Boycott Nestle

[aloha]

I don't know if anyone else heard the Today programme? Nestle is demanding £6million in compensation from Ethiopia, one of the poorest nations on earth which is facing catastrophic famine. Children are already dying because they have no food. Nestle has been offered over £1million, but is refusing to settle, even thought the company knows what the consequences may be. I thought this might be of interest to anyone who has read about the famine or contributed to famine relief. Personally, I didn't donate to have a greedy, immoral multinational snatch the food from starving children's mouths. Nestle already promote artificial feeding in the third world, contrary to the World Health Organisation's code of marketing. Where drinking water is unsafe, bottle fed babies are up to 25 times more likely to die from diarrhoea. So Nestle profits while babies die. Boycotting this disgusting company means more than never buying Nescafe again (though it's a very good start as it is their flagship product) but also covers many products including Cheerios and Shredded Wheat, Perrier Water, Kit Kats , Yorkie, Felix catfood as well as L'Oreal, Lancome, Garnier, Maybelline and Helena Rubenstein. For more information & a list of Nestle products, go to www.babymilkaction.org.

[bells2]

Good news all round - this is what the company said:


In Addis Ababa today, representatives of Nestlé and the Ethiopian government signed an agreement reimbursing Nestlé approximately USD 1.5 million for a long-standing property claim on the part of Nestlé Germany. The property, a meat processing business, had been nationalized in 1975 by the government then in power and sold to a private investor in 1998.

As indicated in a statement by Nestlé S.A.'s CEO Peter Brabeck dated 23 December 2002, the settlement proceeds will be immediately contributed upon receipt to famine relief efforts in Ethiopia, which is facing a drought endangering the lives of many people. The first proceeds of the settlement will be received within 30 days, and donations will be made to humanitarian organizations working with the Ethiopian government in providing emergency food aid.

As previously indicated, Nestlé is also exploring potential ways it could help Ethiopia to create longer-term food security and access to water. As the world's largest food company and largest bottled water company, Nestlé has extensive experience in sourcing water. These efforts are part of Nestlé's long-term commitment to create sustainable economic development and reduce hunger in Africa.

[janh]

Did everybody know about this already? (I just found it via an Oxfam email and hadn't heard it anywhere):

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This came from

www.maketradefair.com/default.asp

(apols if it's been listed before.)

[aloha]

Nestle's is by far the biggest claim and the company that is/was least amenable to negotiation. If I'm lying then so is Oxfam and the World Bank (unlikely bedfellows). Maybe Nestle isn't the devil incarnate, but it's certainly pretty evil, IMO. But then I think taking money from the starving and sending salespeople into baby clinics dressed as nurses so that babies die is pretty much as low as you can get. Maybe I am a wide-eyed innocent but I really can't think of anything more morally wrong! Boycott Nestle!! Boycotts work! Email campaigns work! Yippee!

[pupuce]

Croopy - thanks for all these figures... still didn't tell emw here you got them?

Just one thing that I DO want to highlight... Nestle's marketing in France is very unrelated to their marketing strategies in the UK... I speak from experience in this... For annonimity reasons I can't say who I worked for (not Nestle though ) but it was a bigger group than N. and we had business contacts with them... so when I suggest that their marketing is not global but country based... I tthink I am quite right!

[prufrock]

But of course still advise your clients to invest in it!

[bossykate]

careful croppy, boris johnson will have you down as a burger-bashing antiglobal malcontent!

[Croppy]

Nestle is one of 50 companies involved in the same claim, the principles of which are determined under international law. I'm not going to spend time searching for references etc as I've wasted too much time on Mumsnet lately. So I'm prepared to say I'm completely wrong and Nestle is the devil incarnate.

[aloha]

That's not true. Find me the reference that states they are entitled to 6million dollars! They are in negotiations with the Ethiopian government which were initiated by the government. The government voluntarily offered 1.5million, which the World Bank agreed was an appropriate sum. Nestle refused to accept it (being an exceptionally morally bankrupt multinational) and demanded 6million. A huge international outcry from famine relief organisations and individuals ensued, so they pretended they intended donating money to famine relief all along. Which proves that boycotts and email campaigns can work.
I can find no evidence whatsover that Nestle itself ever lost a penny in Ethiopia. I would be very interested to find any reference that suggested they did.

[Croppy]

Oh for goodness sake, it was an international court ruling that they were entitled to the money not my personal opinion!. This entitlement obviously depends entirely on the validity of their claim. When they acquired the company, they also acquired the litigation. The price they paid reflected the strength of the case i.e compensation was expected. I shall just agree to disagree with you then.

[aloha]

I would, except I think you are factually wrong. How could Nestle lose money when they didn't even own the company when it was nationalised?

[Croppy]

As has been established by the court Nestle did lose money and therefore was entitled to the compensation, the amount of which was determined by the court. The company is not trying to profit from it as they have pledged to directly put all money received towards famine relief so the net result would be that the starving would get more direct money than would otherwise be the case. The reason they are pursuing it is simply to uphold the principle that countries should abide by international law as their is no actual gain to them. Anyway, let's just agree to disagree shall we as even I'm bored now.

[aloha]

Croppy, I think we both know that moral & legal are not at all the same thing! If the creditors (esp Nestle who never lost a penny in Ethiopia) agreed to put aside their claim the problem wouldn't exist. Just because you have a technical legal right to something doesn't mean you should immediately go grasping it, IMO. Particularly if it means a super-rich multinational is trying to profit at the expense of a starving nation. BTW The World Bank thought Ethiopia's offer of compensation was a good one (the issue of settlement isn't black and white due to the length of time that has elapsed) You wouldn't call them softies would you?

[Croppy]

Prufrock I think I need to put in an emergency call to the Help desk to terminate my access for my own sanity.

[prufrock]

Croppy - leave that datastream terminal alone NOW

[Croppy]

Ok pupuce, I can’t believe I’m bothering with this but I hate these sorts of conspiracy theories. First up I cannot believe that anyone really believes that Heinz adds salt, and sugar for that matter to baked beans for any other reason than it enhances the flavour at minimum cost to the manufacturer (rather than for example to get toddlers quaffing Perrier).

In 2001, the French market for bottled was worth US$3.3bn versus just US$958m in the UK so 30% of the size. I don’t have exact figures for convenience / prepackaged food but the market estimate is that the UK market for convenience food is 2 – 2.5x bigger than France. Nestle’s market share in the UK is 12.7% (Danone’s is 23.7%) and yet it is 45.2% in France (but Perrier is small, it is their still brands that dominate as still water accounts for 81% of the market). In the UK, Nestle’s four brands Malvern, Buxton, Vittel and Perrier are primarily sold through bars, restaurants, hotels etc. with their share of supermarket sales (which presumably is for home consumption) far lower than competitors. French consumption of mineral water has slowed to 1.2% growth in 2002 down from 5% in 1995 which is the exact opposite of the growth in consumption of convenience food there.

Don’t you think that A) if Nestle added salt to convenience food in order to get people to drink their water, they would target the UK which is a far larger convenience food market than France and B)that they would at least introduce a lower priced sparkling mineral water (as this is much more popular in the UK than France) to be primarily sold through UK supermarkets and C) given that there is no correlation whatsoever between the consumption of convenience food and mineral water that they would perhaps be questioning their enthusiasm with their salt shakers by now anyway. But then of course, no doubt there is some internet site somewhere dedicated to this so hey, who needs logic.

[Croppy]

But Aloha, if that was the case, they wouldn't have won a legal ruling in their favour. fair enough Pupuce but it still doesn't explain why countries who have the highest per capita consumption of convenience foods (where France doesn't rate very highly at all) tend to have the lowest per capita consumption of bottled water. Like most people in the financial world, I have access to just about every industry report ever publshed.

[Demented]

Susanmt, just read your post and find it sickening. That poor woman.

[jasper]

susanmt I have been quite affected by your post.

I met a leading light in the baby milk action group some years ago.
She is my best friend's aunt.

I have to say she put me right off the cause as she was a total nutcase.
She did absolutely nothing for the cause and I have always been deeply sceptical of the BMA because of her.
Your story has helped me to see past this frankly lunatic woman!
Thanks.

[pupuce]

Croppy - Buitoni and Maggi are more than those products in France... Buitoni does all sorts of pizzas, lasagnas, pancakes,... and maggi makes ready-meals.
Perrier is a household bottled water in France FAR more than restaurants where Badoit is the leader!

But the shock in France was related to Nestle's tactics.. so I do not knw if they salt more than others.

Out of curiosity, where did you get the top 10 brands list?

[aloha]

Ah, but if the 'creditors' didn't demand 'repayment' for money they have no moral right to and never lost in the first place, the issue wouldn't exist though, would it?

[Croppy]

It's not the nationalisation issue for Ethiopia now, its not complying with an international legal ruling on settling creditor claims. That would give them a high political / legal risk rating.

[aloha]

SusanMt, there really is nothing like a report from the frontline to really cut through Nestle's PR crap. Thanks so much.

[aloha]

Croppy - but if the risk was purely historical - ie the nationalisation happened 25-years ago and hadn't been repeated, plus the current government was against nationalisation, surely that would be low risk? Or would a current government really be held responsible for what their predecessors long ago did when making commercial decisions? That sounds strange to me. The Ethiopia situation is very different from Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, the CURRENT government is nationalising/stealing. That's not happening in Ethiopia nor is it likely to (though I'm not saying the government is perfect, whose is?). Also, the Ethiopian government did NOT refuse to pay. Having had the money demanded from them (wrongly and totally immorally IMO, as Nestle had neither lost nor needed the money in any way), they offered to pay a very large sum which was the value of the business at the time, and which the World Bank (not a notably philanthropic organisation) agreed was a fair sum, but with Nestle rejected.

[RosieT]

Tinker, you may well be right. How depressing!

[susanmt]

To back up Suedonims comments about formula, I dug out my notes from meetings in Guatemala City with women who had formula fed and subsequently lost babies!

Basically, this is one womans story ...
Sarita (25) has 4 children, and has lost 2. One was stillborn, one (first)died age 12 weeks from diahorreal illness. She was approached when in a clinic with her new baby - basic clinic services provided for weighing/advice etc. Young woman in nurses uniform wearing badge saying 'Feeding Adviser'. Suggested to her that owdered milk might be 'better' for her baby - did she want to try it? She was 17 - said yes - was given a small tim of formula, told to bring empty tin back next week for second free sample. Did so. Told to come back again next week - tim was to cost her (Eq US$ 2). Couldn't afford it. Tried bf again - couldn't. Went to supermarket where she found cheaper baby milk at $1.20 for weeks supply - still too much but had to. She stopped eating as much herself to pay for the milk. Made it up at about 3/4 strength to make it go further, and decided not to boil the water for 10 mins but just for 5 to save fuel costs.
(Sarita lived in Metzquital, a shanty town of Guatemala City, which at that time had no water piped, electricity, sewerage etc. Her family had fled the countryside when she was 5 due to civil war - her village was burned to the ground to look for guerillas and only 3 families survived. Her mother was raped and murdered by Government forces).
Her daughter died 6 weeks later after 4 weeks of losing weight and 5 days of diahorrea.
She then went on to train as a LLL BFC and had 5 more pregnancies - one baby died at birth through bleeding problems, the other 4 are fit and healthy. Now training to be a contraceptive adviser and trains other breastfeeding counsellors.
She showed us the tins - had kept them as storage jars as the had good lids. Nestle brand.

Tis is only one story out of several I heard. But along with that I never heard a woman say she couldn't breastfeed - everyone started and almost all did it sucessfully. I did meet one woman who had wetnursed her grandson (!) when her daughter died in childbirth. If people in this country want to use formula then that is OK, but the whole issue is totally different in the developing world. Most women in the developing world succesfully bf their children - there is no other option.