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