The Illusion of Choice and the evils of Nestlé
I came across this info-graphic today and it got me thinking about the the power of these big brands. I was reminded of the scandal surrounding Nestlé breast milk. The boycott that followed was and is ineffective against such a powerhouse company. Nestlé can freely get away with marketing baby formula to sub Sahara Africans where access to clean water is often impossible. Over 1 billion dollars have been spent on formula by African mothers with perfectly good, sterile breast milk. A huge amount of money on something they simply didn't need. But Nestlé had spun a clever marketing strategy first telling mothers the powdered formula was better then giving them free samples. When the babies were on the free sample the mothers would often stop lactating and be forced to start buying the powder. (This is the same tactic used by drug dealers). In areas where sanitary water was an issue the powdered formula would be mixed with what ever water was available and often diluted to make i