Power and Consumption: Corporate Countermovement and the Threat of Asymmetry

Abstract

In the fall of 2005, Nestlé in the United Kingdom announced with great fanfare, the launch of a new brand of soluble coffee, Partners Blend. In its press release, carried by major media outlets around the world, the company boasted, ‘This represents a fundamental, serious commitment to help some of the poorest farmers in the world’ (BBC News 2005). This declaration of corporate responsibility, and the accompanying statement of approval from the Fairtrade Foundation, was very valuable for Nestlé, one of the most boycotted companies in the world. For years, Nestlé’s corporate behavior has made it easy for activists to portray it as a rapacious exploiter of both workers and consumers in the Third World. Most famously, it marketed instant milk as a superior substitute to breast feeding in the developing world, a move that justifiably angeredmany who argued, correctly, that it was less nutritious than breast milk and obviously more expensive. Worse, Nestlé was aware of the instant milk’s nutritional inferiority yet continued with the strategy (Sikkink 1986). Nestlé’s unethical corporate image did not sit well for a company trying to market family-friendly foods. This negative image was reinforced by the growing awareness among consumers of the poverty and environmental damage that was part and parcel of the conventional coffee industry.

Nestlé’s long term commitment is to develop sustainable agricultural practices in order to help alleviate hardship and poverty among small coffee farmers.

Alastair Sykes, CEO of Nestlé UK and Ireland at the release of Nestlé’s Fair Trade Certified Partners Blend in the UK, 2005

This is a turning point for us and for the coffee growers. This just shows what we, the public, can achieve. Here is a major multinational listening to people and giving them what they want.

Harriet Lamb, director of the Fairtrade Foundation at the release of Nestlé’s Fair Trade Certified Partners Blend in the UK, 2005