Talk:Connectedness/@comment-4074242-20141225080150

I had a call on the soap giants representation - as it is humans who are actually Trustees what does it matter who they work for.

This is very true and Paul Preston, who I have had two meetings with is charming and I would think a very worthy co-opted member.

However it is a matter of perception. If we replace those Trustees/Directors with a selection of people from banking firms such as Barclays and Lloyds,  or direct mailing firms, subscribers and shareholders might feel that a certain viewpoints might be strongly expressed.

Most people do not realise that the multinationals in consumer goods are also involved in incidents where consumers pay over the odds for products. There was another case, other than than the EU case, in France where the soaps were fined for operating a cartel in 2011.

However things have not improved as in December 2014 Unilever and L'Oreal were the two main players in another cartel, others involved:

" Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc (RB/) was fined 121 million euros, Henkel AG 109.2 million euros, Procter & Gamble Co. 78.9 million euros, Beiersdorf AG 72.1 million euros, Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) 46.7 million euros, and SCA Tissue France SAS 45 million euros. Procter & Gamble’s Gillette unit was fined 74.9 million euros in the case.

Reckitt Benckiser and Henkel said in separate statements that they cooperated with the probe. Beiersdorf said it’s assessing the antitrust decision. P&G said it’s “reviewing it in detail.” Colgate wasn’t immediately available to comment.

P&G, Colgate and Henkel have already been at the receiving end of French penalties. The regulator fined them a combined 367.9 million euros in 2011 for fixing the price of laundry soap. Unilever avoided a fine at the time for blowing the whistle on the cartel."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-18/l-oreal-to-unilever-fined-1-17-billion-by-french-antitrust-arm.html