While I agree that we have a duty to avoid unethical brands whenever possible, there’s just no way to escape them all. I live in a poor country and I there’s a lot of “bad stuff” I have to buy just because it’s what I can affford at the moment.
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.
Fully agreed. While it is morally positive to avoid especially unethical companies, ultimately it’s not possible in all cases. As long as you try to be moral in your day to day actions and you on some level push for things to be better, you’re not morally culpable for the failings of the current system.
Avoiding every company that does something unethical is impossible. Imo, avoiding giving money directly to those unethical practices is what we should strive for.
Ie, Nestle is notorious for the way it acquires and sells bottled water, using legal loopholes to leave communities without drinkable water, and adding sodium to their water to keep you thirsty and drink more. So don’t buy their water. Assuming enough people do so, the company will, inevitably, stop selling water and focus on products that are selling. Does Nestle as a whole deserve to fuck off? I mean, sure, but, at the very least, we can pressure companies to only engage with the practices that we consider passable.
I avoid Nestle, because fuck their water shit, I don’t trust them to source cocoa reasonably either, and they are nowhere near having a monopoly on good chocolate, so they’re perhaps a bad example. But we can at least push companies around, because ultimately, the only thing they give a shot about is our money.
Sure for sure. And I’m tired of people treating it like it’s all or nothing, OR that it is stupid to boycott! I have my reasons why I refuse to purchase from this brand specifically and not others. We all only have so much energy (and money, mental resources etc) to be able to do so much. Let’s not shit on others for trying, or others who don’t want to. Maybe their energy is spent on other injustices and boycotts. Or just trying to survive. I dont like that they steal water from drought stricken communities here in America, and what they did in Africa. I have the mental resources and the luxury to boycott them so I do. You don’t so you don’t.
The only jerks are the ones who literally don’t care because it has nothing to do with them.
I avoid Nestlé as much as I can, I mostly… I just buy a coffee crisp once or twice a year. It’s one of my favorites and I have not found an alternative I like as much/better.
Nestle isn’t exactly making bank off me, that’s enough.
Yup and as far as I’m really concerned enough to speak up to anyone, it’s if they buy their bottled water. Since like, that’s supporting them stealing water from drought stricken fellow Americans. Most people will be willing to try a different bottled water brand. And I think that’s a really good bare minimum boycott that is accessible, easy, and could spread.
That’s when you have to ask yourself if you’re ready for war. I’ve been stalked by drug dealers that want me to keep my mouth shut. It’s all the same business minded bs mainstream or street. A heartless man is a heartless man no matter what.
There can be. Just not under Milton Friedman/Chicago School capitalism, or the neoliberal globalist shoggoth it spawned.
Whether aforementioned eldritch economics are an inevitable stage or not, the million dollar question (whatta bargain!) is whether that stage constitutes the current system’s death-throes. I’d love to know, myself!
Fuck Nestlé
Don’t get me wrong, fuck nestle, but this whole movement that’s grown singling them out is so superficial it really frustrates me.
All of the companies of nestle’s size are up to the exact same shit. They all exploit their employees, destroy the planet, and invest millions if not billions in union busting and lobbying.
I get that it’s easier just to focus on one company, but if you want one thing to focus on, make it capitalism, the system that enables, hell, encourages, this shit, rather than individual products of it.
Even if the movement somehow managed to destroy nestle (never going to happen), destroying one company achieves nothing. Tear the whole thing down.
The Nestle boycott wasn’t founded due to exploitation of employees, unions, etc. They’re shitty and do all that stuff (and far more). But the boycott was specifically founded (in the 1970s) due to their decision to relentlessly market baby formula to vulnerable mothers, particularly in less developed countries, often in times of famine or hardship. They knowingly caused health problems in infants (who of course then grew into adults with health problems), probably caused many infant deaths, and pushed families into poverty (with all the consequences of that), for profit. 50 years later we’re still dealing with the consequences of their immoral marketing (which has never really stopped, they just change the messaging in order to comply with relevant laws, which are too weak).
I’d boycott them just for that, but they’re also the corporation who in both U.S. and European hearings has argued that water isn’t a human right and pushed to privatise community resources, at a time when water scarcity is one of the main long-term threats to many countries, including the U.S. and many European countries.
Other companies do this stuff too, but generally speaking they’ve done it for less time and are less brazen about it.
While I understand your perspective, you failed to mention their actions which specifically targeted new mothers in developing countries with unethical actions that resulted in the slow deaths of infants.
This is why I boycott Nestlé. Not poor treatment of employees, nor a disregard for the environment.
Nestlé implemented a plan that caused babies to die a slow and painful death while their mothers could only watch helplessly.
Fuck Nestlé.
Since you’ve both missed the point entirely in favour of the same example (that is absolutely not unique to nestle), I’ll just copy paste my reply:
I am well aware of all of that information, and if you think others are less brazen, you’ve simply not been paying attention. Either way, you seem to have missed the point. Boycott them. But don’t think that’ll affect any change, because it won’t.
My goal was to say what some of their more egregious acts. I would hate for people to forget that Nestlé caused the slow painful death of infants because it was grouped in with general corporate behaviors.
I’m also aware of other atrocities performed by companies; the Banana Massacre by Chaquita (then United Fruit Company), Ford letting their customers burn to death instead of adding an $11 safety feature to the Ford Pinto, Apple using state sanctioned slave labor through Foxconn, etc etc. And when I get the chance, I share those acts of corporate malevolence.
I’m not excusing any of them. I’m just doing what I can to help prevent these acts from being forgotten.
For me, boycotting and / or protesting this behavior is not about changing the collective minds or behaviors of corporations. It’s about not accepting it and expressing personal outrage, even if it is commonplace.
Fun fact 1: That is Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli
Fun Fact 2: KitKat in Japan is made by Nestle, so he probably would be disappointed to find out that his KitKat is made by Nestle
Meh. He’s a creative type with a high work standard. He’s also pro socialism and sympathetic to workers.
Edit: citation https://walessince1945.wordpress.com/2020/11/11/hayao-miyazaki-the-miners-strike-and-wales/
@Teeetris @TrenchcoatFullofBats , like 80% of products in the Supermarket.
I was given my alias at 8yo so I was ignorant at the time drinking nesquik everyday.
Fuck nestle.
