Are You Boycotting Nestle?

If you visited this blog but aren't planning to boycott Nestle in any capacity, please tell us why in the comments.

Call to Action

What can you do?

Besides not buying Nestlé products yourself, here's what else you can do:  

• If you use Facebook and other social networking sites, share this message as your status update: I'm not buying Nestlé candy this Halloween - here's why: http://ht.ly/2XfCD
• If you blog, let your readers know that you won't be buying Nestlé this October and why. Link back here and let us know so we can list you on the blogroll.
• If you use twitter, tweet the following messages: There's no Nestlé KitKat in my candy bowl and here's why: http://ht.ly/2XfEu #nonestle, Nestlé is too scary for me http://ht.ly/2XfEu #nonestle
• Join in the discussion of the Nestlé Halloween boycott on Twitter by using the hashtag #nonestle.
• Print stickers and posters to let those in your community know that you're participating in the boycott and why.  

What Did Nestlé Do To Deserve a Boycott?

Nestlé is a major player in the world, selling products that range from breakfast cereals to coffee. But there are two main areas that Nestlé is the most known for: infant formula and candy. Unfortunately, it is in these two areas that Nestlé has not only made the most money, but also created the most damage world wide.

You may recall as a child a mass boycott of Nestlé and their many brands. Perhaps your parents joined the boycott, perhaps you're still boycotting Nestlé today, or perhaps you weren't aware at all. In any case, the boycott ended in 1984 but was reinstated in 1988 because Nestlé did not live up to the promises it made. The boycott is is still active today.

    •    CRIMES AGAINST BABIES: Nestlé contributes to the unnecessary death and suffering of infants around the world by aggressively marketing baby foods in developing nations, in breach of the World Health Organization's international marketing standards. Nestlé says they don't market to parents but they market aggressively to medical professionals and provide free formula to hospitals. Parents are convinced to use formula instead of breastfeeding and by the time their free supply of the formula runs out, mothers' ability to breastfeed has disappeared and Nestlé has a paying customer at the expense of a child's health and life.

    •    Regardless of how you feel about the use of formula in your life, it's important to understand that in the developing world, the difference between formula and breastfeeding can mean life or death to infants due to the lack of availability of clean water, lack of means of sterilizing bottles and that parents are often unable to prepare bottles to minimum specifications because they can either not read their own language or read the English directions on the label. Additionally, because formula is so expensive, many parents water down the formula to make canisters last longer. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.5 million infants die around the world every year because they are not breastfed.

    •    CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN: Nestlé is one of the major cocoa importers that still sources its cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast. According to the US State Department, there are approximately 109,000 children working in the country's cocoa industry under slave-like conditions. Nestlé promised in 2001 to make its chocolate "child labor-free" by 2005 but that promise was broken and the deadline ignored.

    •    CRIMES AGAINST COMMUNITIES: Nestlé is also guilty of pilfering public water supplies worldwide for profit, wreaking damage on the environment as well as communities. Their water mining operations have caused damage to watersheds after assuring rural communities they would be "good corporate neighbors." Small towns that refused to throw open their water supplies to Nestlé have been targeted with litigation designed to bully and bankrupt. For more information, visit http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=240

Window Signs

Print and hang these signs in your windows or on your doors to let trick or treaters and their parents know that your home or business is Nestle-free. Just click, save and print.

• Our candy bowl is Nestle-free.
  
• Our candy bowl is Nestle-free because our kids’ fun shouldn’t come from child exploitation.
  
• Our candy bowl is Nestle-free because their practices are scarier than any goblin.

Signs created by @doudoubebe.

Letter to your friends

Tell your friends about the Boo Nestle boycott by copying and pasting the text from this letter.

Shopping List

Print and bring this list of Nestle-owned candy and chocolate brands NOT to avoid you when you go shopping for Halloween treats.

Nestle Candy Brands to Avoid

Here are the US-distributed candy brands to avoid:*


    •    100 Grand
    •    Aero
    •    Baby Ruth
    •    Bit-O-Honey
    •    Butterfinger
    •    Carlos V
    •    Chunky
    •    Goobers
    •    Harry Potter Brand Candy
    •    Kit Kat
    •    Laffy Taffy
    •    Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip
    •    Nerds
    •    Nestlé Abuelita Chocolate
    •    Nestlé Crunch including Crisp, Miniature, and Buncha
    •    Nips
    •    Oh Henry!
    •    Orion
    •    Pixy Stix
    •    Raisinets
    •    Runts
    •    Smarties
    •    Sno-Caps
    •    Spree
    •    SweeTarts
    •    Wonka Products (Pixy Stix, Gobstoppers, Spree, Laffy Taffy, Nerds incl Nerds Rainbow Rope, Fun Dip, Runts, SweeTarts, Shockers, Mix-Ups, Wonka Bar, Tinglerz, Kazoozles, Gummies, Harry Potter-branded candy)

Also, if you’re having a Halloween party, avoid these brands that you might use for party food:

• Nestle Toll House (chocolate chips, refrigerated cookie dough)
• Juicy Juice
• Coffee-Mate
• Dreyer’s
• Haagen-Dazs
• Jamba Ready-to-Drink
• La Lechera (condensed milk)
• Nescafe
• Nestea
• Nestle Abuelita chocolate
• Nestle Crunch Ice Cream and Dibs
• Nestle Hot Cocoa
• Taster’s Choice
• YoCrunch yogurt
• Water: 
• Pure Life
• Aqua Pod
• Arrowhead
• Calistoga
• Deer Park
• Ice Mountain
• Montclair
• Nestle Pure Life
• Ozarka
• Poland Springs
• Zephryhills

* The above lists the relevant brands Nestle manufactures themselves but there are many other products and brands they are involved with distributing, licensing (such as Kit-Kat) or have partial ownership of in the US and globally so there may be other products in the Halloween aisle but at least this is a start.

If you’re in Canada, visit INFACT Canada for a list of their Canadian-distributed brands.

If you'd like to avoid ALL Nestle brands, visit Crunchy Domestic Goddess for a comprehensive list.

Links

For more information on the Nestlé Boycott and related issues check these links:

• Baby Milk Action-- The Nestlé Boycott - http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/boycott.html
• Stop Nestlé Waters - http://stopnestlewaters.org/
• Phd in Parenting on Nestle: http://www.phdinparenting.com/nestle
• INFACT Canada Nestle Page: http://www.infactcanada.ca/Nestle_Boycott.htm

• Nestle Critics: http://www.nestlecritics.org 
• International Baby Food Action Network: http://www.ibfan.org/fact-nestle.html