Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Telling Nestlé you boycott it

Someone told me they had heard Nestlé say they get more calls to their 'careline' about Kit Kats than the boycott. Who knows? But it did make me think it would be worth encouraging people to make a call to the freephone number to register their support for the boycott and to call for Nestlé to stop aggressively marketing its baby foods in breach of World Health Assembly measures.

But what happens when you call? The training film below shows you.

We certainly don't want people to get into an argument with whoever answers the phone. Which will be someone be sitting in a call centre somewhere, knowing little of what Nestlé does around the world. Other than what they are told by management.

So if you do call, be polite and remember it is Mr. Brabeck, the Chief Executive and Chairman, who is ultimately responsible for the systematic violations and the strategy of denials and deception aimed at diverting criticism. Not the poor person with the job of answering the phones.

I gave a call today. The number is free to call if you are in the UK. It is 0800 00 00 30.

It turned out they have a policy when people call about the baby milk issue and boycott. They offer to send you a written response. Their 'issues officer' refuses to come to the phone and the person staffing it will not enter into discussions.

But we can keep them busy and make sure Nestlé gets more calls about its baby food marketing than anything else. And if you are happy to give your name and address, Nestlé will send you a massive pack of materials to try to convince you it is doing nothing wrong. They do make interesting reading - and cost Nestlé even more money. Though you may wish to think of the trees if you are not going to read them.

Nestlé does record calls for 'training purposes'. I informed them we also record calls for 'training purposes' (well, we do for ones such as this). The recording has enabled me to put together the following 5-minute training film for campaign supporters.

So this is what happens when you call Nestlé to tell it you are boycotting it. Take a look. Share the link and let's make use of the freephone number.

If you are outside the UK and want to try calling Nestlé why not let us know how it goes and leave the Nestlé contact number for your country as a comment to this posting.

If you do make a call, please let us know via our contact page.



You can also access this film and the code to include it on your own webpage or to post it on bulletin boards at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q94iBg64Gek

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike,
You've given me an incentive to call Nestle here in California, USA. Couldn't hurt.

Regards,
Patty (LLL Leader)

Bongo Bob said...

I've been a fan of Hot Pockets for a long time; then someone told me that they're owned by Nestlé. Bummer... anyway, there are other alternatives out there for pocket sandwiches. My Hot Pockets days are over.

Mellanie said...

I called for International Nestle Free week. I am in the US and the "infant feeding specialist" who answered the phone was a little surprised. She put me on hold for a minute and then came back and read a statement to me that Nestle follows the code "as implemented in each individual country". I politely disagreed with her and thanked her for her time. :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi
I have boycotted all of Nestles products since the mid 70s. My brother works for the World Health Organisation and clued me in. Don't forget Rowntrees and all their other (dis)guises! Keep up the good work.

Bec said...

Hi Mike,
I'm Bec, I'm Australian AND I'm disgusted.
Your initiative is empowering.
I have posted many of the links and videos from your website onto my Twitter and FaceBook account(s). My Immediate family and I are all on the wagon to Boycott Nestlé .... Thanks for opening our eyes =)

Unknown said...

When ringing, it’s much more effective to ask OPEN questions, that Nestle staff cannot answer with a monosyllabic "Yes", or "No".

Ask ONE question at a time, and prefix it with "Why", "How", "What", or "Where".

DO NOT fall into the trap of closing your open question off with a closed question. For example, ask “Why is Nestle doing that?”, NOT “Do you know why Nestle is doing that?”.

Write your Qs down beforehand if you want. Good Luck!