“Hoping to convince 20 mommybloggers to say nice things about their products, Nestlé have inadvertently opened the floodgates for hundreds of bloggers and thousands of readers to learn more about the company’s less savoury practices”, says blogger Linda Lowen.

“Aware of its poor image in many parenting circles, Nestlé [....] went to the blogosphere to elicit a more positive buzz”, writes Lowen. “The company invited 20 top mommybloggers (and a couple of dads too) to go to California on an two-day all-expense-paid trip to meet with its U.S. CEO, a Nestlé chef and a fitness expert”.

Lowen dwells during the introduction of her blog post on the dangers of promoting infant formula in developing countries. “Mix it with unsafe drinking water in bottles that aren’t sterilized and babies can get sick and even die. These are very real problems in underdeveloped countries where contaminated water and little understanding of the need to sterilize often lead to diarrhea in infants, which in turn can cause death. It’s estimated that over a million babies die each year because they are bottle-fed instead of breastfed”.

Nestlé tries to create goodwill in the water sector by sponsorship the Stockholm World Water Week and a special focus on water in its Creating Shared Value programme. The new Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value is offering US$ 470,000 (€ 320,000) for an innovative water project.

Related news: Nestlé Prize: US$ 470,000 on offer to an innovative water project, WASH news Finance, 06 Aug 2009

Web sites:

• Nestlé Family Bloggers Twitter Homepage - follow-up discussions on Twitter are tagged #NestleFamily
• Nestlé: Creating Shared Value - Water - Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value

Source: Linda Lowen, Linda's Women's Issues Blog, 05 Oct 2009

Tags: information and communication, water-related diseases