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AIBU?

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Original poster

to expect politically correct snacks from the BBC?

132 replies

Elasticwoman · 28/03/2008 20:13

Dh and I had free tickets to see a BBC show being filmed. In the break between filming they didn't want the audience to disperse so they gave us all cartons of juice and (oh no!) chocolate biscuits made by Nestle - boo! hiss! I could have murdered a chocolate biscuit but not that one.

When I pointed this out to a BBC flunky she had a blonde moment and claimed never to have heard of the Nestle boycott.

Comments from any one who works for the Beeb would be much appreciated. Shame on you!

OP posts:
Original poster
Elasticwoman · 30/03/2008 21:48

Glaskham - please see my post of 29 March 1909. And btw Miggsie - forgot to say earlier - loved your post about BBC brain emissions.

UniversallyChallenged - the show was your rival: Mastermind! No questions about the N. Boycott on the general knowledge rounds.

OP posts:
Original poster
Elasticwoman · 30/03/2008 21:50

Glaskham would you really be upset if I declined your biscuits? Even without lecturing you about 3rd world economics?

OP posts:
hatrick · 30/03/2008 22:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Bubble99 · 30/03/2008 22:21

Would a woman in the third world decide not to breastfeed because she was given a free sample of formula? I would have thought that in other cultures there is more likelihood of breastfeeding as women often live with extended families and have more guidance wrt breastfeeding from older women, mothers - aunts etc. Also I'd always assumed that BF was the norm in most other cultures?

Maybe I've got it completely wrong.

Are Nestle offering anything other than free samples to try to get women to FF?

glaskham · 30/03/2008 22:28

if i'd offered you a biscuit and you refused (not to my knowledge that it was 'boycotted') without telling me you were on a diet or something then yes i'd be a bit gutted....well maybe one person wouldn't bother me but if everyone did i'd think i smelt or something....

I have to say I had no idea Nestle did what is said in the post you advised me to read....I do think its wrond, but seriously, isn't it going a bit far to have a real dig....the young girl was probably just told to hand out the biscuit....if i were her and got a 'lecture' then i'd be highly embarresed and probably run off as you scared me....or is it just me who hates confrontation?

chipmonkey · 30/03/2008 22:37

Bubble, I think the thing is that in a lot of third world cultures, the mothers associate infant formula with the affluent west, and because there are no laws governing the marketing/advertising of formula there is nothing to stop formula companies from giving the impression that formula is better than or at least as good as breastfeeding. From what I understand, it is not just a little sample sachet of formula either that they give, it can be a whole tin and by the time a mother has gotten through it, she has either stopped lactating or the baby has forgotten how to latch at the breast. So she is forced to buy more.

theUrbanDryad · 30/03/2008 22:51

i follow the Nestle boycott (fairly) thoroughly. i even went as far as eating ds' Smarties easter egg for him because I don't want him getting a taste for the stuff.

But Elasticwoman, i'm sorry but i have to agree with others who have said that the BBC shouldn't have a political bent. I think it might be against their own rules anyway.

Nestle are cheap, as a rule, which is why most catering companies use them. It's not because they're supporting some sort of evil monstrosity of a corporation.

And - not relevant to the OP but to people who have mentioned not following the boycott religiously - i think it's better to be a hyopcrite about things like this. Better to do some things than not at all. So switch from Nescafe to Douwe Egberts (better coffee IMO) but don't worry about buying Fruit Pastilles. And write to them to tell them that you're boycotting them and why. If everyone did it we could make a real difference.

zippitippitoes · 30/03/2008 22:53

you could always write and say you were boycotting them and then still buy their stuff

they wouldnt know

theUrbanDryad · 30/03/2008 23:00

i like your thinking Zippi...

elkiedee · 30/03/2008 23:50

PMSL at UrbanDryad's excuse for eating DS's easter egg - I'll remember that in case anyone gives mine a Nestle egg in future - isn't your ds a bit young for one of those anyway?

chipmonkey · 31/03/2008 00:10

UD, that is the best excuse ever for eating a DC's easter egg!

Qally · 31/03/2008 04:56

I don't think the Nestle boycott is political. It's ethical. If it's political, then the Church of England wouldn't be one of the main players in organising the boycott. The Church has charitable status, and charities can't engage in politics, it's one of the basic requirements of registration, no?

I just see it as ethics, and not complex ethics at that. Not liking babies in the third world to die because formula peddlers convince their mothers that breastmilk is lesser, even when there's insufficient money to make the formula up with enough powder, and no clean water or sterilising equipment.... yeah, not seeing the counter-argument. Other than "Kitkats are yummy".

Chequers · 31/03/2008 08:32

Message withdrawn

SenoraPostrophe · 31/03/2008 14:53

no, the counter argument is "the original reason for the nestle boycott does not apply any more, and if I boycott every company that do bad things of a similar order to nestle's current antics, I will not be able to have electricity, fill my car with petrol, or shop in any supermarket."

Original poster
Elasticwoman · 31/03/2008 21:20

"All that is needed for evil to flourish is that good men do nothing" - Edmund Burke.

And as my dad was fond of saying "in that sense, the male embraces the female".

OP posts:
Original poster
Elasticwoman · 31/03/2008 21:20

"All that is needed for evil to flourish is that good men do nothing" - Edmund Burke.

And as my dad was fond of saying "in that sense, the male embraces the female".

OP posts:
Qally · 01/04/2008 04:37

"no, the counter argument is "the original reason for the nestle boycott does not apply any more, and if I boycott every company that do bad things of a similar order to nestle's current antics, I will not be able to have electricity, fill my car with petrol, or shop in any supermarket."

Don't have a car; we shop at Waitrose (nothing's perfect, but it's a worker's co-op and consistently does well on ethical grounds) and use green energy. Though I fly a lot, which is worse than running a car, I know. But surely making an effort is better than not?

I dunno; I figure that trying to do what you can is better than giving up. I certainly don;t think commenting to the BBC that they could try to be a bit more ethical is wrong. I've worked for companies that really tried to make sure all that stuff was ethically produced, and it actually reflected a very positive approach to their staff, too. Ethical practices affected us as well as the fair-traders they got the teabags from.

iworkfornestle · 27/04/2008 13:44

Has to be said that this is one of the funniest threads I have read on the boycott.

A question - should HIV Positive mothers in the third world be forced to breast-feed their babies? I know of half a dozen women here in the UK who weren't able to breast-feed their babies for various reasons. Is it OK for formula to be available to them but to be banned in the third world?

I utterly agree that formula shouldn't be forced onto anyone, but do you accept that formula has a legitimate role as an alternative if breast-feeding isn't possible? To listen to those of you who are shall we say militant on the subject you'd think that formula is evil and should be abolished.

The issue with formula in the third world is dirty water, not the formula itself. Perhaps protesting to the WHO who set the guidelines we all follow would have more effect? That is if the aim is actually to save the lives of babies rather than to make yourselves feel warm and self-righteously smug....

policywonk · 27/04/2008 13:55

iworkfor - there are a few misunderstandings in your post.

The anti-Nestle campaign does not seek to ban formula in developing countries. It seeks to enforce the code of practice regarding the agressive promotion of formula as being preferable to breastmilk. No-one thinks that formula is 'evil and should be abolished', and no-one disputes that women who cannot breastfeed should be given the option of formula.

Various studies link have shown that for HIV-positive women and their babies in developing country contexts (given the difficulty of using formula safely), exclusive breastfeeding can be the safest overall approach.

The truth is that the aggressive promotion of formula in countries with insufficient potable water kills babies. I think you're out of order to characterise the boycotters as smug.

onebatmother · 27/04/2008 14:18

well said, PW

sillytilly · 27/04/2008 14:19

oh, FGS, totally unreasonable and bandwagon-jumping

sillytilly · 27/04/2008 14:21

Miggsie, between 1-3am there is the green tea bar on the second floor in Tv that is open

sillytilly · 27/04/2008 14:25

this has prob been said, but the BBC are an apolitical organisation, and so would not take a political stance and boycott Nestle.

iworkfornestle · 27/04/2008 15:01

Policywonk - what about after 6 months? To quote Unicef: "The longer a child is breastfed by an HIV-positive mother the higher the risk of HIV infection. Breastfeeding for 6 months has about one third of the risk of breastfeeding for 2 years."

www.unicef.org/programme/breastfeeding/hiv.htm

I am not for a second arguing against breast-feeding - my son is being exclusively breast fed. I am pointing out some of the hysteria surrounding Nestle is a bit, well, hysterical.

policywonk · 27/04/2008 15:12

I don't think that changes what I said. Your first post seemed to imply that HIV positive mothers should not breastfeed under any circumstances, so I wanted to correct that as it's not the most recent advice.

Your belief that the anti-Nestle boycott is hysterical is based on a lot of fundamental misunderstandings about the campaign, as far as I can see from your first post.

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