Something this mom doesn't like

There are very few companies that I absolutely boycott. There's only one I boycott for a rational reason, and not just because they got my orde wrong when I was having a bad day or they were out of the DVD I wanted to watch when I went in to rent it.

I was recently pitched by Nestle and they happen to be like the ONE company that I just absolutely try to avoid like "the plague". I'm not sure which plague "they" meant when that figure of speech was coined...maybe the black plague?

Oh it was the best...the bright spot in my day to hear my husband chuckle when I told him I was pitched by Nestle. He knows that I will pitch a bottle of Deer Park water or walk briskly by Kiehl's or The Body Shop, which I used to love so much because they are under that Nestle umbrella. It doesn't bring me joy, I can say that!

The fact that they blatantly violate the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. Is what doesn't sit well with me. WHO is a credible, reliable organization and their goal is to protect babies. And mothers, by the way. UNICEF is another reputable organization and they are right on board with the WHO's stance on the ethical marketing of artificial baby milks.

I don't understand if a company feels confident that they are offering a reliable, necessary product, why they feel the need to market so aggressively, and many times to mothers who don't even have the money to justify the effort it took to market to them in the first place.

Why do I boycott Nestle? Well, here's a snippet of information from Baby Milk Action:

Nestlé is targeted with the boycott because monitoring conducted by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) finds it to be responsible for more violations of the World Health Assembly marketing requirements for baby foods than any other company (see the codewatch section for profiles of the different companies to target their malpractice).

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."

I do not Boycott Nestle as a judgement against artificial baby milks or the mothers who feed them to their babies. I Boycott Nestle because they market artificial baby milks in so-called "third world countries" where clean water and proper sanitation for bottles and accessories isn't always readily accessible. By the time mothers realize that they are OUT of the formula that was pushed on them and can't afford more or even know where to get more, they also find that their breasts have emptied of milk and they now have no nutritious or safe way to feed their babies. THAT is my biggest issue. It's not EVEN that they make baby formula, it's the sneaky tactics they use to get mothers to use it, particularly mothers who aren't making informed choices, but feel pressured by these "experts" to feed their babies the "right" thing.

If you want to get involved or just to find out more about the Nestle Boycott, please visit the One Million Campain website and IBFAN The International Baby Food Action Network.

AND...if you are a "Mommy Blogger" who wants to take a stand and remind Nestle that Mommy Blogs are one of the best sources of advertisement, information and influence and one Mommy's word of mouth is worth a hundred ad spots, take the Mommy Bloggers Say No To Nestle button in the right column and put it on your site, share it with your fellow Mommy Bloggers!