Yes, I"m serious. Boycott Nestle all around; not even Toll House cookies will save them. If you really must bake, then at least just join in protesting Nestle's water division. Details on that below the fold, but for now, here is a reminder about the protest in Portland for tomorrow:
Tuesday, June 26th at 4pm
Terry Schrunk Plaza
Southwest Madison Street
Portland, OR 97204
Please join organizations such as Food & Water Watch, Bark, Sierra Club, Oregon AFSCME, Occupy Portland, Sisters of the Holy Names, Resources for Health, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Environment Oregon, Oregon Wild to help them and thousands of Oregonians send a clear message to both Kitzhaber and Nestle.
If you do not live in Oregon, you can still please help us by making sure people you do know in the state are aware of this. If we're really lucky, you will donate to one of those great organizations not letting Nestle skulk away with our water in the dead of night. But mostly, please pretty please join me in boycotting Nestle. Details you-know-where.
Good news/bad news: Nestle is no stranger to controversy, with a long and storied history of monopolistic pursuits, less-than-honest advertising, and ignoring human rights. They also do animal testing in some of their divisions. For example, did you know Nestle is involved in pharmaceuticals? This leads me to the good news part of this: there's something for everyone to love about boycotting Nestle in all its brands and divisions.
Here is a handy-dandy list from A - Z of all brands Nestle. It includes some surprising entries, like pet food, pasta, and brands such as Lean Cuisine and Hot Pockets. The Jenny Craig weight loss program is all Nestle. So yeah; their diversity is a double-edged sword, good for earnings, but bad because it makes them a very broad target. Here is a breakdown of their brand categories:
Baby foods
Bottled water
Cereals
Chocolate & confectionery
Coffee
Culinary, chilled & frozen food
Dairy
Drinks
Food service
Healthcare nutrition
Ice cream
Petcare
Sports nutrition
Weight management
So please make sure to check their A - Z list against your known purchases of goods in those categories. More importantly, we need to make a point of boycotting Nestle's water products post haste. Nestle's Water division is enormous. Check out this partial brand list:
Arrowhead
Aqua Spring
Calistoga
Deer Park
Deep Spring
Ice Mountain
Glaciar
Klosterquelle
Nestle Wellness
Nestle Pure Life
Ozarka
Poland Spring
Perrier
S. Pellegrino
S. Barnardo
Water Line
Zephyrhills
If you click on the individual brand name, it spawns a pop-up with specific information about where the water source for that brand is located. Here is more of a plain text list. Of extraordinary interest is the fact that in the U.S. and Canada, Nestle tends to own the land from which they take their water. Other countries seem too smart to let them do that.
So please join the fight and make a point to not buy Nestle food products and most importantly to not drink Nestle bottled water. Complain to megabuyers like Costco about featuring Nestle products. If your office keeps those brands around, please encourage management to save money by discontinuing the purchase of bottled water. They can follow the example of several municipalities that have banned the purchase of bottled water for city functions. If you happen to be involved in a political campaign that is providing bottled water, please convince them the money is better spent on giving everyone a campaign-branded reusable water bottle.
Please be sure to let Nestle know precisely why you will no longer be shopping their brands!