Things have come a little way from the days
when Nestle would hire women with no special training and dress them up as nurses to give
out free samples of Nestle formula, the free samples lasting just long enough for the
mother's breast milk to dry up from lack of use. But abuses and unethical business
practices are still prevalent, as you'll soon see! Scroll down or click on the
following to go directly to your article:
Expired Formula Given to Charity
Water Dumped on Nursing Mom and Baby>
Nestle Receives Business Award for Countering Breastfeeding
PR firm says focus on "Symbols, not Logic"
The Unbiased Media: Brought to You by Nestle
Nestle: "If We Don't Do It Someone Else Will"
Formula Companies Argue Against Code
Formula Feeding Olympics: The Winners Lose Big
A Ray of Hope: Firefighters Save More Lives
Expired Formula Given to Charity.
Heinz subsidiary formula manufacturer Farley's donated 20
tonnes of formula months past their sell-by date to charities sending aid to
the Ukraine. It cost the Charities Jubilee Outreach and Air Bridge Association,
$2,250 to ship the milks which were turned back by the Frontier Health Controls Unit.
Raisa Bakhtyn, head of the unit said, "It is disgraceful that a
respectable British company is sending potentially dangerous food here."
Do you suppose they still got the tax write off?
Water Dumped on Nursing Mom and Baby.
In the UK, a shop-owner tipped a rubbish bin of dirty water over a mother
after she refused to stop feeding her child while sitting discreetly on a nearby wall.
He
had earlier berated her with the accusation that breastfeeding was akin to urinating.
The
police were called, but the man was not charged with assault.
Nestle Receives Business Award for Countering.
Breastfeeding
Nestle has been honored by a business magazine for its success in
countering Denmark's government breastfeeding promotion campaign.
The Best of Europe Award for Big Brand Direct Marketing went to
Nestle'
for its Parents Club. Direct Response magazine
reports:
"Danish local health authorities, however, effectively promote
breastfeeding and the majority of Danish women breastfeed their babies.
As
such they are suspicious of communications from companies like Nestle. Therefore the firm
decided to tackle the issue of breastfeeding head on and create a dialogue with the health
authorities, including midwives and health visitors, mothers-to-be and mothers with small
babies. The target audience of the campaign were mothers with children aged from two
months to one year."
"To recruit new members, Nestle' used ads and inserts in Danish magazine
Parents and Children and carried out quarterly promotional campaigns in supermarkets
across the country. More information material about baby nutrition and the
club was placed in hospitals and maternity clinics. In less than one year, membership
of Nestle' Parents Club has increased from under 10% to over 75% of Danish parents."
How much has this award cost the Danish children?
PR firm says focus on "symbols, not logic".
A report advising biotech companies to focus on "symbols
that elicit hope, satisfaction and caring - not logic" was leaked to
the Guardian newspaper in the UK, exposing the cynical methods of the food industry.
The
report was prepared by Burson Marstellar consultants. The company advised the industry
that it could not win the argument over the risks associated
with genetically modified food and so should use PR methods to persuade the
public to accept the new products, which are cheaper to produce.
The Unbiased Media: Brought To You By Nestle.
In the Philippines at the end of July 1997 there was a
special program on RPN TV to mark world breastfeeding week.
The program gave
advice on how to breastfeed successfully and presented evidence of the unethical marketing
of breastmilk substitutes. The principal violator of the 1986 Philippine Milk Code
is Nestle' and viewers heard how Nestle' uses midwives, traditional birth attendants and
community based health workers as extended sales agents by giving money or gifts on a
commission basis. Doctors appearing on the program supported the description of how
Nestle promotes bottle feeding within hospitals.
Nestle was quick to respond to the allegations. The next day RPN
Channel 9 received a memo in which Nestle threatened to withdraw all of its advertising
from the TV station. The TV executives placated
Nestle' by reprimanding the
programs host.
Nestle also made threats to TV stations in the Philippines in 1987
following their coverage of a visit by Liv Ulmann, UNICEF Ambassadress of Goodwill for
Breastfeeding, and again in 1989 following a protest march to Nestle headquarters in
Makati City. Such examples are far from unique. In its home country of Switzerland few
editors dare print critical reports of the company.
Nestle: "If We Don't Do It Someone Else Will".
Mr. Ian Smith of York, gave his account of the company's ethics: "As
one the members of Synod from York, where we have a significant Nestle' presence, I was
invited, before the last debate on this subject in 1994, to meet some of their directors
to discuss the issue. At that time they freely admitted that they were the market leaders
of a trade that was being mishandled in some parts of the world. I observed that this
resulted in many thousands of infant deaths. The response was that if they
didn't sell the product someone else would. We've heard that line with
regard to landmines recently: In other words, it's better that they're killed
by our products rather than someone else's. Nestle' admitted that the
business has its unethical side, but they still push it hard. They say they will stop
- if
others do too."
Formula Companies Argue Against Code.
Breastfeeding advocates in the US are still waiting to see if the State
Department will translate the International Code of Marketing of
Breast-milk Substitutes
into domestic law. The United States endorsed the Code in 1994, having refused to do so
for 13 years. Now, baby milk companies are arguing that the US has a unique
distribution system and cannot be covered by the Code.
Formula Feeding Olympics: The Winners Lose Big.
It was Reported in "Tokyo Newspaper" on July 23,
1996 that the infant feeding bottles manufacturer, 'Pigeon' planned to hold a Baby
Olympics. Called 'Neo Baby Pigeonpic' it was to take place in Tokyo.
Non-Japanese babies - 50 in all - were invited to participate in the contests, which
included a 'milk drinking competition'. The baby who finished a bottle
of 50cc milk the quickest would win. Prizes ranged between 30,000 - 1000,000
yen ($300 -$1,000). This contest was luckily found and stopped by Lactivist
Ros Escott.
A Ray of Hope: Firefighters Save More Lives.
 Put this one under "things that won't make you mad":
Fire-fighters are making a difference in Brasilia where they collect milk from
12,000 donating mothers in an around-the-clock, door-to-door operation which
provides for abandoned babies and other infants. The local hospital has reported that,
after just one year of the scheme, infant deaths are down by 50%.
Many of these stories were from Baby Milk Action Updates.
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