communications networks from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras,
Panama, and Colombia. They succeeded by secretly
arranging with leaders in local
governments that the United
Fruit Company, or sometimes
even the United States
government, would keep these
people in power and protect
them—even though some of
them were dictators—as long
as they helped the company
maintain their monopoly. It
worked to the mutual benefi t of
both parties, but not of course
to the benefi t of the workers,
who were not allowed to
organize or create unions.
In 1944, they changed the name
of the brand to Chiquita and
introduced this sexy cartoon
Latina girl with fruit on her head as their logo. They also “branded”
their produce by affi xing little blue labels to every banana. Needless
to say, they absolutely cornered the market, supplying 70 percent of
the market worldwide.
Until the mid-1990s, Chiquita controlled the whole market. All of
a sudden, the European Union decided that it wasn’t not fair that
this one company held a virtual monopoly, and they knew that they
could be growing bananas in their former colonies and supplying
Europe. However, Chiquita, with their economy of scale and huge
operation, always undersold them, so they decided to place a quota
and tariff on South American bananas.
Banana plants grow bananas in
bunches that hang downward.© iStockphoto/Thinkstock.