Archive site - new site at www.babymilkaction.org

Nestlé loses spying case and is ordered to pay damages to victims

A Swiss court has ordered Nestlé and Securitas to pay damages and legal costs to members of ATTAC Switzerland for violating their privacy. Nestlé contracted Securitas to recruit spies who infiltrated the group when it was producing a book on Nestlé’s harmful business practices in 2003 (Baby Milk Action spoke at the launch in Nestlé’s home town of Vevey, Switzerland in June 2004, Update 35).

In typical media management style, Nestlé responded publicly to the court ruling saying it would study the Judge’s ruling and, "If it should turn out that a Nestlé employee had acted negligently, we shall take appropriate measures." Fortunately Le Courier newspaper was not so naive as to fall for the "over-enthusiastic rogue employee breaking the rules" spin, commenting (26 January 2013): 

One may recall that the [Nestlé] defense attorneys had worked diligently to present the ATTAC members as potential criminals in order to better justify "the preventive observation" of their activities. They had also declared that owing to their militant commitment, they could not "claim such an extended protection of the private sphere" as an ordinary citizen.

In other words, Nestlé’s defense was campaigners are fair game to be spied on. 

The operation reported to Nestlé’s head of security - a former employee of the British Secret Service MI6 (made famous by the James Bond stories). Nestlé and Securitas claim the operation ended in 2005. Yet ATTAC Switzerland claim they detected another Securitas employee attending meetings as late as 2008 and are going to pursue the case. (See the book, Secret Manoevres in the Dark.)

Nestlé completes takeover of Pfizer Nutrition/Wyeth

Nestlé announced it was purchasing Pfizer’s nutrition business in April 2012, having won a fierce battle with Danone, the world’s second largest baby milk company. 

It paid US$11.9 billion for the company and had obtained regulatory approval in 85% of markets at the time it announced the deal was complete on 1 December. Mexico blocked the takeover, fearing price hikes, and anti-trust authorities in South Africa, Kenya and five Latin American countries had not yet approved the deal, according to Dairyreporter.com (3 December).

Pfizer Nutrition was formerly known as Wyeth in some countries and markets formula brands S-26, SMA and Promil. The purchase brings Nestlé into the UK market, where it previously had only specialist formulas after trying unsuccessfully to enter the general infant nutrition market three times in recent years (see past Updates). 

However, Nestlé says its interest in the business is because "85% of its sales are in emerging markets". It is in countries where breastfeeding rates are currently high, but formula marketing regulatiions are not yet in place where the industry sees maximum potential for growth.

Nestlé centre monitors digital communications 

Reuters reported in October 2012 that Nestlé has been running a Digital Acceleration Team for the past year from its Vevey Headquarters: 

"It looks like mission control: in a Swiss market town, an array of screens in Nestle’s headquarters tracks online sentiment. Executives watch intently as California wakes up, smells the coffee - and says whether it likes it."

"If there is a negative issue emerging, it turns red," says Blackshaw [who manages the centre], indicating a screen powered by software from Salesforce.com Inc., which is also used by such brands as Dell computers and delivery company UPS. It captures millions of posts each day on topics of interest to Nestle."

Insight - At Nestle, interacting with the online enemy: Reuters 26 October 2012.

Next page

Previous page