Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Something nestling in the Baby Milk Action office

Many thanks to supporter Nigel Harrison for creating the MyMeter iPhone app for Baby Milk Action.
This is a fun detector simulator. Watch the film clip to see what it does and how it works.



You can download the app from the app store by clicking here.

You could use it as a fun way to raise the Nestlé boycott.

The beauty of the boycott is wherever you see Nestlé's products, that is an opportunity to talk about the way Nestlé pushes its baby milks in violation of international marketing standards. There is a potted explanation of the boycott below.

If you identify a product from the boycott list, you can use the MyMeter app to simulate detecting it. Then give your friend or colleague one of Baby Milk Action's leaflets or boycott cards. You could download the 'Fight the Nestlé monster' leaflet to use. Take a look at the leaflet for ten key facts that Nestlé executives do not want people to know. See:
http://info.babymilkaction.org/monster

For the 'Fight the Nestlé monster' t-shirts - click here.

The app has lots of other possible applications. You might like to use it with kids to identify the healthy or unhealthy option between different foods. Of course, you control the signal, so you need to know the facts.

Have fun and tell your friends!



Why boycott Nestlé


Nestlé pushes baby milk using strategies that are prohibited by international marketing standards, so undermining breastfeeding. For example, it claims on labels around the world that its formula 'protects' babies, but it knows that babies who are fed on formula are more likely to become sick than breastfed babies and, in conditions of poverty, more likely to die. According to UNICEF"Improved breastfeeding practices and reduction of artificial feeding could save an estimated 1.5 million children a year."

Nestlé is the worst of the baby food companies and so is the target of a boycott. The latest global monitoring report from the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) has page after page of examples of Nestlé materials that violate the marketing standards adopted by the World Health Assembly.

Some countries, such as India and Brazil, have introduced strong laws and have proved that companies can comply with the marketing requirements when they are forced to. In India companies have been unable to grow the market and in Brazil breastfeeding rates have increased significantly since violations have been stopped. Where companies think they can get away with it, they put their profits first. The boycott gives the global market leader a financial reason to think again.


Nestlé also endangers babies that are fed on formula by refusing to warn that powdered formula is not sterile and may contain harmful bacteria. It refuses to bring its instructions into line with World Health Organisation Guidelines for reducing risks.

Nestlé's 'protect' logos explained


Spoof marketing guru, Mr. Henry Nastie (really Baby Milk Action's Mike Brady) explains all about Nestlé's protect logos. Apart from the awful accent, everything is true.