STONYFIELD PROMOTES NEW DOCUMENTARY FOOD, INC. WITH 10 MILLION YOGURT LIDS AND MONEY-SAVING COUPONS

Food, Inc., from Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media and River Road Entertainment, is being promoted on foil lids of 10 million cups of Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt in dairy cases across the country this month.

“What better way to get the word out on a film about our food system, than with a message aimed at food shoppers?” asks Stonyfield President and CE-Yo Gary Hirshberg, who appears in the film.

“Gary Hirshberg and Stonyfield’s commitment to the success of this film has been inspiring,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “It’s exciting that a respected brand like this has come on in such a big way.”

Buffy Shutt, Participant’s co-Executive Vice President of Marketing said: “Stonyfield has been a sensational partner for all of us working on Food, Inc.  Not only has Gary been a fantastic spokesperson for the film--knowledgeable, articulate and expert in presenting the issues in a way that’s accessible to everyday consumers--but how many documentaries have the benefit of an organic national tie-in like this?”

Stonyfield’s website  -- www.stonyfield.com -- features a Food Inc. link with a downloadable trailer, an exclusive interview with director Robert Kenner, and downloadable coupons for free products from Stonyfield and other organic partners, like Annie’s, Late July, Newman’s Own Organics, and Organic Valley.

In Food, Inc., which opens this Friday in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment.

We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

Hirshberg’s message in Food, Inc. is ultimately one of optimism couple with a call to action.

“We all have choices when it comes to what we buy, and that means we have the power of our purchases,” says Hirshberg. “The grocery check-out is much like a voting booth, where we can vote for organic or not, pesticides or not, artificial flavors or not.”

Hirshberg points to consumers’ rejection of milk from cows treated with artificial bovine growth hormone as an example of that consumer power. “Retailers and processors are now selling or using rBST-free milk as a result of what their customers are demanding. Positive change is possible, when enough of us demand it.”

About Stonyfield Farm
Stonyfield Farm, celebrating its 26th year, is the world’s leading organic yogurt company. Its all natural and certified organic yogurt, smoothies, milk, cultured soy, frozen yogurt and ice cream are distributed nationally. The company advocates that healthy food can only come from a healthy planet. Its organic ingredient purchases keep over 100,000 farm acres free of toxic, persistent pesticides and chemical fertilizers that can contaminate soil, rivers and drinking water. To help reduce global warming, Stonyfield offsets all of the C02 emissions generated from its facility energy use. The company also started a nonprofit called Climate Counts (climatecounts.org) which shows people how they can help fight climate change by the way they shop and invest. Stonyfield also donates 10% of its profits to efforts that help protect and restore the Earth. For more information about Stonyfield Farm, its products and initiatives, visit www.stonyfield.com. 

About Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures is the theatrical and home entertainment distribution arm of the Wagner/Cuban Companies, a vertically integrated group of media properties co-owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban that also include the Landmark Theatres chain, the production company 2929 Productions, and high definition cable networks HDNet and HDNet Movies. Magnolia’s 2008 slate includes critically acclaimed documentaries Man On Wire, Gonzo, Surfwise and Bigger, Stronger, Faster, as well as such notable feature films as What Just Happened, Let The Right One In and Flawless.

About Participant Media
Participant Media is a Los Angeles-based entertainment company that focuses on socially relevant, commercially viable feature films, documentaries and television, as well as publishing and digital media.  Participant Media is headed by CEO Jim Berk and was founded in 2004 by philanthropist Jeff Skoll, who serves as Chairman. Ricky Strauss is President.

Participant exists to tell compelling, entertaining stories that bring to the forefront real issues that shape our lives.  For each of its projects, Participant creates extensive social action and advocacy programs which provide ideas and tools to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action.  Participant’s films include The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson’s War, Darfur Now, An Inconvenient Truth, Good, Night and Good Luck., Syriana, Standard Operating Procedure, The Visitor and The Soloist.