First off, nothing on this page should be construed as belittling Amway's achievement of being given this award, but rather to provide additional details on the award and who has received it.
Recently, I was researching a statement made by Dave Van Andel in a recent Amvox concerning forthcoming layoff's at Amway corporation. The statement was "In addition to the Asian situation, the government actions in China and Korea changed the business environment for our distributors from one of dynamic growth to that of a virtual standstill."
The problems in China are well documented, but I had heard nothing of government regulations that altered Amway's activities in Korea. So I used the search engine at the Korea Times to see if I could find more information about what was going on in Korea (use their KINDS Search link).
I found nothing about any government regulatory changes, but I did find an article about how the Ad wars over dish drops really hurt Amway Korea's sales and just as they were recovering from this, the Asian economic crisis hit.
I also found a rather interesting statement in an article published on Nov 05, 1997 (W30 Mil. Penalty Slapped on Amway Korea for False Ads). The Korean Fair Trade Commission made this comment about Amway's United Nations award: "Our findings showed that the award given to Amway was merely a corporate achievement award by the North American office of the UNEP, being recognized for sponsoring environmental organizations." In another article published on Oct 14, 1997 (FTC to Make Ruling on Sales Practices by Amway Korea) they state "The award was nothing but a plaque of appreciation given to Amway Corp. by the U.N. Environmental Plan for its support for environmental organizations."
This information was very intriguing as I was taught, as have others, that Amway was the only U.S. company that had been so recognized by the United Nations.
A search on Yahoo returned a link to The United Nations Environmental Programme's website. I found nothing about this program so I sent a query to UNEP and sent the quote from the first article from the Korean Times article (I had not found the second quote at the time of the query). I asked them if they could provide more information. The following is their reply.
The attached briefly explains the UNEP North American awards programme that existed in the eighties and early 1990s. It has been discontinued. The only UNEP awards are the Global 500 and the Sasakawa Environment Prize, both of which are coordinated through UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi.
As you will note, the KTC opinion concerning the Amway award is roughly accurate.
As there is no longer anyone here at the UNEP/RONA office that dealt with the issue, this is about all the information that I can share. I hope it is useful.
UNEP/RONA CORPORATE ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
In 1982, as part of the 10th anniversary commemoration of the 1972 Stockholm Conference, UNEP's Regional Office for North America initiated a ten-year environmental award programme to recognize individuals or major organizations for their contributions to the cause of the environment. Among the recipients for this period were the following five (5) companies who were honoured for corporate achievement:
(1) Goodyear and the Town of Akron, Ohio: In May 1985, Goodyear received the award for effective industry-community cooperation for a cleaner environment.
(2) Amway Corporation: In June 1989, Amway was awarded for its strong commitment to environmental responsibility in promoting environmental education and awareness as well as encouraging youth to make the environment a priority.
(3) Northern Telecom: Northern Telecom received its award in March 1992 for pioneering solutions to address the problem of ozone depletion by being among the first corporations' to eliminate CFC-113 solvents from its manufacturing plants worldwide.
(4) Church & Dwight: This company was awarded for its outstanding corporate citizenship, ongoing pollution prevention research and partnership programs in environmental education and environmental responsibility.
(5) Ace Hardware: In September 1992 Ace was awarded for its dedication, innovative leadership and commitment to a quality environment and for promoting consumer education in environmentally sound lifestyles.
As you can see, Amway was not even the first U.S. corporation to win this award, let alone be the only U.S. corporation to win it and that it really was only an award giving by the North American Regional Office of UNEP.
It should also be noted that the Global 500 award has replaced the UNEP award. Since it's inception in the late 80's, it has been awarded to 539 corporations and individuals around the world. We can only assume that since Amway mentions nothing about a Global 500 award on it's website, that they have not received this award.
The fact that Amway won this award is a major accomplishment. Out of the tens of thousands of corporations in North America, only a handfull won it. That fact alone should be sufficient. So why do some distributors lie about it and say that Amway was the only U.S. corporation to win it? Is this a deliberate falsehood? Maybe this falls in the same category as you whispering something to a friend, who in turn whispers it to another friend, etc. By the time it gets back to you, what you said is totally turned around.
If this is a deliberate lie, then you should wonder what else they are telling you that is not true. If this is an unintentional lie, and just a partially true urban legand, then you should wonder who is verifying the facts! What else are they telling you that may or may not be true? Many, many distributors will tell you how honest, ethical and moral Amway distributors are, yet time after time after time, you can catch them using false facts, distortions, and outright lies.
United Nations Environment Programme
