Dr. Bronner’s Has a Plan to Change Capitalism as We Know It
I’m not a communist,” says David Bronner. “But I think the basic container within which capitalistic forces operate should be constrained.”
We’re sitting in his sunny office at the headquarters of Dr. Bronner’s, his family’s Vista, California-based business in North San Diego County. He’s wearing red glitter nail polish, a baseball cap, and a Hawaiian shirt with the company’s motto: “All-One.” His speckled dog, Appa, named for the flying bison in the cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, snoozes at my feet.
Bronner, 53, is known as the hippie CEO of the 78-year-old natural soap company. (He likes to say the letters stand for cosmic engagement officer.) Nearly every product in the Dr. Bronner’s lineup, which has expanded to include lip balm and toothpaste, bears a text-heavy label based on David’s grandfather Emanuel Bronner’s philosophy of uniting the human race: “In all we do, let us be generous, fair & loving to Spaceship Earth and all its inhabitants. For we’re ALL-ONE OR NONE!”