I have succumbed to eating Nestle products after a life time of boycotting their brand. Since arriving in Africa, I have found it to difficult to avoid the Nestle logo. From milk to drinks their bold, blue label is easy to see. Not only are their products on every shelf, but many billboards advertising their ‘nutritious’ and ‘delicious’ products dominate the skyline.
My reason for boycotting? Because of Nestlé’s irresponsible marketing of baby milk products in the developing world. Where water is unsafe a bottle-fed child is up to 25 times more likely to die as a result of diarrhea than a breastfed child (www.babymilkaction.org). An estimated 1.5million (WHO) infants die around the world every year because they are simply not breastfed. Nestle’s aggressive marketing encourages mothers that baby milk is best, causing many infant deaths.
I suppose your thinking, so why boycott? What’s that going to achieve? And when I was younger, feeling deprived that I didn’t get KitKats in my lunchbox, I asked the very same question…
A silent boycott probably won’t achieve very much. However if we put pressure on corporate companies that are abusing their power and encourage others to do the same then change can happen.
Take action today and join the boycott: www.babymilkaction.org
Making change happen
Platform2 is a unique opportunity for 18-25 year olds from the UK to volunteer in a developing country and then come back and creatively express their experiences in the UK.
