Sunday
Jun062010
I will not give Nestlé my money, but I also won't let Nestlé control my life
Sunday, June 6, 2010
In my post outlining my dismay at the Nestlé sponsorship of BlogHer and in other places on the Internet, some people who boycott Nestlé due to its unethical business practices, some people who support Nestlé, and some objective observers have commented that it is inappropriate for me to attend BlogHer. They say that because I advocate for a boycott of Nestle products and because I suggested bloggers should reconsider attending a Nestlé corporate event that positioned them as Nestlé Family bloggers, that it is inconsistent, ineffective, disappointing, hypocritical or insulting for me to attend BlogHer (did I miss any adjectives?).
They are welcome to that opinion, but it will not change my mind and it will not keep me from standing tall at BlogHer.
It pains me that BlogHer has accepted Nestlé as one of its 80 sponsors, but I don't control that directly. I can control where I spend my money (so I don't buy Nestlé products). I can control which companies I allow to run advertising on my website (so I don't accept ads from Nestlé or other companies that are inconsistent with my values). However, I cannot reasonably avoid everything that has benefited from Nestlé dollars in any way, without allowing Nestlé to control my life. I will not allow Nestlé to control my life.
So many things in life are sponsored by Nestlé:
I wouldn't ever attend an event organized specifically by Nestle for the purposes of promoting or improving Nestle's brands. Although it doesn't apply to me, I understand why medical professionals cannot and should not attend educational events where Nestle can pay to spread its brand of (non-) nutritional education to the attendees. Education does need to be separated from marketing.
I can respect those people who have chosen to stay home from BlogHer or another conference because of Nestlé sponsorship. However, I cannot make that commitment. I refuse to allow Nestlé waving its astronomical profits around in the form of advertising and sponsorship to dictate where I can and cannot go, what I can and cannot read, or what I can or cannot watch. As the world's largest processed food company and the 10th biggest advertiser in the world, the company is omnipresent.
So, while I really think the Nestlé sponsorship of BlogHer is a bad thing, I'm still going. I'm going to tell people about Nestlé's unethical business practices. I'm going to promote advocacy and activism. I'm going to support a huge community of female bloggers that has the potential to change so much. I'm going because I know that unlike Nestlé, BlogHer does listen and I'm sure that we can find a way to resolve this for future years. And yes, I'm going because I want to go. In terms of the few dollars Nestlé is contributing to my ticket, I'm annoyed but not all that concerned. They are making a financial contribution towards me stepping up my activism on a variety of causes, including the anti-Nestle campaign.
I'll say it one more time: I will not give Nestlé my money, but I also won't let Nestlé control my life.
They are welcome to that opinion, but it will not change my mind and it will not keep me from standing tall at BlogHer.
It pains me that BlogHer has accepted Nestlé as one of its 80 sponsors, but I don't control that directly. I can control where I spend my money (so I don't buy Nestlé products). I can control which companies I allow to run advertising on my website (so I don't accept ads from Nestlé or other companies that are inconsistent with my values). However, I cannot reasonably avoid everything that has benefited from Nestlé dollars in any way, without allowing Nestlé to control my life. I will not allow Nestlé to control my life.
So many things in life are sponsored by Nestlé:
- Magazines, newspapers, blogs and other websites have Nestlé advertising on them.
- Television shows and movies often have Nestlé advertising or Nestlé product placement.
- Sporting events and venues, such as the Tour de France and Wembley Stadium, are sponsored by Nestlé.
- Recreational facilities, such as zoos, botanical gardens, playgrounds, and more are sponsored by Nestlé.
- Public and private transportation providers often defray ticket prices with advertising from companies like Nestlé.
- Hotel rooms often have in-room complementary bottled water from Nestlé. I opt for the tap water, but that doesn't change the fact that the room price was partly subsidized by Nestlé 's paid product placement.
- Google runs Nestlé ads and so does MSN. Anyone who uses their free search engine, e-mail or other services that is being partially subsidized by Nestlé.
- And yes...conferences are sponsored by Nestlé.
I wouldn't ever attend an event organized specifically by Nestle for the purposes of promoting or improving Nestle's brands. Although it doesn't apply to me, I understand why medical professionals cannot and should not attend educational events where Nestle can pay to spread its brand of (non-) nutritional education to the attendees. Education does need to be separated from marketing.
I can respect those people who have chosen to stay home from BlogHer or another conference because of Nestlé sponsorship. However, I cannot make that commitment. I refuse to allow Nestlé waving its astronomical profits around in the form of advertising and sponsorship to dictate where I can and cannot go, what I can and cannot read, or what I can or cannot watch. As the world's largest processed food company and the 10th biggest advertiser in the world, the company is omnipresent.
So, while I really think the Nestlé sponsorship of BlogHer is a bad thing, I'm still going. I'm going to tell people about Nestlé's unethical business practices. I'm going to promote advocacy and activism. I'm going to support a huge community of female bloggers that has the potential to change so much. I'm going because I know that unlike Nestlé, BlogHer does listen and I'm sure that we can find a way to resolve this for future years. And yes, I'm going because I want to go. In terms of the few dollars Nestlé is contributing to my ticket, I'm annoyed but not all that concerned. They are making a financial contribution towards me stepping up my activism on a variety of causes, including the anti-Nestle campaign.
I'll say it one more time: I will not give Nestlé my money, but I also won't let Nestlé control my life.
/2009/09/29/an-open-letter-to-the-attendees-of-the-nestle-family-blogger-event/
Reader Comments (57)
Danielle:
I think that was true even before this happened. It is a great topic and an amazing group of women.
Cathy:
Yes it bothers me.
I no longer have BlogHer ads on my blog (a decision I made for more reasons than just this issue, but it certainly helped seal my decision) and I'm not sure if I will attend BlogHer in future years if a solution to this problem is not found. That said, there is so much that I love about BlogHer and I made a commitment to attend and to speak based on all that I love about BlogHer. Just as I wouldn't divorce my husband immediately for making a mistake, I am also not willing to sever all ties to BlogHer over a mistake. I plan to talk it out with them and give them the opportunity to come up with other ways of doing things for future years.
My mistake....I should have looked closer before including your use of the BlogHer ad network in my comment. I completely understand where you are coming from. Since the beginning, I have considered the bigger issue to be with BlogHer on this, rather than Nestle. I mean, we all know how awful Nestle is, that's a fact. I do hope that BlogHer addresses this and makes sure it doesn't happen again in the future.
I also believe that the opportunity to attend BlogHer is a huge one for the learning that I hope to accomplish. This is my first year and first conference for that matter. I look forward to the many positives it will bring to my life!
I've really only just started to learn about why there is this big fuss over Nestle- I had never known (until I read this blog) that there was an active boycotting of Nestle going on. And I have to admit that I had to agree with many of Her Bad Mother's points on the whole concept of boycotting and what it means to truly boycott. It does make sense that Nestle would be troubled if an influential person did not attend an event they sponsored, possibly influencing others to not attend as opposed to the attention that would be brought with an influential person attending the sponsored event and, in doing so, creating even more controversy involving the brand.
That being said, I think you have a valid point as to how extreme this could get and where a person needs to draw a line on how much they let an enormous company with lots of money dictate where they go and what they do. And it seems like a monumental task considering the long list of Nestle products and sponsored events.
And considering that, at this point in time, I don't have dislike for Nestle, nor have I participated in any boycott-ever, I can't really say to what extreme I'd want to go. (And I might have just talked myself in a circle...)
This a good post on how to think through boycotts in general. My husband and I have decided to join a different boycott this week and I've been doing all this research and trying to decide where I stand on how direct the connection needs to be for me to add a brand to my list. Thanks for this thoughtful framework, I think it has relevance beyond just Nestle.
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