1977 Nestlé boycott

A boycott was launched in the United States on July 4, 1977, against the Swiss-based multinational food and drink processing corporation Nestlé. The boycott expanded into Europe in the early 1980s and was prompted by concerns about Nestlé's "aggressive marketing" of infant formulas (i.e., substitutes for breast milk), particularly in underdeveloped countries. The boycott has been cancelled and renewed because of the business practices of Nestlé and other substitute manufacturers monitored by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). Organizers of the boycott as well as public health researchers and experts consider breast milk to be the best nutrition source for infants. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends infants to be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives, nevertheless, sometimes nutritional gaps need to be filled if breastfeeding is unsuitable, not possible, or inadequate. The Nestlé boycott can be seen as special in a sense that it linked human rights regulations and humanitarian activism with corporate responsibility and market capitalism. Consumers were basically acting as global citizens by aiding people in need outside their close communities – mothers in developing countries –, “using the marketplace not as a way of generating revenue, but rather as a space for protest”. Groups such as the International Baby Food Action Network and Save the Children argue that the promotion of infant formula over breastfeeding has led to health problems and deaths among infants in less economically developed countries. There are three problems that can arise when poor mothers in developing countries switch to formula as well as one list of benefits of breast milk: Sanitation: Formula must be mixed with water, which is often impure or not potable in poor countries, leading to disease in vulnerable infants. Because of the low literacy rates in developing nations, many mothers are not aware of the sanitation methods needed in the preparation of bottles.