The Nestlé boycott
Nestlé-free zone
If you already boycott Nestlé then use the resources on this page to spread the word.
If you want to know why there is a boycott and how you can get involved, read on.
Latest news
Campaign blog 22 July 2010: Virgin London Marathon keeps sponsorship policy confidential - but welcomes Nestle back for 2011.
Email Nestle: Together we can stop its latest baby milk marketing scam - Nestlé claims its baby milk is 'the new "Gold Standard" in infant nutrition'.
Briefing on Nestlé - last updated 2 July 2010 (for United Reformed Church Assembly)
Nestlé boycott news - latest update November 2009 now available.
Boycott overview
Nestlé is the target of a boycott because it contributes to the unnecessary death and suffering of infants around the world by aggressively marketing baby foods in breach of international marketing standards. Even Nestlé's Public Affairs Manager acknowledges the boycott has widespread support.
The World Health Assembly has adopted marketing requirements for baby foods to protect breastfeeding and to ensure breastmilk substitutes are used safely if necessary. As UNICEF has said:
"Marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding are potentially hazardous wherever they are pursued: in the developing world, WHO estimates that some 1.5 million children die each year because they are not adequately breastfed. These facts are not in dispute."
Although Nestlé does dispute the facts. See our briefing on Nestlé for the current situation, with images, links and references. The boycott will continue until Nestlé accepts and complies with Baby Milk Action's four-point plan for saving infant lives and ultimately ending the boycott.
Nestlé is singled out for boycott action as monitoring shows it to be responsible for more violations of the requirements than any other company. The boycott helps to stop some of the specific cases of malpractice we expose and has forced some changes in policy (see some examples here). But Nestlé continues systematic violations in those countries which have not yet brought in independently monitored and enforced legislation implementing the marketing requirements, which is another part of our strategy for protecting infant health and mothers' rights.
Register with Baby Milk Action to receive email alerts.
Evidence of Nestlé malpractice
If you doubt that Nestlé is doing anything wrong, see the monitoring evidence in our Campaign for Ethical Marketing section.
Or see the investigations conducted by the Guardian (left) and UNICEF Philippines.
We have responded to some of the misinformation given out by Nestlé Public Relations Machine in a report submitted to the United Nations in June 2009 - click here.
Also see the Your Questions Answered section.
Supporting the boycott
You can register your support for the boycott via our contact page.
You can find a list of Nestlé's principal products in the UK by clicking here.
It is important to tell Nestlé you are supporting the boycott - even if only for Nestlé-Free Week. You can call Nestlé's customer care line (click here to find out what happens when you do) or send an email via the Nestlé website or through the post. Click here for a suggested letter.
Materials for promoting the boycott
You can download the posters from our archive site to promote the boycott in your locality.
If you would like to hold a meeting, why not order one of the films in our on-line Virtual Shop?
You will also find great merchandise, including our reusable shopping bags (left).
Very useful items for your campaigning are the product list cards, giving Nestlé's principal brands.
You could ask people to send letters to Nestlé as part of our Campaign for Ethical Marketing.
If you would like to give a talk yourself you might like to download a powerpoint presentation and a short presentation to adapt for your own use (the text has been checked to be legally accurate - please take care if adding information of your own).
If you like role playing, you could try doing something like the Nestlé challenge stunt Baby Milk Action did at Nestlé (UK) HQ in May. Click here for details.
Keep us informed of your activities. It can help to generate international media coverage.
If you have a website, why not place this banner advertisement there?
For the image to automatically update on your site, don't copy it, but link to it using :
http://www.babymilkaction.org/flash/nestlefreebanner.gif
For simplicity, you can copy the code below into the html source code of your web page or add it to your blog when in 'edit html' mode. With a myspace blog, you can add the code directly. With some blogs, you will have to add the link as a separate line. Simply add the URL:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/nestlefree
<p align="center"> |
Alternatively use the following image to link to this page.The image address is:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/flash/nestlefreezone.gif
If you use a service such as blogger, you can go to the 'settings' control panel and add an html page element. Cut and paste the text below into the field for the html and the image will appear with a link to this page! Click here for an example.
<p align="center"> |
Alternatively use the following image to link to this page.The image address is:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/flash/nestflown.gif
If you use a service such as blogger, you can go to the 'settings' control panel and add an html page element. Cut and paste the text below into the field for the html and the image will appear with a link to this page!
<p align="center"><a href="http://info.babymilkaction.org/nestlefree" target="_blank"> <img src="http://www.babymilkaction.org/flash/nestflown.gif" alt="Nestle free zone" width="136" height="129" border="0"></a></p> |
Include our newsfeeds on your website or blog
You can add a widget like this - follow the instructions.
Send an email to spread the word - see our Email Nestlé campaign
To tell people about the boycott by email, you could cut and paste the following text and adapt it to send to your friends, family and colleagues.
As you probably know, I support the boycott of Nestlé products. According the the World Health Organisation Authority (WHO) 1.5 million babies die every year as a result of inappropriate feeding. Despite this Nestlé continues to push its baby milks in breach of international standards. Monitoring by groups on the ground around the world shows Nestlé is responsible for more violations than any other company. That's why it is singled out for boycott action. If you don't boycott Nestlé already, I ask that you consider looking at the evidence and giving up Nestlé products, or at least its principal brand, Nescafé coffee. The boycott has forced some changes from the company, but it is still a long way from complying. Campaigners are also working for laws. Nestlé can comply when it is given no choice. It is not being asked to do something that is impossible, but without pressure it continues to put its own profits before infant health and mothers' rights. You can find out more information and look at the evidence yourself on the Baby Milk Action website at: http://info.babymilkaction.org/nestlefree You can sign up there to support the boycott. It is important to tell Nestlé you will be boycotting it until it accepts and acts on the plan put to it by boycott groups for saving infant lives. You can telephone Nestlé on the freephone number |
For further information on what has been achieved since the first boycott was launched 30 years ago, and why the boycott was relaunched and continues today, click here.
Contact us
If you have suggestions or designs you would like us to add to this page, please email mikebrady<AT>babymilkaction.org
If you would like leaflets and petition sheets in quantity, contact us.
The boycott is just one part of Baby Milk Action's strategy to hold the baby food industry to account. Find out more by reading our year report. You can help this work further by becoming a member of Baby Milk Action. If you are outside the UK, contact our partners in the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN).
Campaign blog
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21 August, 2010
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