Showing posts with label Nestle boycott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nestle boycott. Show all posts

Monday, October 26, 2009

International Nestle-Free Week

Blurb from the Facebook Group supporting this:

This year Nestlé-Free Week will take place from 26 October - 1 November.

A SPECIAL WEEK FOR BOOSTING THE CONTINUING BOYCOTT OF NESTLE OVER ITS BABY MILK MARKETING.

Monitoring around the world by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) finds that Nestlé is the worst of the companies when it comes to breaking international standards for the marketing of baby foods adopted by the World Health Assembly.According to UNICEF: "Marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding are potentially hazardous wherever they are pursued: in the developing world, WHO estimates that some 1.5 million children die each year because they are not adequately breastfed. These facts are not in dispute."

Nestlé-Free Week encompasses Halloween in some countries, which Nestlé is increasingly trying to exploit in the UK.You can find background information on the boycott of Nestlé over its baby milk pushing in our Nestlé-Free Zone. Plus resources for promoting the boycott. See:http://www.babymilkaction.org/resources/boycott/nestlefree.html

The ongoing boycott focuses on Nestlé's flagship product, Nescafé coffee. We list all products from which Nestlé profits, so if you don't normally avoid the whole lot, why not do so during this week? You may surprise yourself with how many alternative products are out there.If you find that your friends and colleagues say they would boycott, but.... then challenge them to do so at least for this week.You can go directly to our boycott list (which has a UK focus, but with information on where to check for other countries) at:http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/products.html

We would welcome other poster designs specifically for the week, so feel free to send them to me at mikebrady@babymilkaction.org

You can also find items for promoting the boycott in our online Virtual Shop at:http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/boycott.html

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Parent Power 1 Nestle 0

Chatting to someone from our school Parents & Friends Association, I discovered that after my unfortunate Santa episode last year, one or two folk had looked into Nestle and decided that they agreed with the boycott, so this year all the kids are getting Cadbury's.

Result!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Don't Spend Your Tax Cut (on Nestle)

I've been relived of my duties as Father Christmas at the school party, which is a great relief. Last year my problem wasn't actually an itchy beard or a badly fitting suit. It was giving out Nestle selection packs to 400+ children. This is a repost of what I wrote last year:


The World Health Organisation estimates that 1.5 million babies die each year because they are not adequately breastfed. Despite what is claimed on baby milk substitutes, breast milk is still far superior for babies as a source of nutrition and disease prevention. What's more, it is safer - where formula milk has to be made up from contaminated or unsafe water supplies, there is a high risk to the baby. The risk of death from diarrhoea and pneumonia increases dramatically if a family uses formula milk in an area with an unhygenic water supply.

As a result the WHO has a set of marketing codes, to safeguard vulnerable people. Nestle has violated these codes more often than any other company. Whilst breastfeeding is recommended up to 6 months as the best option for a childs health, Nestle markets is products in the developing world as suitable from 4 months, and sometimes much younger. Health workers and key opinion formers are showered with gifts and free samples, and claims of health benefits of milk substitutes are exaggerated.

In China, the worlds biggest market, where Nestle is having a big marketing push, exclusive breastfeeding of infants has declined from 76% to 64% in less than 10 years. Nestle has stationed doctors in Chinese supermarkets to give out free samples and deal with questions. The international code on marketing of breast milk substitutes forbids promotion direct to parents, but this is exactly what Nestle are doing in China, and many other places. This Guardian article looks into what's happening in Bangladesh, and to what extent Nestle have truly changed their practices.

The result of their actions is to place the lives and health of millions of babies at risk.The Nestle boycott began in 1977 in the USA, and spread across the world. It's old news, which is probably why so few people know about it, or folk who used to boycott Nestle assume that everything is fine now. The Church of England announced a boycott of Nestle in the early 90's, with a measurable effect on sales, but in the face of a p.r. blitz by Nestle over the following years decided not to renew it. I'm a Church of England vicar who thinks that was a mistake.

The only thing that Nestle understand, and other companies like them, is money. The thing that will change their practices is a financial hit, and one thing that Western consumers have is spending power, to use, or to withdraw.

So here's what not to buy.
Nescafe and all Nescafe brands
Rowntrees products (Nestle bought the company a few years ago) such as Kit Kat & Lion Bar
Ski Yoghurts
After 8's
Yorkie
Buxton Mineral Water
Nestle cereals: Shreddies, Cheerios, Golden Grahams etc.
Cosmetics by Garnier, L'Oreal, Lancome, Matrix and others (part-owned)
Winalot and Felix pet foods, among others.

For a fuller list go here.

Other useful sites:
Baby milk action
the Boycott Nestle blog,
nestlecritics.org
November update from Baby Milk Action.

A longer version of this article will appear on the Wardman Wire later today.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Nestle vs King Herod: No Contest?

After my crisis of conscience as Father Christmas Last week (see Integrity Part 2) I mentioned to one of the organisers of the Christmas party that I had a bit of a problem with giving out stuff from Nestle. Well, word seems to be getting round, and a few folk in the school playground, who were unaware that there was anything wrong with Nestle, are now asking what the issue is.

More details can be found on the Baby Milk Action site, but here is the bare bones of it.

The World Health Organisation estimates that 1.5 million babies die each year because they are not adequately breastfed. Despite what is claimed on baby milk substitutes, breast milk is still far superior for babies as a source of nutrition and disease prevention. What's more, it is safer - where formula milk has to be made up from contaminated or unsafe water supplies, there is a high risk to the baby. The risk of death from diarrhoea and pneumonia increases dramatically if a family uses formula milk in an area with an unhygenic water supply.

As a result the WHO has a set of marketing codes, to safeguard vulnerable people. Nestle has violated these codes more often than any other company. Whilst breastfeeding is recommended up to 6 months as the best option for a childs health, Nestle markets is products in the developing world as suitable from 4 months, and sometimes much younger. Health workers and key opinion formers are showered with gifts and free samples, and claims of health benefits of milk substitutes are exaggerated. In China, the worlds biggest market, where Nestle is having a big marketing push, exclusive breastfeeding of infants has declined from 76% to 64% in less than 10 years. Nestle has stationed doctors in Chinese supermarkets to give out free samples and deal with questions. The international code on marketing of breast milk substitutes forbids promotion direct to parents, but this is exactly what Nestle are doing in China, and many other places.

The result of their actions is to place the lives and health of millions of babies at risk.

The Nestle boycott began in 1977 in the USA, and spread across the world. It's old news, which is probably why so few people know about it, or folk who used to boycott Nestle assume that everything is fine now. The Church of England announced a boycott of Nestle in the early 90's, with a measurable effect on sales, but in the face of a p.r. blitz by Nestle over the following years decided not to renew it. I'm a Church of England vicar who thinks that was a mistake.

The only thing that Nestle understand, and other companies like them, is money. The thing that will change their practices is a financial hit, and one thing that Western consumers have is spending power, to use, or to withdraw. It's a chilly day today, and to keep warm I'm wearing a t-shirt which says "How you spend controls what happens on the planet."

So here's what not to buy.

Nescafe and all Nescafe brands
Rowntrees products (Nestle bought the company a few years ago) such as Kit Kat & Lion Bar
Ski Yoghurts
After 8's
Yorkie
Buxton Mineral Water
Nestle cereals: Shreddies, Cheerios, Golden Grahams etc.
Cosmetics by Garnier, L'Oreal, Lancome, Matrix and others
Winalot and Felix pet foods, among others.

For a fuller list go here.

In at least one respect Nestle are worse than Herod (the king responsible for the deaths of the Bethelehem babies at the time of Jesus). Herod didn't pretend to care, but then he'd never heard of marketing.