Still Boycotting Nestlé

As my post on my decision to boycott Nestlé is doing the rounds on Facebook again (and I mentioned it on twitter this week) I thought I’d write an update on where I am with it.

Firstly, it’s important to note that I’m not just sitting on my computer moaning about unfair marketing. I support Baby Milk Action with paid membership, and by buying their anti-Nestlé / pro-breastfeeding products. BMA are responsible for keeping Nestlé on their toes by campaigning against their unfair labelling of artificial milks in developing countries, as well as leading the way on campaigning against companies targeting health workers with misleading advertising, etc.

Anyway… the actual boycott. I have completely cut Nestlé purchases out of my life, having not knowingly bought a Nestlé (or Rowntrees, L’Oreal, Body Shop, etc) branded product in over 2 years. I accidentally bought some Buitoni pasta not knowing it was a subsidiary of Nestlé but that, I think, is my only slip up. Considering that — prior to the boycott — I would purchase several Kit Kats a week, drank Nescafé coffees almost exclusively, regularly bought Nestlé cereals, ice cream, etc I am quite pleased with how easy to cut the company out of my shopping basket when I put my mind to it.

Of course, even if we assume that I spent £1000 a year on Nestlé products, that’s little more than a pebble in the ocean for this huge multinational monster. But… my post has been seen by over 30,000 different people in 2 years. Who knows how many of those people have removed even just one product from their lives, or talked about the boycott with someone else. I know of several people who now boycott Nestlé because of my post.

Every time someone thinks twice about buying a Kit Kat, I feel like I’ve achieved a small victory.

The Nestlé boycott is the longest running boycotts worldwide and Nestlé are one of the most boycotted brands in the UK. It continues to be necessary because they continue to use underhand techniques to market their artificial milks (not translating safety information on labels in foreign countries, trying to weaken baby milk legislation in a country where thousands of babies die because of inappropriate artificial milk feeding etc).

As well as the baby milk issues, they are also boycotted because of their testing on animals, use of child slave labour to harvest cocoa, rainforest destruction etc

Why aren’t you boycotting them yet?

Update: Wikipedia has a full Nestlé product list including country-specific brands.

Posted on: October 19, 2012 · Category: Misc 20

On the Divisive Issues of Parenting

Naomi, in response to a question on why women trouble themselves with debate on divisive parenting issues:

[...] keeping women occupied with relatively trivial parenting matters which our ancestors didn’t think twice about means we don’t have time or energy to recognise our true status as women alienated from the real world, frustrated in our efforts to succeed at work, excluded from politics or other influential activities, raising the next generation of toilet cleaners and bankers whilst being told we need hv advice and surestart to stop us messing up and not a lot of thanks for it, dissatisfied in our unequal relationships, often suffering from things which society considers taboo in conversation eg miscarriage, menopause, pain or complications from childbirth…we could be quite a grumpy and dangerous group of people if we weren’t so easily distracted by parentings mags and pretty slings

Posted on: October 19, 2010 · Category: Parenting

Review of The Politics of Breastfeeding

I finally got ’round to finishing the last few pages of ‘The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts are Bad for Business’ by Gabrielle Palmer. I bought it months and months ago, but as it’s not what I would call a dip-in-and-out read, it was very hard to gather the time and concentration needed to read it.

First and foremost, let me say that this is not a book that should only be read by nursing mothers. I think it should, at the very least, be read by all women. It encompasses so much; from the beginnings of the end of breastfeeding in certain cultures and how it’s being turned around by proactive governments, how multinational companies market breastmilk substitutes to deliberately undermine breastfeeding relationships, doctors and health care professionals who would have us believe that breastmilk isn’t good enough and most importantly, a woman’s right to feed her baby as she chooses without pressure or unethical influences from corporate bodies.

Reading the book frustrated me on so many levels. I’ve talked before about Nestle’s marketing practices before, but it goes beyond that. The origins of formula; unnecessary death of babies in both developed and ‘third world’ countries; the undermining of women because we’re “not good enough”/”not reliable enough” to maintain life (and this goes hand in hand with the medicalisation of birth and unnecessary interventions, but is not a subject I know enough about to comment on); the supplementing with formula without permission from mums; the strange habit of separating babies from their mums in hospital, etc.

The book is well written, and well referenced. The author, Gabrielle Palmer, is clearly passionate about her subject and not without credentials in the area (she was a breastfeeding counsellor in the 1970s and helped establish Baby Milk Action who are responsible for maintaining the Nestle boycott).

I have promised my copy to Hanna to read, but if anyone else is interested in reading this I would be happy to loan on its return. In the mean time, I recommend reading this extract (external). This book has changed the way I look at so many aspects of birth and infant care.

Posted on: September 13, 2010 · Category: Review

jemjabella is a Nestle Free Zone

When I was in school, my drama teacher told the class a story about women in Africa who’d been given Nestle formula milk samples shortly after they’d had a baby. They used the samples, believing that formula was superior to their breast milk, which led to their milk drying up. They were then forced to buy formula they couldn’t really afford, preparing it ‘watered down’ to make it last longer. In worse case scenarios, babies died either of starvation or of improperly prepared bottles1.

Out of ignorance, I assumed that these women were stupid believing that their breast milk was inferior, and promptly went out and bought a KitKat.

10 years later, I’m nursing my own child, and I come across this image:

woman breastfeeding male twin, girl bottlefed
Pakistani woman breastfeeding her son, bottle-feeding girl; picture taken by UNICEF

Unless you’ve seen this image before, it may shock you to realise that these babies are twins. The woman was told that she would not be able to sustain both babies, and so breastfed the male twin and had her grandmother bottlefed the female.

The girl died the day after the picture was taken.

After seeing this image, I bought The Politics of Breastfeeding2 so that I could learn the true extent of the problems of artificial feeding in undeveloped countries. As it turns out, the women affected by the free formula samples weren’t stupid… they were misled.

Misled by Nestle, primarily; misled by their saleswomen dressed as nurses telling new mums that Nestle artificial milks were the superior infant food; misled by health care professionals who were given kickbacks for encouraging mums to bottlefeed; misled by labels on cans of formula claiming “protects”, “more calcium”, “brain building blocks”, “brain nutrients” etc etc.

Despite multiple bans on various aspects of Nestle’s marketing, they continue to directly approach new mums, continue to market their artificial milks unethically, and continue to make misleading ‘scientific’ claims about the ingredients in the milks. Babies continue to die3 because of these milks, fed because of companies like Nestle.

And so, I boycott Nestle. I no longer knowingly buy any Nestle products (and there’s a lot of them!) No KitKats for me.

I’ve received criticism for supporting this boycott. “It’s a woman’s right to choose to feed her child how she wishes.” I totally agree. I am, and always have been, pro-choice. However, I believe in an educated choice. I believe that women should know both the implications and consequences of choosing to either a) breastfeed or b) formula feed. If ‘educated’ women like Sarah Jones (quote: “Bottle feeding is just as natural as a mother being able to breastfeed. It has the same nutrients and everything.“) think that formula and breastmilk are on par, we cannot expect women in undeveloped countries who many not have access to the array of information that we have, to be able to make that choice properly. Why? Because of the marketing of companies like Nestle.

ETA: If this entry touches you, please consider supporting Baby Milk Action: protecting breastfeeding – protecting babies fed on formula.

1 To prepare bottles properly you need access to clean, hot water. Hands must be washed. Bottles, teats etc must be cleaned and sterilised. Hands must be washed again. Boil water to prepare the formula with, letting it cool to no lower than 70 degrees C (powdered milk is not sterile, it needs to be that hot to kill the bacteria). Add the water to the bottle, then add the exact amount of formula. Cool the milk to the desired temperature by running the sealed bottle under a cold tap or by placing it in a jug of cold water. The whole process can take up to 45 minutes.

2 The Amazon link is ‘clean’; it does not contain my affiliate tag. I didn’t think it appropriate somehow.

3 WHO estimates that 1.5 million infants die around the world every year because they are not breastfed.

Posted on: June 11, 2010 · Category: Parenting

Thoughts on UK Election Results

David Cameron is now prime minister. I’m annoyed, confused, bemused and anxious all in one go.

I made it no secret that I voted for my local Liberal Democrat candidate. Not only did I feel she had the most to offer my constituency but I also support the Lib Dem party on the whole. I voted the same way in the last election, too. I’m not stupid, I was under no illusions about the likelihood of Nick Clegg getting into power on his own. Nonetheless, it was more than a little frustrating for the Liberal Democrats to get a similar percentage of the votes to the Labour party and yet a fraction of the seats. Definitely not keen on our First Past the Post system.

Anyway, so… Cameron. I’ve blogged about Cameron before. He’s made several statements about unmarried families, broken homes etc. In his eyes, unless you’re married you’re not contributing to society. I don’t like this viewpoint, not least because I’m not married myself. It’s ridiculous stereotyping, and I know for a fact that I have and will provide for Isabel better than some married couples I know provide for their children.

All of our local Conservative MPs have voted against equal rights for gays. In fact — and this is why I’m bemused — I find it quite ironic that I’ve seen several people online quite loudly supporting the Conservatives and yet joining pro-Gay facebook groups. Hello, can’t have your cake and eat it. I don’t know how anyone can find it acceptable to support a homophobic party, personally.

I wasn’t keen on the Lib Dems forming a Lib/Con coalition. Firstly, because I don’t see how 2 parties with very different policies can work together. Secondly, because I have a feeling that the next 5 years are going to be hard going, and I didn’t want the LDs’ chances of actually getting in and forming their own government at some point to go out of the window as a result.

I’m willing to hold off judgement on Cameron’s suitability for the job until he’s been doing it a while, but given that I disagree with most of their manifesto, and dislike most of their MPs, I don’t see how anything positive will come out of this election for me.

Posted on: May 12, 2010 · Category: Misc