is some honey," he adds.

Bronner is pushing for a clearer definition of "fair", yet, in just 
one sign that Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap washes its hands of 
convention, it doesn't carry the seal on its labels, despite being 
wholly Fair Trade. One reason: there isn't room amid the mad jumble 
of 3,000 words. The microscopic ramblings and maxims make up 
Bronner's late grandfather's "Essential Vision and Philosophy", or "Moral ABC".

Emanuel Bronner was a rabbi and chemist who fled Germany for America 
in 1929. His parents remained and would not survive the Holocaust. 
Mixing a zeal for peace and unity with his family's soap-making 
knowledge, Emanuel created a product as a "messenger" for his 
eccentric philosophy. America wasn't ready for it at first. Bronner 
was locked in an Illinois asylum in 1946, but electric-shock 
treatment failed to frazzle his worldview and he emerged to build a 
new life and business in California.

"He believed that if we don't realise our transcendent unity, we're 
done - we're dead," David, who is 41, says. "And he would not sell 
you anything unless you wanted to listen to what he had to say." The 
elder Bronner died in 1997, but every bottle and bar remains a 
soapbox in his honour. One phrase on the labels begins: "Free Speech 
is man's only weapon against half-truths that enslave! Full-truth, 
our only God, unites all brave, if 10 men guard Free Speech brave!!"

Bronner sneaked in a Harvard degree before heading for Amsterdam to 
find himself. Time in the Dutch capital forged his own activism, with 
hemp at its core. "I became vegan and more environmentally and 
socially aware and finally... I let my dad know that I was ready to come in."

Bronner had to grow up fast when his father, Jim, became ill. He died 
of cancer in 1998, less than a year after his own father's death. 
David was 24. The company's timeline announces his arrival with the 
words: "Enter Crazy Fox". David's brother, Michael, who had been 
teaching in Japan, joined him a year later as co-owner. "Enter the 
Ninja," the timeline adds.

The brothers rode the organic and healthstore boom, taking their soap 
global and multiplying revenues by 10. The range now includes various 
sprays and ointments, as well as Emanuel's original castile soaps, 
which contain hemp oil. The packaging has become part of the brand's 
quirky appeal, but commercial success has not dulled his idealism.

"The second time I got arrested, I was like, 'Oh my God, so Obama 
promised to base his policy on science rationality, then we were four 
years into his term and hemp is still treated as a Schedule 1 drug'," 
Bronner says. "So I harvested some hemp plants inside a cage built to 
resist police intrusion while it was parked in front of the White 
House. It took them about three hours to get at me."

Bronner describes his company as "half ethical consumer products 
company and half NGO fighting battles". He has resisted repeated 
overtures from big companies. "What's an example of a mission-driven 
company that has kept its mission after selling," he asks? "There 
isn't one." The next generation of Bronners are too young to think 
business - for now. "My daughter's 17 and really amazing but I just 
recently thought, oh, maybe you might want to engage. She just shaved 
her head," he says proudly. "She's getting more hardcore."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom