The Grapes of Wrath Action Project

For this project, I decided to focus on the Bath & Body Works corporation. As a frequent customer at their stores, I have often been concerned with the products I buy. I decided this would be a good time to raise a question I’ve always wanted to ask Bath & Body Works; what exactly are they doing to improve their products to make them more environmentally friendly? 

I first tried to contact the company on Monday, April second by email. Within five hours, I received a polite response informing me that “We're flattered that you have spent time thinking about new items for our stores. It's a compliment that you have faith in our abilities to bring your innovative idea to life. We, too, are always thinking of new items and fragrances to offer our customers. In fact, one of the best things about working at Bath & Body Works is the time dedicated to brainstorming and experimenting…” Therefore, I counted that attempt as a failure. I waited until Friday, April sixth to try contacting the customer service phone number provided. I went through twenty minutes of automated voices only to finally be given the opportunity to leave a voice message. Once I completed my message, asking my question, I was awarded with an automatic message from a customer service relations machine thanking me for my feedback and telling me to have a nice day. 

Since I had experienced two failures in a row, I decided to next try another email on Sunday, April eighth. I once again asked my question, and received a reply within seven hours about how Bath and Body Works unfortunately is “unable to pay for unsolicited ideas, we would like to thank you for your time and energy and hope you will visit our stores soon.” I’ll admit that I was a bit confused with that response, so then I decided to call the company again to see what they would respond to in person. I waited fifteen minutes to reach the CEO office contact and I was told by the secretary that unfortunately the CEO can only talk to specified officials. 

I sent another email on April ninth, this one directed at the Customer Relations Supervisor. A minor success was achieved! Lu Ann Ray, the supervisor, gave me a lot of background information on the company. She informed me that seventy-five percent of the products’ ingredients are made of “wholesome, natural ingredients” and that “Bath and Body Works and The White Barn Candle Co. are headed by the CEO Nick Coe.” I consider this a minor success, because I was informed that the Bath and Body Works products are fairly environmentally friendly (I was also proud to be informed that they do not use animal testing), and I was also given the name of the CEO. I tried a final contact on April tenth through email, an attempt to get more information about the CEO’s goals for the company, but within an hour I received a generic email saying that the company could not give out that information. 

Overall, I understand why Mr. Currin had us pursue this action project. We are much like the Okies who didn’t know where to place the blame when they found out they were getting kicked off of their land by the banks of the East. As American consumers, we really never know where direct blame or questioning should go to major corporations of today.  It’s so hard to actually get into contact with a major official, and at that an official who actually values your personal concerns and opinions. Any headway that we make in questioning a corporation has such a minor impact, because a united front must be made for a corporation to actually begin to take their consumers seriously (in most generalized cases.) This also connects to how the Joads were upset with the unfair price increases at the stores on the work camps. The person running the store couldn’t really give any good reason for why the prices were hiked up so unfairly, and also was forced into keeping specified regulations. There was not a single person working for the company that did not try to make some sort of an excuse and hinted at regulations that kept them from telling me information. As consumers, shouldn’t we be able to know about corporation regulations, as well as what companies are doing to improve their products? This project was very beneficial in helping me learn about commercialism tactics and the true rationale behind corporate affairs.