to ask, if you boycott Nestlé, do you use YSL?

[DallyDo]

I've been reading over the last year or so about Nestlé and decided to boycott, I even downloaded the list of brands to help me. Today I had a parcel from my beloved ysl... With a return label to loreal!!! I didn't realise that loreal own ysl? Though I knew Nestlé part owns loreal... So do you avoid ysl? I feel bad that I may not...

L'oreal doesn't own YSL
It has the licence to make/sell YSL cosmetics, along with most of the other high end cosmetics brands

Nestle doesn't own L'oreal. It owns less than a quarter stake

If you want to take issue with the ownership structure, I would be concerned about the Tax-dodging and generally unpleasant Bettancourt family who have 35%, long before I worry about Nestle

I've not knowingly bought nestle for 20+ years, but it's so easy to do accidently (ate Maggi throughout my year internship in Germany for example) - my most recent switch was to change perfume because I found out emporio armani was under the umbrella & I've started avoiding San pellegrino where possible.
I don't use ysl so not an issue for me, but now i know I will avoid.
Personally if you are going to boycott for ethical reasons I think you should do it properly so yabu to carry on buying ysl but will anyone apart from you ever know???
I'm not completely virtuous though, I love it when other people buy quality Street at Christmas!

I have boycotted nestle for many many years and try to avoid subsidiary companies but to be honest it's such a massive company now it's nearly impossible to avoid everything. Baby Milk Action website has details of nestle-owned brands

I boycott Nestlé and avoid as much as I can. I do occasionally slip up. DH bought Maggi stock powder recently and I was given a tin of Quality Street for Christmas.

The biggest disappointment for me was when Anita Roddick sold Body Shop to Loreal/Nestle.

Totally agree about body shop. Also to a lesser extent innocent selling to coke

What is the issue with Nestle?

ketchupontoast Get your flameproof gear on now - you are going to need it!

BaronessBomburst How is being given a tin of Quality Street a break in your personal boycott? The damage, minimal as it is, has already been done. I would say enjoy, but QS are crap anyway.

Ay?! Ketchup hasn't done anything to require flameproof gear, she's just asked a question!

My knowledge is that Nestle knowingly went to poor countries without safe water and encouraged women to use formula instead of BM which resulted in thousands of babies dying from illness and starvation.

I'm sure someone more knowlagable will come along and elaborate. MN have info on it as well.

They also still push their products, chocolates similar to QS aimed at children, and heavily sugared products to poor communities in Latin America. They tell parents these are healthy foods.

It's worth watching Globesity on YouTube. I cannot link as on phone, but it is about an hour long documentary. Coca Cola does the same in Latin America too.

Nestle make money put of babies dying. It is that simple, that direct. They have been fined huge amounts of money for doing so, but make so much profit that they continue.

It is not the only immoral selling area they have, but it is the one that started the boycott ball rolling.

So I'd happily put the Bettancourts, or any other mere money fiddling twonks, way down the list of people companies to be concerned over. Take out those who knowingly kill for profit - with or without guns.

www.babymilkaction.org/nestlefree#overview
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott

Mark Thoma did a great programme on how/why...

I have boycotted as much of their product as possible, back in the 80s that was quite a difficult thing to do, it is easier now, but you do have to keep your wits about you when buying new labels!

Thank you for the information

I don't think people realise how many umbrella companies come under Nestle. I have read threads where the boycott has been mentioned yet on another thread, they use other products.
The Laboratoires Innéov is a joint venture in nutritional cosmetics between L’Oréal and Nestlé; they draw on L’Oréal's knowledge in the fields of nutrition and food safety.

Please add any not listed.
Nescafe. Nespresso.Perrier. Evian. Vittell. S Pellegrino. Milo. Carnation. Nesquik. Coffee mate. SMA. Maggi. Buitoni. Haagan daaz. Krunch. Kitkat. smarties. After eight. Aero. Polo. Friskies. Gourmet. Purina.One. Loreal. Garnier. Lacomme. Biotherm. Ralph Lauren. Giorgio Armani. Lyons maid ice cream. Sarsons. Buxton. Um bongo. Findus. Cross and blackwell. Branston. Gail honey. Sun-pat.Go-cat/dog Bakers complete. Cookie crisp. Felix. Wonka. YSL. Body shop. Cacherel. Diesel. Maybelline. Urban Decay.Helena Rubenstien. Lacome. Stella McCartney. Vichy. (Theres lots of chocolate not listed)

As well as baby milk, they also tried selling expensive bottled water in third world countries. They own several different brands globally not just the ones listed. They also started buying land and water rights, which meant they were pumping loads. In 2014 California issued a water ban, Nestle have a huge plant there where they pump and bottle for one of their brands, and they ignored the ban. Then there's child labour lawsuits where it was reported on the Ivory Coast children were working 14 hour days for Nestle. Then there's Palm Oil and their involvement. They have also taken Unions to court especially in third world countries to stop the workers protesting about pay and conditions. They have been fined in the USA for failing to pay workers overtime.

These are some of the things they have done, spanning decades and still happening today. They get confronted and fined, say all the right things and continue to treat people appallingly.

Yup, and part of the formula issue is that they gave free formula to mothers in Africa (bot vague?) And then charged them huge amounts for the formula once mothers had no option but to use the formula as their milk supply had finished (because they used the formula) they had no choice but to buy the formula and mix it with contaminated water. Awful.

Horrified by ysl. I had no idea, it doesn't seem to be mentioned by baby milk action? Why not? Or have I missed it? It's not on my downloaded list. I will check the other brands listed above are on my list but it really is quite a mission to boycott them, but I will try my best! Unfortunately my shampoo is body shop and moistuiser is garnier... Body shop bought before I started my boycott and garnier bought because I didn't realise :(

with companies like ysl you have to look at individual companies like L'oreal and who are under them. It does make things really, really hard to boycott.
I didn't realise that Rachels dairy is also under them.

I also think it's hard because some of the companies like Bodyshop, Stella and Rachels you would expect them to sell out in such a way, when they could have sold out to a more ethical company more inline with their ethos.

Another nestle boycotter here of over 30 years but I find it hard to remember all the brands so I'm not a very pure boycotter. I evangelise a bit to make up for my mistakes.

I do and have for 16 years

Originally the formula issue however the comment that " water is not a human right" also helped to confirm that this was the right thing to do.

I had not realised Herta was theirs until a few years ago.

I don't buy YSL so not a issue for me, but may be worth sending Mike @ Babymilkaction an email and see what he knows. He is usually a good source of information

Is it me or is it impossible to shop ethically ANYWHERE, though?

Pull Nestle out of the equation and you've got Primark, Coca Cola, M and S, Disney, Nike, Apple, McDonalds etc who all exploit the fuck out of third world and that's just to name but a few.

To be completely ethical you'd have to grow all your own food and make all your clothes. The % of people who boycott Nestle has never really succeeded in either damaging its profits or making it change its ways. And its so easy now to accidentally buy Nestle owned products.

Thank you for this post. I now have a moral dilemma because it a conundrum between products I love and what is right. I don't think I will feel comfortable using them again. I will start of by looking at a replacement for my ysl foundation and work my way down.

I try and avoid nestlé as much as possible but I admit I didn't realise the extent of brands that were under their umbrella. Thanks for the link to babymilkaction. Not sure what to do about my parents buying the children nestlé chocs though

I believe Evian is owned by Danone? Not that they're exactly a lovely outfit either...

And if you grow your own food and make your own clothes you will need an unfair share of the land!

We do what we can. In the days of apartheid South African produce was not welcome in my parents' then my home but some of the medication which kept my DF alive was made there and we knew it.

Bollocks, didn't know Vichy were owned by Nestlé. Vichy are the only products I've found that don't lead to a break out of horrendous acne for me

You can only do what is within your pocket and availability. Thankfully we don't do fizzy drinks, sweets etc. We live rurally and have a good range of local shops selling local goods.

But we would still find it next to impossible to avoid all the products we would like to. So, like ArgyMargy, I evangelise a lot. I also couldn't care less if my boycott effects Nestles profit margin. It quickly became apparent that the Nestle juggernaut has the momentum a a black hole, much like CocaCo and PepsiCo etc. But that isn't why I boycott them, I don't expect my actions to have an impact. I just don't want to be knowingly part of their culture.

(steps down from Expounding Board, sends High Horse back to bed )

York similar problem here. Trying to cut back on my beauty spending (ysl mentioned above was actually a freebie!... But I don't know what to do about my touche eclat addiction...) So I bought garnier face cream instead of my usual clinique (£3 instead of £35!!!) And it suits me