Nestle Ethics
Becky Milne 27th December 2012
Law and Ethics Case Study – Nestle
Many lawful and ethical issues in Public Relations come from large corporations drive to maximise profits.
An example of this is Nestles unethical conduct regarding their infant milk in the early 70’s, causing a huge scandal. Along with other aggressive marketing techniques Nestle was appointing uniformed Nurses to distribute the baby formula and leaflets for free in hospitals and maternity wards in the developing world, such as in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Nestle gave new mothers this formula long enough for their own milk to dry up, therefore leading them becoming dependent on the formula, and at the time United States Agency for International Development official Dr Stephan Joseph blamed ‘reliance on baby formula for a million infant deaths every year though malnutrition and diarrheal diseases’, showing the possible effects of Nestles unethical advertising in the developing world. http://www.businessinsider.com/nestles-infant-formula-scandal-2012-6?op=1 Nestle gave poor health workers gifs to promote their products as well as sponsoring hospital products such as branding newborn wrist bands and nurses prescription pads to get the brand in the forefront of people’s minds and believe it has beneficial products due to healthcare support. Nestle undermined new mothers confidence in breast feeding by the promotion of its infant milk and abused the want for westernisation in the developing world.
There are many issues surrounding Nestles infant milk and its promotion. Formula is less healthy for a newborn baby and considerably more expensive than breast milk. In the developing world most could not afford this expense so gave their child weak milk to make the formula last, leading to children getting sever lack of nutrients and vitamins that they require for healthy growth. The formula also requires clean water which in many places in the developing world is not available, increasing
Law and Ethics Case Study – Nestle
Many lawful and ethical issues in Public Relations come from large corporations drive to maximise profits.
An example of this is Nestles unethical conduct regarding their infant milk in the early 70’s, causing a huge scandal. Along with other aggressive marketing techniques Nestle was appointing uniformed Nurses to distribute the baby formula and leaflets for free in hospitals and maternity wards in the developing world, such as in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Nestle gave new mothers this formula long enough for their own milk to dry up, therefore leading them becoming dependent on the formula, and at the time United States Agency for International Development official Dr Stephan Joseph blamed ‘reliance on baby formula for a million infant deaths every year though malnutrition and diarrheal diseases’, showing the possible effects of Nestles unethical advertising in the developing world. http://www.businessinsider.com/nestles-infant-formula-scandal-2012-6?op=1 Nestle gave poor health workers gifs to promote their products as well as sponsoring hospital products such as branding newborn wrist bands and nurses prescription pads to get the brand in the forefront of people’s minds and believe it has beneficial products due to healthcare support. Nestle undermined new mothers confidence in breast feeding by the promotion of its infant milk and abused the want for westernisation in the developing world.
There are many issues surrounding Nestles infant milk and its promotion. Formula is less healthy for a newborn baby and considerably more expensive than breast milk. In the developing world most could not afford this expense so gave their child weak milk to make the formula last, leading to children getting sever lack of nutrients and vitamins that they require for healthy growth. The formula also requires clean water which in many places in the developing world is not available, increasing
Bibliography: * http://www.ipra.org/secciones.php?sec=1&subsec=3 * http://www.prca.org.uk/assets/files/AboutUs/Files/PRCA_Codes_of_conduct_and_Professional_charter.pdf * Article, ‘Real world examples of bad business ethics’, 18th May 2011, N Nayab http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/115557.aspx * Business Insider, Article, ‘Every Parent should know the scandalous history of infant formula’, Jill Krasny, 25th June 2012 http://www.businessinsider.com/nestles-infant-formula-scandal-2012-6?op=1 * Baby Milk Action Briefing, January 2009 http://www.babymilkaction.org/pdfs/nestlebriefings0109.pdf * Baby Milk Action Article and Press Releases, 2012, ‘The Nestle Boycott’ http://info.babymilkaction.org/nestlefree * World Health Organisation, International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes 1981, http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/code_english.pdf