I don't get it. California is in the middle of the worst drought on record, Nestle is stealing our precious water, and no one is calling for a boycott!
They've been taking undisclosed amounts of water from all over our state, and even after it was discovered that at least some of their operations had been conducted with expired permits for DECADES, there seems to be no end in site to this theft! The U.S. Forest Service, who oversees the operations which have been taking place with the expired permit has done absolutely nothing to put a stop to it.
A corporation like this is not simply going to go away because it's the right thing to do. They will only stop when they have no other option. Honestly, it's like being caught with your hand in the cookie jar, but instead of guiltily removing the offending limb, you look your accuser dead in the eye and continue, daring them to try to stop you. Yet nothing I've read anywhere comes close to expressing the level of outrage I feel at such larcenous behavior. Personally, I have stopped buying Nestle products for my household. When I mentioned this in passing to my mother over the weekend, she said she would also stop buying Nestle.
I've signed at least half a dozen petitions in the last month demanding the government take action, and/or asking Nestle to please stop, but so far, I haven't seen anyone asking that we hit them where it hurts and stop buying their products. Because you know what? There are a lot of them! A sample listing of items which at one time or another have been found in my home are the brands Nestle, Arrowhead, California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizzas, Di Giorno, Buitoni, Carnation, Dreyers, Haagen-Dazs, Purina, Taster's Choice, Stouffer's, Lean Cuisine, Juicy Juice, Nestea and CoffeeMate. The complete list of brands wholly owned by Nestle can be found here.
In addition, Nestle is also part owner of L'Oreal (Nestle on its relationship with L'Oreal). L'Oreal, like Nestle, is not just L'Oreal. Here is a full list of the L'Oreal Brands. I'm boycotting these as well, and as these are beauty products, and I readily admit to being vain, boycotting these brands will probably hurt more than my boycott of Nestle products.
As I was doing my research to find the above lists of brands, I stumbled upon a preexisting international boycott of Nestle by Baby Milk Action to an international code which states that formula makers cannot make claims that formula is any any way better for a newborn than breast milk, and that formula makers cannot target their product to new mothers in developing countries. Ever since 1977 (this goes even further back than the expiration date for their water permits!) there has been a boycott of some sort over this issue. Of course, in recent years they have been proclaiming their innocence, but just as they manage to convince the International Baby Food Action Network that they are complying in one developing country, charges are levied against them from somewhere else that they are providing "incentives" to doctors and nurses to promote their baby formula.
So even if the drought in California means nothing to you (although I don't see why it wouldn't - ultimately our inability to grow a virtually limitless supply of crops will impact the world economy), you may still want to reconsider buying Nestle brands. They're quite the nasty Nellies.