Corporate Sweet Dreams? - Part 2
Nestle was founded on the creation of an alternate for breast-milk, and is infamous for an advertising campaign that left mothers in developing nations feeling that bottle feeding, even with inappropriate formula substitutes, was superior and more civilized than breast-milk. After the recognition of the death of approximately 1.5 million infants a year from contaminated water, a US and European boycott of the Nestle formula started in 1977, and at the turn of this century a ruling in Europe finally confirmed that the company had produced an inappropriate campaign that encouraged this sad consequence.
They also invented instant coffee, which anyone with a taste for good coffee objects to, and which is now a frequent source of coffee for the urban populations of developing nations – even coffee-producing ones like Guatemala. Instant coffee has the highest profit margin of any coffee product, and despite its recent incursion into the world of fair trade, “the reality of Nestle is that 99.9 percent of their coffee is still not fairly traded, but launching this one product has allowed it to be affiliated with the Fairtrade movement.”
So, buy your products from the snack machine carefully (see pic). Nestle owns over 1000 brands, and they are hard to avoid (see their website listing below). But my Co-op Fair-trade, organic coffee and my Cali-baked Suncake (you’re welcome for the free marketing) will quell my hunger for justice and stimulation this lunch hour – and for less than a Starbucks fancy drink and muffin.
Information:
More about Nestle:
Wikipedia on Nestle
Details on Nestle "Greenwashing"
Products I mentioned:
List of Nestle Products
Suncakes
Brewing Hope Coffee, distributed by Java for Justice @ U-M