“Regenerative” vs Actually Regenerating
How a reality-based approach highlights the difference
Business is masterful at messaging. Public affairs crews create simple, repeatable, easily understood soundbites. This is often a good thing. Life is complicated — we need help with complexity! But it is a problem when it means elements of complexity are cherry-picked — motivated by profit — to influence behaviours. And it’s especially problematic when our health and ecological integrity is at stake.
The oversimplification of messaging on regenerative agriculture is an example of this. This was a key theme that emerged from a close-up look at global food company, Danone.
I recently conducted a Matereality Assessment on Danone. This is a reality-based way of comparing a company’s stated purpose in relation to how it earns revenue, and then comparing that to what society and the environment actually need. I made the process visible in the public square and delivered an open source deck with the findings. Since this document is available in Google Slides, I can see as dozens of people pop in and out throughout the day — some leaving comments etc. It’s been an interesting process!
