I've been a "fan" of Annabel Karmel's page on Facebook for a while now and occasionally get updates when she changes her status. The most recent of these changes read "check out some amazing recipes we created from nestle wholegrain, had a lot of fun with mummy bloggers and zoe ball, greg searle and lesley waters giving tips and advice".
A few people have commented on this posting with comments regarding how unhappy they are that Annabel Karmel would be seen to be supporting a company that many people regard as not having babies and children's best interests at heart. As someone who's entire career is based on childhood nutrition, it seems like a very unwise partnership to create.
In response to the comments made 'Annabel Karmel' (I realise it's her marketing team, not the woman herself) have responded with a link to an official statement on her web page. The statement reads like this - "We have had a few enquiries about my association with Nestle whole grain cereals campaign. Amazingly 90% of Brits don?t eat enough whole grains, so we had great fun devising recipes using Nestle whole grains such as buzzy bees and salmon fishcakes. We know that all mums are pressed for time so not only are my recipes fun but are really quick and easy to make.
We were only involved with the whole grain cereals campaign, however there were a few concerns about the association Nestle parent brand itself and the marketing of infant formula. We are happy to work with Nestle the company and my decision was based on the evidence as it stands today.
I agree with and firmly support Neslte?s belief breast feeding is the best way to feed a baby. However, not all mothers can breast feed and the only suitable substitute to breast milk approved by the World Health Organisation is infant formula. It is evident that Nestle complies with the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk substitutes (1981) and is very sensitive to the challenges that confront mothers in developing countries."
Link to statement
Now, as far as I was aware, the whole point of the Nestle boycott is that Nestle do not comply with the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk substitutes (1981)
They may be forced into complying in the UK, but they're not quite so constrained when it comes to some third world countries. Babymilkaction has some more details of where and how they're thought to be breaking the rules. They say that "Nestlé is targeted with the boycott because monitoring conducted by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) finds it to be responsible for more violations of the World Health Assembly marketing requirements for baby foods than any other company"
So, seeing as the whole statement justifying the involvement with Nestle seems to be utter rubbish, AIBU to add boycotting Annabel Karmel to my Nestle boycott?