10 Friendly Faces of Corporate Giants

Naked Juice may have been all-natural and earthy when it was founded in Santa Monica, Calif., in 1983, but getting bought out by a private equity firm in 2000 and by Pepsico for $450 million in 2006 made Naked about as alternative as a bottle of Sierra Mist. Don't get all smug over there, Odwalla drinker: Your juice was sucked up by Coca-Cola(KO) for $181 million more than a decade ago.

Friendly brand face: Tom's Of Maine
Looming corporate masters: Colgate-Palmolive(CL)

Tom and Kate Chappell started their company in Kennebunk, Maine, in 1970 with $5,000 in seed money and made toothpaste, soap and deodorant without animal testing or animal product. Sure, they sold an 84% share in the company to Colgate-Palmolive for $100 million in 2006 for an 84% stake in the company, but they kept the remaining 16% just to ensure the products and formulas would remain intact.

Friendly brand face: Kashi
Looming corporate masters: Kellogg(K)

Back in 1984, Kashi's seven whole grains and sesame became a status symbol for self-aware but easily stereotyped consumers. By 2000, Kellogg wanted a little more of the "natural foods" market in their bowl and bought Kashi outright. Now only box art and a sorting bin separate Kashi from Cracklin' Oat Bran.

Friendly brand face: Nantucket Nectars
Looming corporate masters: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group(DPS)

A couple of Brown University grads named Tom (First and Scott) opened a floating convenience store and juice bar in Nantucket, Mass., in 1990 and turned it into a $60 million company by 2002, when Cadbury Schweppes bought it. The brand eventually ended up in the hands of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and, while the Toms' Juice Guys Juice Bar still stands on Nantucket and their voices still grace the product's commercials, the drinks and their organic counterparts are brewed and bottled in containers similar to Snapple's at the Snapple facility in Rye Brook, N.Y.