1 - An Introduction to Nestle

An Introduction to Nestle: Who are they?

What's the first thing you think of when you hear "Nestle"? For me, I think of two things. The first is Nestle CRUNCH chocolate bars. This isn't surprising, considering Nestle puts the logo right on the packaging plain and clear:

 However this isn't the case with most Nestle products, so you might not know that Nestle is actually the biggest food and beverage company in the world (source), owning companies such as Purina, Dreyer's, Gerber, DiGiorno, and more, and everything under these brands in a vast web of producers (source).

See anything there you might recognize? See anything you purchase? Keep that in mind for a minute. The second thing that comes to mind when I hear Nestle is "boycott", and before starting this blog I couldn't begin to remember why. However considering the massive amount of companies actually owned by Nestle it's had to imagine how any one could successfully boycott it. Just looking around my apartment right now I see Purina cat-food, quite a few of the different types of candy (it is just after Halloween), Poland Spring water bottles, and Pellegrino soda. Today while buying on food on campus I recognize seeing at least 5 others. Nestle is so large and so integrated into our lives, I doubt it would be easy for me to boycott them. Now that you've considered the brands you purchase, would you be able to?

You might be surprised to hear that along with being the largest food and beverage company, Nestle is also one of the most boycotted(source). An official boycott was launched in 1977 and has been on and off since then, and even today two organizations, the International Nestle Boycott Committee and The Council of Canadians are still devoted to avoiding and protesting Nestle.

This is because Nestle has had a history of unethical practices. It's most historic was in the 1970's when Nestle landed itself in deep trouble when it was caught marketing an Infant food formula to mothers in poor developing countries. There were two main problems, the first was that the formula was marketed as healthy and nutritional so uneducated mothers who were provided a small amount for free from hospitals when they gave birth would use that over their own milk, and then when that amount ran out they would no longer be producing milk (because if not used it will stop being produced) and would then be forced to buy more of the formula. The second, which was more common and more pressing, is that the formula was in powder form, and needed to be mixed with water to be consumed. Because of this mothers would mix it with water that was unsanitary or dilute it when they were running out, resulting in many cases of malnutrition and illness. Eventually Nestle did comply with the marketing guidelines set up by the World Health Organization, but only after the boycott campaign in 1977, and even after still went against those guidelines by continuing to give out free formula to hospitals, and still did so as of 2007 in Bangladesh.
Even now there is a $98.6 million dollar lawsuit in India against Nestle for selling Maggi (instant noodles) with the accusation that it contains higher than the legal content of lead. (source) You can read more about the history of Nestle's unethical practices here.


Nestle's Mission Statement:

“Nestlé is the world's leading nutrition, health and wellness company. Our mission of "Good Food, Good Life" is to provide consumers with the best tasting, most nutritious choices in a wide range of food and beverage categories and eating occasions, from morning to night.” (source)

Nestle's Vision Statement:

“To be a leading, competitive, Nutrition, Health and Wellness Company delivering improved shareholder value by being a preferred corporate citizen, preferred employer, preferred supplier selling preferred products.” (source) 

Both Nestle's mission statement and vision statement focus on providing value to it's customers, and the products they offer. Notice that neither mention or acknowledge ethical practices or values. Neither suggest any goal for how the company is run, or it's standards in operations or practices outside the products offered. Considering Nestle's history of scandals and ethical issues (including child labor, misleading labeling and promotions, marketing to uneducated mothers without other options, price fixing, and pollution(source)), I'm not that surprised no ethical goals or values are in either of these statements. From the history of Nestle, it's seems ethics aren't at the core of their corporation. 

In this blog we are going to learn further about Nestle's unethical practices, and how Nestle has responded (or not responded) to them, further showing how the Nestle corporation values ethics. For this blog I am going to focus on Nestle's over-pumping of water. Through the next few posts you will learn about what Nestle is doing, why it's wrong, and what should be done about it. 

Sources:

Andrei, Mihal. “Why Nestle Is One of the Most Hated Companies in the World.” ZME Science, 19 May 2017, www.zmescience.com/science/nestle-company-pollution-children/.

Jurevicius, Ovidijus. “Nestlé Mission Statement 2013.” Strategic Management Insight, 14 Sept. 2013, www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/mission-statements/nestle-mission-statement.html.

McGrath, Maggie. “World's Largest Food And Beverage Companies 2017: Nestle, Pepsi And Coca-Cola Dominate The Field.” Forbes, www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2017/05/24/worlds-largest-food-and-beverage-companies-2017-nestle-pepsi-and-coca-cola-dominate-the-landscape/#3fc343db3a69.
Tajalli, Maryam. “Beneath All That Delicious Chocolate, Nestle Has A Lot Of Bad Behavior.” Carbonated.TV, www.carbonated.tv/news/nestle-lead-maggi-india-lawsuit.