Note: The CM who reviewed this article rejected this for upfront payment stating that not everything I wrote was attributable to a source. However, if people visit the links listed below in the sources, they will be able to find nearly everything that I have written about. I encourage everyone to do just this to learn more about what Nestle is doing in third world countries.
There are numerous websites and books that detail the harm that Nestle’s aggressive marketing does and my husband’s father was a diplomat who worked with the United Nations and saw upfront the devastating effects of poverty in these countries and how companies exploited the people in them. It would be impossible for me to list the United Nations as a source since some of the information I have is not attributable to any particular website.
I am submitting this for pageviews only since I feel this is a very important subject that people need to know about.
Nestle is a company that has a lot to answer for. They make more than enough money in profits each year, yet still aggressively market their products to poor parents in third-world countries and developing nations. It would seem that Nestle’s greed knows no bounds.
UNICEF has stated that it is a proven fact that 4,000 babies die each day in developing nations because they are not breastfed. It has also been estimated by the World Health Organization that around 1.5 million babies are dying each year because of the marketing practices of some companies.
The Lancet published a study in 2003 that asked the question, “How many deaths can we prevent this year?” The conclusion that was reached was that improving breastfeeding rates was more important even than vaccinations and sanitation in these countries.
Even with the undisputed above facts, Nestle still aggressively tries to increase their sales. Their third quarter statement from the year 2000 says that, “Milks and nutrition saw good progress, mainly as a result of infant nutrition sales in Asia and of the powdered milk business.
Nestle has long tried to skirt around rules imposed by organizations that are dedicated to the health of children, such as the WHO. Since under the WHO’s guidelines companies are allowed to donate equipment to hospitals as long as they don’t have the name of a specific formula product on them, Nestle have taken to simply putting their company name and logo on the identification tags of newborn babies in China. Nestle has defended this practice and said it has nothing to do with promoting their products.
It was noted on a television show not long ago that the tins of baby milk that Nestle sells in Mozambique have a curious defect to them — the instructions for their use are available only in English. In Mozambique there are 33 different languages that are spoken and recognized, but not one of them is English. When Nestle was asked why they didn’t use one of these 33 languages, they had no response. But at least there are instructions on these products, even if nobody can read them.
In an even more sinister move, Nestle sells some baby products in developing nations that have no instructions on them. It seems that Nestle has taken the phrase that a picture is worth a thousand words a little too literally. Some Nestle products might perhaps show a tiny, well-fed and happy baby on them, but if a mother is looking for instructions on how to use the product she’d better have a good imagination.
Many babies are dying of malnutrition daily in these countries because they are not being given developmentally appropriate food like milk. Mothers innocently look at pictures on some of these Nestle products and with no instructions in their language (or any other) end up concluding that since there is a small baby on the product that it must be meant for infants.
Another huge issue with selling baby formula in developing countries is that the water is often dirty and contaminated, and mixing formula with it is a tragedy just waiting to happen. Millions of babies die because their mothers are using unsafe water to mix their formula with. But the death of babies is nothing but another statistic to a company like Nestle who is concerned only with their bottom line.
Problematic too is that with formula pushed on uneducated and poor mothers by Nestle, once their free supply of formula is gone the mothers are left with no milk in their breasts and must find a way to pay for formula. Most women have a difficult time affording this and top up the formula with extra water. So not only do babies risk drinking contaminated water, they also risk serious malnutrition since they’re not getting the full amount of nutrients that they need each day.
The spacing of children is another problem with the use of formula in these countries. If women are exclusively breastfeeding, they usually will have many months before they ovulate again and can become pregnant. In the past there were far fewer children in developing nations since their mothers breastfed them and they were spaced out.
Now, because so many mothers have been tricked into using the products of companies like Nestle, mothers are becoming pregnant practically right after they give birth. Since sex education is lacking in these countries, it makes sense for these women to breastfeed for as long as possible so that they don’t have so many children. With the introduction of formula in these countries there are now statistically more children and more deaths of these children due to malnutrition and contaminated water. The introduction of formula has made the average child’s life expectancy in developing nations much shorter than it used to be.
The message about Nestle’s aggressive marketing is making headlines again as comedians and participants in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival decided that they didn’t want the Perrier Award for Comedy any longer. Perrier is owned by Nestle, and comedians like the fabulous Steve Coogan and actresses like Emma Thompson didn’t wish to support Nestle. After much publicity, Nestle backed out of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and actors have now set up their own Tap Water Awards.
In support of the Nestle boycott Steve Coogan said, “Hi, I’m Steve Coogan and I wholeheartedly and totally support Baby Milk Action and the Nestle boycott. My opinion is what Nestle are doing in the third world is abhorrent. I fully support anybody who wishes to boycott Nestle. I say go ahead and keep boycotting them until they change their policy.”
Emma Thompson says, “I’ve just been banging on about the Nestle boycott which I think is terribly important. It’s been important for a very long time. I’m very surprised actually about how many people have been talking about it recently and who don’t know about it. Don’t know about Nestle’s record of extreme violations of advertising standards. And I think that recent events have certainly proved that it’s about time we started questioning the big companies and their practices because a lot of these things are just done in the name of big business. I think it’s time they started to answer a few questions. So right on, and all power to the boycott Nestle campaign from me.”
Nestle has also pulled out of the Nestle Children’s Book Prize after its latest winner, Sean Taylor, refused to accept any prize money for the Nestle award and made a public statement about Nestle’s aggressive marketing of baby formula in poor countries.
Whether Nestle will ever change its policies remains to be seen. After all, there are profits to be made in developing countries, even if babies are sacrificed in the process.
