Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
By Barbara Brackett
The Name of the article in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution was,” Nestle: a sweet resolution of a
bitter problem” on April 29, 1984 by Maria Saporta.
Nestle is a Swiss-based company. There was a boycott of the company that lasted nearly a decade
because of the way it marketed infant formula products to developing nations. The infant formula issue
started in 1974 when the organization, Third World Working Group published a paper titled, “Nestle Kills
Babies.” When Nestle responded to the article, it made the population in the United States aware of the
article.
The issue was poverty in the Third World, plus the malnutrition adults and children and how to feed
them. The activities focused on one issue – bottle-feeding verses breastfeeding. They thought by solving
that problem, the problem was solved, but there were more problems, than that to solve. Douglas
Johnson, chairman of the Infant Formula Action Coalition (INFACT) started the boycott in 1977, said
“The lesson of the boycott for other companies is if you can’t do at home, don’t do it abroad.”
Nestle started getting involved with infant formula in the early days of the company. Henri Nestle
developed infant formula in the late 1800s to save the life of an infant who could not be breast-fed. The
product was first marketed in the early 1900s.
INFACT brought the boycott to Minnesota in 1977 and began a campaign to get churches, schools, social
organizations and individuals to join the cause. It was real bad for Nestle till in 1980 the United
Methodist decided to study the company’s practices before joining the boycott. It set up an infant
formula task force.
Several decisions and events began to steer the controversy towards its resolution. Finally on January