Nestlé and the Mommy Wars

Let it be known that mothers are a powerful force to be reckoned with and Nestlé knows it. Last week, Nestlé flew a group of mom bloggers (with a couple of dads) to Pasadena to check out some new products. Never mind the fancy hotel, fine dining, or the Omaha Steak dinners sent to their families back home. What resulted was a Twitter-a-thon of significant proportion.

A few of the attendees took the opportunity to bring up Nestlé's less than stellar business practices of marketing baby formula to women without access to potable water in the least developed nations and sourcing cocoa harvested by children. One thing led to another and a discussion of great magnitude ensued via Twitter. Names were called, yes, but more importantly, WHO (World Health Organization) policies were debated and facts were flying — not without dispute of course. The online conversation generated hundreds of blog posts, new Facebook groups and thousands of concerned citizens contacting Nestlé. Just in time for Halloween.

Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, was born out of the 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company and the Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé Company, which made infant food products. A century and many acquisitions later, Nestlé — comprised of hundreds of household name brands — holds the distinction of being the globe’s most profitable food consumer product company with $17 billion in profit last year. Coincidentally, this is roughly the amount the United States gave in foreign aid to impoverished countries. What this tells me is that Nestlé has plenty of wiggle room to do right by all folks in the supply and demand chain. If it chooses.

I found out about the so-called “Nestlé mommy wars” from a fellow Twitter mom who saw her followers increase by 600 when she entered the conversation. But by labeling the debate a mommy war — breast-feeding versus formula — we might just miss the point. Here is the golden “take away”: Mothers have the ear of the world’s largest corporations and the ability to hold them accountable for their actions at home and abroad.

One mom blogger with the moniker of phdinparenting is awaiting answers promised by Nestlé to a list of tough questions (follow #phdinparenting and #nestlefamily). Another tweeted about “girlcotting” fair trade chocolate (i.e. supporting businesses that support our values). As a mother of three chocolate lovers, in good conscience I can’t celebrate another Halloween without asking the hard question, a moral question. Is my purchase of chocolate for children I know exploiting children I don’t? Thanks to the Internet and the recent whirlwind of twitters, that’s a question thousands of mothers will be asking this Halloween.

Follow Joellen Raderstorf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/earnest_mama

Comments

[DragonMama]

Our family doesn't give out chocolate at Halloween, we try to give healthier alternatives instead. Last year it was 100% juice boxes (and we had warm apple cider for the folks who weren't too nervous about taking something non-sealed). We also gave out glow sticks and stickers (and reminded all the parents to vote!). I love the community-building opportunities inherent in Halloween/­trick-or-t­reating, but with a strong family history of diabetes I prefer to find ways to share without sharing excess sugar.

[poomplet]

"A few attendees took the opportunity to bring up Nestlé's practice of sourcing cocoa harvested by children on Twitter."

What's the problem...if they can multi-task like that, I think their futures are quite bright!

[Annie Phdinparenting]

Thanks for reporting on this issue and mentioning my participation. When several of the Nestle Family participants asked me to send them questions to ask to Nestle, I wrote an open letter to them and posted it on my blog. The list of questions you referenced followed later after Nestle fed the bloggers a bunch of doublespeak in response to the concerns that they raised. Unfortunately, so far the answers to my questions has included even more doublespeak.

If anyone wants to follow Nestle's replies to my questions and my response to their replies, they can follow along on my blog www.phdinparenting.com. I will be linking to my new posts analyzing the answers from the post where I originally posted the questions:

http://www.phdinparenting.com/2009/10/03/follow-up-questions-for-nestle/

So far they have answered 3 of the 17 questions that I posted a week ago.

[Joellen Raderstorf - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you! Your thoughtful participation and challenging questions are appreciated.

[BestforBabes]

All of us who participated in the #nestlefamily twitter frenzy and blog fest are incredibly grateful that you reported on what happened. Personally, I don't think Nestle was too worried about being new to social media: they got their first-day lesson for a lot cheaper than if they had brought in a PR or marketing company, just as they figured out that by bringing in so-called "mommy bloggers" they wouldn't need to invest in more expensive experts. To bring down unethical companies that make it difficult for expecting mothers to make an informed choice and carry it out, it will take a lot more than boycotts. It will take an awareness of the "booby traps", and a concerted effort, as we call for in our Credo, to bring moms together, no matter what their feeding decision, and to raise funds on the scale of Susan G. Komen or the American Heart Association (and breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk of breast cancer and heart disease, so we hope these organizations will get on board).

[Joellen Raderstorf - Huffpost Blogger]

Your observations are wise and on target. We need to mobilize a movement to create a more ethical and sane world. With every post, it's happening. Thanks for reading and sharing.

[Dawn Teo - Huffpost Blogger]

I haven't bought Nestlé products since the 1980s because of this. Thanks for bringing it up on HP. I hope you write about it again.

[Joellen Raderstorf - Huffpost Blogger]

We need more modeling from folks like you! Thanks for reading.

[Kevin Burke]

Nestle admitted to being new to social media, and they got an abrupt first day lesson. By encouraging attending bloggers to tweet with the hashtag #nestlefamily, they opened up the dialog, but they weren’t prepared to participate. The Twitter activity was a clear display of how brands no longer can control the message as they previously perceived that they could.

[Joellen Raderstorf - Huffpost Blogger]

Nice observation. A wake up call for brand managers. Thanks for reading.