Nestlé is a multinational corporation that is nearly 140 years old. It became known as a maker of milk and milk chocolate products but now has branched out into many other industries including: water (Perrier, Poland Spring), pet care(Ralston Purina, Alpo) and Baby Foods (Nestlé babymilk, Very Best Baby)

CEO: Peter Brabeck-Letmathe

CS Disclaimer: This article is a mixture of facts and opinions. Anything that is represented as a fact is a fact to the best of my knowledge. Anything that is represented as opinion is my opinion (which I am entitled to). I assert that nothing in this article has been fabricated by me, I have no investments, long or short, in this company and no motivation for writing this article other than wanting to see corporations begin to put the best interests of people before profits.

Corporations-Suck.com's report on Nestlé

    Corporations Suck! Why do corporations suck? They suck because they have to. And every year they suck more and more. There used to be laws. Some of the laws may still exist somewhere but laws that aren't enforced may as well not exist. These laws used to keep monopolies from forming in order to keep a balance of power between the manufacturers and the consumers. There used to be still more laws and these laws used to maintain a balance between workers and employers. All of these laws have been quietly dismantled or arrangements have been made to make sure that they are never enforced. Unions, where there are any left, have become toothless, powerless, impotent and afraid.

    Why do corporations suck? Corporations suck because in this hypercapitalistic world "only the strong survive" and "it's a dog eat dog world out there". Corporations are merging and acquiring at a phenomenal rate. Corporations have to be ruthless to survive. Corporations that made their reputations and built their businesses on serving the public in an ethical way are now at a competitive disadvantage. If there is a recession, if times get tough, they have to either become more ruthless than their competitors, or, more likely, they will just be gobbled up by a bigger, more ruthless corporation that will sweep their morality right out the door and plug in their own amoral standards.

    Nestlé saw the writing on the wall a long time ago. They've been willing to step on the backs of the little people for more than a decade and as their reward they have become "the largest food and beverage company" according to their website. They have gobbled up a lot of little companies, they have positioned themselves for future success, and they haven't let little things like ethics and compassion for their fellow human beings get in their way. They are well aware of how much money they have and they are confident that if you have enough money, you can treat people any damn way you feel like and get away with it. If a few people get mad, you just hire a public relations firm to clean up your image. If you throw enough money at the problem, those few pesky people that follow you around and actually care about what you do wrong can be greatly outnumbered by the people who will watch your commercials, believe your projected public image, and continue buying whatever you have to sell.

    A quick visit to Nestlé's website would tell you a lot about how wonderful they are and how much they care about the people of the Earth. According to Nestlé, their "Business Principles... [have always reflected] the basic ideas of fairness, honesty, and a general concern for people."

    Well, I'm sorry, but I have to cry Bullshit! That is a lie. And if it would please the court I shall present my evidence.

Exhibit A: Baby Formula

    Do you have any children? If you have children do you love them? Do you suppose you would love them any less if you were born in a "poor" country in Southeast Asia or Africa or the Middle East? Would you want a nice big international corporation to come give you misinformation that would place your baby at risk? If such a corporation was found to have done such a thing... wouldn't you want them to stop it? Well, a whole lot of people wanted Nestlé to stop it for a very long time. But Nestlé needed the revenues so that it could climb its way to the top and it didn't need to be bothered by the safety of a few babies in poor nations and a few whiny activists trying to sustain a boycott.

    It all started back in the 70s (so I'm very glad I was born in the U.S.A. Nestlé didn't get around to endangering American babies until the 1980s). See, once upon a time it was just accepted fact that breastfeeding was healthier for babies. But corporations don't make money from breastfeeding, they make money from baby-formula. Corporations benefit when people start to believe that formula is just as healthy or even more healthy, and Nestlé benefits most of all since it has dominated the world's baby formula industry for decades.

    Nestlé found a really neat trick. Wanna hear about it? They discovered that they could give out lots and lots of free samples of Nestlé baby formula in hospitals located in the poorer nations around the world. They could accompany it with literature about how mothers of twins or mothers suffering from malnutrition could place their babies in potential harm by trying to breastfeed. Malnourished mothers and mothers of twins had only been breastfeeding since THE DAWN OF MANKIND before baby formula was invented, but why bother with little details like that. You can coerce people into buying things by playing to their fears. And who has more fears than new mothers? And what's more, they weren't even trying to get the new mothers to buy anything yet, they were giving the baby-formula away free. Nice of them no?

    Perhaps not so nice after the mothers discovered that without continually breastfeeding your mammery glands will dry up. If you use the free samples long enough you will have no breast milk and no more free samples and now you will be FORCED to buy baby formula. That's a pretty neat trick to play on impoverished women in poor nations while they're in one of the most vulnerable times of their lives don't you think?

    As an added bonus, the water in these poor nations is often unsafe so mixing the baby formula with the local water supply subjects infants to a whole host of other dangers like dysentery and diarrhea for starters. But I'm sure Nestlé would be glad to sell them some bottle water to go with it.

    It took about 10 years but the international community finally worked up a sufficient outrage to get Nestlé's attention. There was an organized boycott of Nestlé products by church groups, teachers unions and others. The World Health Organization set standards regarding baby formula that would specifically address these concerns. But Nestlé was undaunted. Baby formula made up a very significant portion of their profits and they were going to do anything they could to ride this wave of profits to the top. Babies be damned!

    Nestlé hired some public relations experts: Rafael Pagan & Jack Montgoven and set out to destroy the boycott. They found teachers and clergy that could be convened to join their side and set out to divide and confuse the boycott. They made assurances that they were now in full compliance with the World Health Organizations requirements and eventually the boycott was dropped. Nestlé waited until the heat died down a bit and then went back to the exact same practices. Except by the time the mid 1980s rolled around they were trying the same trick all over the world in nations both rich and poor. The boycott tried to reorganize but this time Nesté had time to prepare. They hired additional public relations help from Ogilvy and Mather and began to collect information on any group participating in the boycott. Apparently, spying on your critics and buying enough of them off to manage this boycott thing is a lot more cost effective than just not placing babies in danger in the first place.

Exhibit B: Nestlé Waters

    There is a lot of speculation about the value of water in the coming century. You hear things said like it will become more valuable than gold. To me, water already IS more valuable than gold. If I don't get some form of water on a regular basis, I die. If I don't get gold, well, who cares? This logic has not been lost on Nestlé which has been trying to buy and control fresh water supplies around the world.

    When I was a kid it was inconceivable to me that people would buy water when they could get it for free from the kitchen sink. Now, everybody knows that you don't dare drink that "free" water that comes out of the sink. And who benefits from that knowledge? Well, the people that aren't drinking arsenic, lead, rust, and various unhealthy organisms, sure. But also, the corporations that own Perrier, Deer Park, Poland Spring, Sanpellegrino, etc. Actually, one corporation owns all of those. That corporation is Nestlé.

    Here in the Great Lakes region there is great concern about corporations gaining access to the water in the lakes. Already there is suspicion that big barges are sailing into the great lakes with an empty hull, and leaving with a hull full of fresh water. There is great concern that tributaries and aquifers will be drained and exported for sale elsewhere as bottled water leaving water levels and wildlife greatly affected. The Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation have taken Perrier to state court for its plan to pump out more than half a million gallons per day from an aquifer in Michigan’s Mecosta County.

    The battles to keep water where it is are just beginning and it's difficult to see where it will go but I already don't like the way it's heading. Please keep a watchful eye on your local fresh water supply.

Exhibit C: Sucks to Work for them Too

    In 1989 workers in a Brazilian Nestlé chocolate plant tried to go on strike. They were unhappy about poor working conditions. They complained about discrimination against women, lack of protective clothing and inadequate safety conditions. Now, a big corporation like Nestlé could (in theory) view striking workers as a sign that something is not right and look at what the working conditions are and fix the problem. But NO! We wouldn't want to give "third world" laberers the idea that they can start demanding fair working conditions. That would totally send the wrong message. Much easier to identify who the trouble makers and possible trouble makers are and fire the lot of them. After nearly 40 workers were fired you can bet those laborers that were left wouldn't dare get so uppity as to demand any fair working conditions.

Exhibit D: Too Mean? No such thing!

    Ethiopia is one of the poorest nations in the world. It has continuing problems with drought and famine due to lack of rainfall in recent years. Meanwhile, Nestle has been enjoying record levels of profit year after year. Nevertheless, Nestlé saw fit to sue the current government of Ethiopia because the former government of Ethiopia had seized and nationalized a subsidiary of a company that Nestlé now owns. Naturally they didn't own the company back in 1975 when the, again, former government nationalized it, but they still feel they should sue the government and extract millions of dollars from a debt laden nation facing mass starvation. How many millions? Six million dollars. And when the Ethiopian government offered to settle for $1.5, Nestlé told them no way. Nestle makes billions of dollars a year and would hardly notice the $4.5m difference but it was the "principle" of the thing. They can't just let the former government get away with doing that to a company that they didn't own at the time just because it would help to alleviate the suffering of millions of people. What kind of terrible example would that set?!?

    In December of 2002 the British newspaper the Guardian published a story on this insanity. NOW all of a sudden Nestlé changes its mind. It has just agreed to settle, and out of the goodness of their hearts they are willing to agree to disburse the $1.5 million that they collect toward alleviating hunger in Ethiopia. Awww... what sweethearts they are!

    And back in the 1980s they totally didn't seem to care about Apartheid in South Africa. While other corporations were bowing to international pressure and divesting from South Africa, Nestlé kept right on keepin' on with its South African Factories. Not only that, but they also were so kind as to share their public relations strategies with the Shell corporation (oil & gas) for how to keep operating in South Africa and confuse the public into thinking it's an ethical thing to do.



    Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury there's more. After all, what self-respecting corporation would be satisfied with just practicing the evil arts by themselves. Nestlé has or has had partial ownership in cosmetic companies like Clairol so that they can participate in some cruelty to animals. They got together with the other super villains in the Legion of Doom (you know: Monsanto, Cargill, ADM & Kraft) to form the International Policy Council of Agriculture, Food and Trade. That's the nice lofty-sounding group that helped influence GATT policy so that gigantic food corporations could get around those pesky laws by holding private trials that reduce international law to the lowest common denominator. Yes, it's all in a days work to help bring you all of the genetically modified foods that are on the horizon. But have no fear, I'm sure the Food & Drug Administration of the U.S.A. will have some very reassuring words to say about how SAFE it all is *wink wink* *nudge nudge*

    I don't know how Nestlé's conduct is supposed to amount to "fairness, honesty, and a general concern for people", but I don't want any part of it. So I ask you to bring back a verdict of guilty, and impose a sentence of denying the bastards your money. Buying Nestlé products will only contribute to more of the same.

-Corporations Suck. And Nestlé sucks BIG TIME!

- http://www.corporations-suck.com/reports/nestle.shtml

sources and further information:
Toxic Sludge is Good for You by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton
http://www.mcspotlight.org/beyond/companies/nestle.html
http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/mm0392.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,862570,00.html
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/sep02/80699.asp
http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/glin-announce/2002-07/msg00020.html
http://www.nestle-watersna.com/
http://www.nestle.com

Special thanks to David P. of the Erie County Green Party for his assistance.

---

Click here to comment on this report

Click here to read comments on this report