Soap Opera : The Inside Story of Procter & Gamble

As the maker of Ivory soap, Tide detergent, and Crest toothpaste, Procter & Gamble is a household name. It is America's thirteenth largest company, lauded by business schools as a model for success. But behind P&G's wholesome image is a control-obsessed company so paranoid that Wall Street analysts, employees, and the chairman himself refer to it as ';the Kremlin.' The company demands conformity and unquestioning loyalty from its employees, who work in a strict and oppressive environment. P&G's wealth and power ensures it gets what it wants, from tax breaks to the eager services of Washington lobbyists. In this explosive expose, Wall Street Journal reporter Alecia Swasy?who covered P&G for three years?tells the full chilling story of life within the P&G behemoth. Drawn from interviews with over 300 former and current P&G employees (including CEO Ed Artzt), visits to P&G operations in five countries, and thousands of court and company documents, Soap Opera reveals the dirty tricks and draconian mind-set of the company with the ';99 44/100% pure' façade. Included here is the real story behind P&G's Rely brand tampons and their link to women's deaths from toxic shock syndrome?and how P&G tried to suppress that evidence. Swasy takes us to Taylor County, Florida, where residents drink bottled water because P&G's influence allowed the company to flood the local river with dioxin-laden toxic waste from its paper mill. Among these and dozens of other examples of the company's cutthroat nature is Swasy's own story of P&G's unethical seizure of Cincinnati phone records in an effort to track down her sources. Wonderfully readable and impeccably researched, Soap Opera is a sobering look at the price of success in America.