Nestle

Dropping in on Nestlé's AGM

Posted by jamie — 15 April 2010 at 2:43pm - Comments

As well as having Greenpeace people in the audience at Nestlé's AGM, we also had a couple of people in a more elevated position - in the rafters of the Lausanne Capitale Olympique, where a couple of climbers were waiting to drop a banner and a cascade of leaflets. According to Ian who's been texting me from the meeting, "everybody shrieked" when the banner dropped.

Meanwhile, outside our orang-utans were being dragged away by the police. Surely they're 'armless?

Article tagged as: forests, indonesia, nestle, palm oil, sinar mas

Send your message to shareholders at Nestle's AGM

Posted by jamie — 15 April 2010 at 11:39am - Comments

You've emailed, called and sent Easter cards but Nestle have simply not taken enough action to stop buying palm oil and other products from those companies destroying Indonesia's rainforests. So today we're asking you to send messages in to the heart of their annual general meeting in Switzerland where the shareholders will be gathered.

Add your message on Twitter (make sure you include a #nestle tag) or comment in the window below - our campaigners and activists at the AGM are directing shareholders to see your messages on our website.

Article tagged as: agm, forests, indonesia, nestle, palm oil, sinar mas

Nestlé: Indonesian president praises Greenpeace for criticising forest policy

Posted by jamie — 9 April 2010 at 1:54pm - Comments

Greenpeace volunteers monkey around outside Nestlé's headquarters in Jakarta © Abyan/Greenpeace

It's three weeks since we launched our Nestlé campaign and, thanks to the fantastic support we've received, it's going from strength to strength. Nestlé's Facebook page is still dominated by questions about where the company gets its palm oil from. It seems that every attempt by their admins to change topic is another opportunity to turn the conversation back to deforestation linked to palm oil and other ethically questionable practices. Meanwhile, our our Kit Kat video has sailed past an incredible 1.1m views.

But what's going on in Indonesia? After all, that's where the forests we're trying to protect are located. Well, the work our Indonesian team are doing is somewhat different. Rather than focusing mainly on a large consumer company, they're tackling suppliers directly, and challenging the government of Indonesia about deforestation.

The email updates coming from our colleagues in Jakarta show that we're having an effect in political circles.

Article tagged as: forests, indonesia, nestle, palm oil, sinar mas

How Nestlé's palm oil problem spread across the internet

Posted by jamie — 25 March 2010 at 12:50pm - Comments

NESTLE KERFUFFLE on Prezi

Scott Douglas has created this engrossing presentation to highlight the key stages in our Nestlé campaign, and the impact it's had on Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere. Thanks to the whizzy graphics it's not as deathly dull as it sounds, and very interesting are the figures on the reach of the campaign so far, or how many people have seen messages about it.

Press the play button to start and move to the next slide, and it might look more impressive on the Prezi site.

Article tagged as: forests, indonesia, kit kat, nestle, palm oil, prezi

Nestlé Facebook crash while the forests still burn

Posted by jamie — 22 March 2010 at 4:12pm - Comments

When we plan campaigns, we often have a reasonable idea of how much interest they'll get. Some are designed to speak to a small, specific audience who are in the right place to get things done, while others are broader in appeal. Our Nestle campaign certainly fell into the second category but never once did I think we'd see the level of response witnessed over the last few days. As one of our campaigners said last week, we're beyond wildest dreams territory.

Article tagged as: facebook, forests, indonesia, kit kat, nestle, palm oil

'Banned' Kit Kat video struck down, becomes more powerful

Posted by jamie — 18 March 2010 at 1:31pm - Comments

Where to begin?

There's been so much going here over the last 18 hours that I've only now found the time to write an update. Since the last post here, the Kit Kat video which was pulled from Youtube (following a complaint from Nestlé about copyright infringement) was resurrected on Vimeo and has been racking up views like there's no tomorrow - 78,500 as of this moment. Not the shrewdest move Nestlé could have made, and I liked how Canada's Globe & Mail referred to it as "a global game of whack-a-mole".

Didn't Obi-Wan Kenobi say something about being struck down and coming back more powerful than before?

Article tagged as: forests, indonesia, kit kat, nestle, palm oil, videos, youtube

Quick response from Nestle, but not much to report

Posted by jamie — 17 March 2010 at 4:57pm - Comments
All rights reserved. Credit: Jiri Rezac / Greenpeace

You have to hand it to Nestle - they're quick off the mark when it comes to launching a PR offensive, and with orang-utans hanging around (and sometimes off) their premises around the UK and Europe, they've released a statement saying they're dropping contracts with one of the worst palm oil suppliers, Sinar Mas. However, there's a lot they're not talking about and would probably prefer not to talk about.

Where, for instance, is their commitment to cutting out Sinar Mas completely from their supply chain? They may now be cancelling direct contracts with forest trasher Sinar Mas, but SM palm oil will still end up in Nestle factories. Nestle also buys palm oil from third party suppliers like Cargill, and Sinar Mas palm oil still flows through their pipes. Until Nestle can guarantee that none of its other suppliers are buying from Sinar Mas, we're still on.

And there's no mention of their dealings with Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), one Sinar Mas' many subsidiaries. Their pulp and paper for instance, which is used in things like packaging, is also grown in areas of destroyed rainforest, and Nestle have been less than forthcoming about their relationship with APP. Categorical denials of any dealings with APP have suddenly today been replaced with a commitment to an investigation of their supply chain.

So, full marks for being quick off the PR block, but very few points for effort. In the meantime, enjoy our own Kit Kat advert and write to Nestle's CEO to demand a better response. And follow the fun we're having on Twitter.

Update: A few of the eagle-eyed among you spotted an error in the above. I’d said there was no mention of the Sinar Mas subsidiary APP in Nestlé's new statement yesterday, but there was - a claim that they are not buying from this company. However, at the same time as sending us this statement, Nestlé told us in private that they are "investigating" links to APP through their supply chain.

So it was right that company has been less than forthcoming about their relations with APP, but amid the excitement of yesterday, I missed the claim on this issue in Nestlé's statement - sorry for that!

Article tagged as: forests, indonesia, kit kat, nestle, palm oil, sinar mas
Syndicate content

Follow Greenpeace UK