Baby Milk Action is part of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), consisting of over 270 groups in more than 160 countries. IBFAN groups monitor company activities on the ground. Globally, IBFAN’s International Code Documentation Centre produces summary reports…
Guardian Readers’ Editor says Danone-sponsored content “a mistake”
Update 23 July 2015: Guardian.com Editor accepts conclusion Danone sponsorship was a mistake and thanks Baby Milk Action for prompting more rigorous scrutiny of potential sponsors (see below). The Guardian, 18 May 2015: The readers’ editor on … sponsorship of roundtables (full text –…
New Parliament – lots to do
The UK elected a new Parliament on 7 May. The Government has been formed by the Conservative Party, which won 331 seats out of 650. There are several key developments in the pipeline for the new Parliament and we need…
Getting answers from politicians
Voters in the UK go to the polls on 7 May to elect a new Parliament and so a new government. Where do the parties stand on infant feeding issues? We put two questions to all political parties represented in…
Nestle recruiting staff to break the Code in the UK
Nestlé entered the UK with the takeover of the SMA brand in 2012. The aggressive methods it uses around the world as it competes with Danone (owner of Aptamil, Cow & Gate and Nutricia) have now reached these shores. Nestlé…
Nestle involvement in Toronto CivicAction better city boot camp slammed
Today (28 April 2015) a Nestlé executive is due to be guest speaker at an event in Toronto, Canada, called “Better City Boot Camp” on the topic of nutrition in the first 1000 days from conception run by an organisation called…
The Guardian responds to Baby Milk Action over Danone-sponsored content
Update 18 May 2015: Guardian Readers’ Editor says Danone-sponsored content “a mistake” – Update 23 July 2015: Guardian.com Editor accepts this conclusion and thanks Baby Milk Action for prompting more rigorous scrutiny of sponsors. Baby Milk Action received a response from…
Media studies: Danone-sponsored content in The Guardian
Update 18 May 2015: Guardian Readers’ Editor says Danone-sponsored content “a mistake” What happens when a newspaper runs content sponsored by corporations? The following is a case study looking at the new business model being pursued by The Guardian newspaper in…
How the Nestle board excuses breaking baby milk marketing rules
Members of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) attended the Nestlé shareholder meeting on 16 April 2015 to raise concerns about the company’s ongoing aggressive marketing of baby milks. See press release: Nestle Chairman and board exposed by IBFAN at…
Mike Brady question to Peter Brabeck at Nestlé AGM 16 April 2015
Baby Milk Action’s Campaigns Coordinator asks Nestlé Chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathé, to drop the public relations approach and address people’s concerns before he retires. He has attempted to rebrand the company as a Nutrition, Health and Wellness company, but many people see…
What matters to Nestle? A view from inside the corporation on food safety.
Nestlé has published its materiality matrix in a post Measuring what matters: mapping the challenges we face. It explains that the matrix (included below), ‘plots the economic, social and environmental issues of most concern to stakeholders against the impacts they may…
Danone and The Guardian – a strategy for marketing unnecessary products and diverting attention from human rights abuses
Update 18 May 2015: Guardian Readers’ Editor says Danone-sponsored content “a mistake” The Guardian newspaper is planning to report in a future edition about improving the diet of pregnant women, infants and toddlers and policy in these areas. This is something Baby Milk…
What happened to your reports of Tesco breaking the law in the UK?
Why doesn’t Trading Standards prosecute stores for repeat offences? When Tesco broke the criminal law with a promotion for Nestlé’s SMA infant formula, we reported it to Trading Standards via the system operated by Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). We advised members of…
This is the year of Tigers, human rights and a chance to improve formula marketing rules
This is going to be a busy year for Baby Milk Action. Can you make a donation to support the following areas of work? Help the film Tigers roar Put human rights above business interests Protect children, mothers and their…
Bulk exports of formula to China and the EU Export Directive
On Tuesday 17 February, Baby Milk Action attended a meeting with the European Commission to discuss new regulations being introduced. The proposals are very disappointing, as my colleague Patti Rundall explains on her blog. One of our concerns is the…
Why do supermarkets ration formula?
I received the following message via the Baby Feeding Law Group monitoring project that we coordinate: Morning, apparently I’m a criminal for trying to purchase 3 boxes of formula in Tesco today. Only 2 can be purchased at a time due…
Tesco promises shake up following campaign on illegal formula promotion in its stores
Update 15 April 2015: Despite promising to obey the prohibition on point-of-sale promotion, Tesco has now added ‘still cheaper’ shelf talkers alongside the Nestlé SMA infant formula. Update 25 February 2015: No legal action likely over breaches of criminal law. Tesco’s primary Trading Standards…
Tesco promoting Nestle SMA infant formula in breach of law – stop ALL promotion and formula could be cheaper PERMANENTLY for parents who use it
Thank you to everyone who is reporting Tesco for a price promotion on Nestlé (SMA) formula. Please keep us updated on what you find in store. Tesco has once again been found promoting infant formula in breach of the Infant Formula and…
Wanted – are formula companies targeting your local children’s centre or nursery?
Have you seen posters or been given leaflets promoting follow-on formula or growing-up and toddler milks? We have evidence of companies paying nurseries to display these – are they targeting children’s centres too? If you work at a children’s centre, have you been…
Nestle bottled water promotion at EXPO 2015 criticised by campaign groups
Campaign groups are concerned about a proposal for Nestlé water towers at EXPO 2015. For letters of protest see the Nestlé Critics website: Baby Milk Action to Ambassador Bideau GIFA to Matthias Aebischer GIFA to Ambassador Bideau Corporate Accountability to…
Nestle investigated for ignoring ASA ruling
Update 15 December 2014: Nestle’s forced to remove misleading SMA claims following Baby Milk Action complaint In October we won a case at the UK Advertising Standards Authority over a misleading promotion for Nestlé SMA Toddler Milk advertising. This had been…
Nestle-Free Week news: campaign victories, legal action and whistle blowing
We are half way through Nestlé-Free Week. Boycott supporters have been sharing information about how Nestlé pushes baby milk and encouraging family and friends to dump Nestlé products, at least for a week. Hundreds of thousand of people have seen posts on Facebook,…
Nestle CSV Global Forum with UNCTAD – the attempted corporate takeover of policy making
Nestlé Creating Shared Value Global Forum took place on 9 October. We posted key facts to the #CSVForum twitter feed as others tweeted about pronouncements from Nestlé’s Chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathé, and CEO, Paul Bulcke, apparently taken in by two executives who are trying…
Nestle – part of the solution or part of the problem?
Nestlé CEO, Mr Paul Bulcke, has posted an opinion piece in Huffington Post – Business: Part of the Problem? No, Part of the Solution. Comments are invited, but the one I posted has not appeared to the public. So it is…
Nestle bra cam? Why?
Several people contacted me on Tuesday about Nestlé’s public relations stunt designed to show that people stare at women’s breasts. The Daily Mail newspaper reported: ‘How many times a day are YOUR breasts stared at? Hidden ‘bra cam’ demonstrates just…
WHO EU Regional Meeting: Conflicts of interest on the agenda
Important information on conflicts of Interest for upcoming WHO Regional Meetings: Copenhagen:15th- 18th September, I have posted these tweets: Why is the EU so keen on voluntary CSR and ‘multi-stakeholder’ approaches – when there is no evidence they work? WHO…
Tigers first review – the ‘inspiring story of personal courage’ of a Nestle salesman who blew the whistle
The media screening of the hotly anticipated feature film Tigers, the baby milk drama by Oscar-winning director Danis Tanovic, took place today. The first review has just been published in Hollywood Reporter, which says: “Writer-director Danis Tanovich explores the power of…
New benefit to members and subscribers – exclusive content
Baby Milk Action is pleased to announce that members and subscribers will now be able to access exclusive content on our website.
Nestle cancels health worker event in UK – but targets parents with baby show in Ireland
Media coverage: Irish Examiner 28 August 2014. Update 31 August: People concerned about Nestlé promoting its SMA formula brand through the pregnancy and baby show in Dublin produced leaflets with the support of Baby Milk Action to offer to those…
Tigers – a film with a pedigree
The feature film Tigers, about a formula company salesman, is being screened in selected UK cinemas and on the ZEE5 streaming channel. This is not just a film that will bring the baby milk issue to a mass audience, Tigers is a…
Say NO to formula company sponsorship
Nestlé entered the mainstream UK formula market in December 2012 when it completed its takeover of the SMA brand. We are now seeing the aggressive marketing practices it uses around the world in the UK, driving down standards for the…
Methodist Church Conference to discuss Nestlé investment and need for transparency
UPDATE: The response to the Memorial described below was not discussed, but was adopted with the undertaking: The Conference accepts the suggestion of the Lancashire District Synod that a further report be brought by JACEI to the 2015 Conference that includes…
Nestle targeting health workers in the UK
Baby Milk Action organised a protest on Tuesday (24 June 2014) outside an event where Nestlé was promoting its SMA formula brand to health workers. Nestlé’s event was ostensibly about ‘food hypersensitivity management in infants and pre-school children’, but is part of…
The Nestlé boycott: it all begins with a Nescafe
The Nestlé boycott puts pressure on the world’s largest baby food company to market its products in line with international minimum standards. The boycott focuses on Nestlé’s main brand: Nescafé coffee. Nestlé has today announced a global promotion for Nescafé, giving boycott…
International action is needed to stand up to corporations
I have just joined the call for a binding international treaty to address corporate human rights abuses! You can do so to here. The United Nations Human Rights Council is meeting at the moment (10 – 27 June) and an international civil…
BTR 2014 report launch: prepare to be outraged – then take action
A video with edited highlights of the press conference launching the global monitoring report Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules (BTR) 2014 will be available in due course. This will include the presentation by Annelies Allain, Director of the IBFAN…
Baby Milk Action’s new website is here
We hope you like our new website! Older documents, press releases and blog spots from our previous website are still being copied over. The new site was developed after Baby Milk Action’s members and supporters told us how they would like to…
How Nestle’s Chairman misled shareholders about its infant nutrition business at the 2014 AGM
I attended the Nestlé shareholder meeting on 10 April 2014 with a colleague from the Geneva Infant Feeding Association (GIFA), a partner in the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). We both raised concerns about Nestlé’s marketing of breastmilk substitutes…
Spotlight on ASDA promoting Danone Cow & Gate formula – send us your photos and reports
Danone promotion of its Cow & Gate brand of baby milk in ASDA has been brought to Baby Milk Action’s attention. We are communicating with ASDA about the promotion and the misleading claims being used in it. Curiously, ASDA told…
Android KitKat draws attention to Nestlé malpractice
The tie-up between Google and Nestlé through the new Android KitKat smartphone operating system is prompting a reaction in the media and amongst campaigners. This reminder of Nestlé malpractice comes in the lead up to International Nestlé-Free Week, taking place…
Danone steps up promotion in the UK in violation of national and international regulations
Baby Milk Action has been contacted repeatedly about two events being sponsored by Danone in the UK in coming days: Tommy’s baby race on 30 June, promoting the Cow & Gate formula brand, and a Royal College of Midwives training…
Breastfeeding rates falling in England
The Guardian is reporting that breastfeeding rates are falling in the UK. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/22/breastfeeding-figures-fall-nhs-cuts I have posted the following comment (which can be used by the media as a quote): Part of the problem is also the massive sums baby…
Danone v. Nestle and conflicts of interest in the UK and Ireland
Following Nestlé’s entry into the UK and Irish formula markets in December 2012, when it finalised its takeover of Pfizer Nutrition/Wyeth and the SMA brand, we are starting to see more aggressive baby milk marketing practices, both from Nestlé and…
Nestle Chairman wants to sell the world’s water
Please sign this petition addressed to the European Union, calling it to accept that access to water is a human right. See: http://www.right2water.eu/ Nestlé Chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathé, has rejected this view in an interview. Under his principles, water is a…
UNICEF Lao report shows companies violating the marketing requirements
A new monitoring report commissioned by UNICEF Lao has just become available and looks at marketing from November 2011 to January 2012. The monitoring found sales representatives, principally from Nestlé and Danone, targeting health workers, shop keepers and parents. The…
Stop Pfizer/Wyeth and Danone stealing the good names of health workers in Ireland
Media coverage: Irish Times 16 November 2012, The Sunday Business Post 16 November. Baby Milk Action has been asked to support a campaign in Ireland against baby food companies sponsoring awards to health workers. The event’s main sponsor is Pfizer/Wyeth,…
Subverted Wyeth SMA advertising raises questions over pricing
Wyeth is embarking on yet another national advertising campaign for its SMA formula. This must be costing millions of pounds – a bill ultimately paid by those who buy formula. The subvert below made me think about how much mark…
Wyeth’s SMA Baby Know-How roadshows break marketing rules
Wyeth manufactures the SMA range of formulas. It was planning a series of SMA Baby Know-How events in the UK, to start on 14 June 2012. These break marketing rules. Update 22 June 2012: None of the events went ahead…
Baby Milk Action’s intervention at the Nestle shareholder meeting 19 April 2012
Mr. Chairman, Directors, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Mike Brady from the campaigning group Baby Milk Action and GIFA. I would like to speak about the marketing of breastmilk substitutes and other baby foods. As part of the International Baby…
Nestlé weakens its breastmilk substitutes marketing policy
Nestlé has quietly weakened its Policy and Instructions for Implementation of the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes. The table in Update 44, April 2012. shows the change and the various ways in which Nestlé’s policy and instructions fail to respect the…