Nestle again

I had this article bought to my attention recently which only reaffirmed my decision to boycott Nestle (which was extremely difficult to do in Switzerland).

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/337/sep09_2/a1379

For those who cannot face reading the article (even though it surprisingly readable) the gist of this is that Nestle have been marketing a coffee creamer in Laos. The logo is of a bear cradling a baby in the breastfeeding position. The research undertaken in Laos suggests that people have been led by their interpretation of the logo to think that it is suitable nutrition for children and in some cases as a substitute for breastmilk. The report concludes that:


"The Bear Brand logo’s non-verbal message implies that the product contained is intended for infants. The powerful visual message is not mitigated by the addition of warning text or by the confusing symbol of the feeding bottle with a cross through it. The sale of coffee creamer with this logo places the health of infants and children at risk in a developing nation that already has extreme levels of malnutrition"

I have disliked Nestle for many years, thanks to their agressive marketing of formula in third world countries undermining breastfeeding and putting babies at risk. Formula is too expensive for much of the population leading to it being dangerously watered down and access to sterile bottles and clean boiled water are limited, leading to many infants dying from diarrhoea.
More info can be found on the babymilkaction site.

I also have a instinctive dislike of big faceless corporations, much prefering to deal with smaller retailers who can give me a much more personal service and who actually seem to care about their customers. These big corporations can afford to screw over everyone else, beat down producers and are partly responsible from our dislocation from how the things we use get produced. We have so much choice but no idea where any of our choices have come from or what they have been through before they get to us, from abused chickens, to perfect apples to 200 different types of pasta sauce. I think this dislocation is one of the saddest things about modern life, I really do, and I hope things start seriously swinging back the other way soon