While I was standing outside the gates, along with other
individuals questioning Nestlé, here's what happened inside the
gates, and right in front of Nestlé's building…
First,14 activists dressed as Nestlé's own products
(representative of the number of products the company manufactures)
ambled into the gates of the company's Indian headquarters. They
positioned themselves right in front of the office, questioning
"Nestlé, GM-free, Forever? The security re-arranged itself forming
a blockade, making it impossible for anyone to go in and have a
conversation.
The activists also rolled out a scroll with comments from over
28,000 consumers, asking Nestlé to declare itself GM free forever.
Just because their products are free of GM today, does not mean
they will remain GM-free forever!
Consumers also said if Nestlé is not selling GM in other places
like the EU, Brazil and Russia, how dare they think of selling
these kind of foods here. Are we lab rats or less human? There is
no two-ways about it. We are talking about food, and it cannot and
should not be negotiated.
It was hot and windy, and difficult to control the comment
scroll, which was flying all over the place. And guess what, it
flew right to the feet of Mr. Antonio Waszyk who recently took over
as the Managing Director and Chairman of the company. He picked it
up, had a look at it, smiled and let it go…
Wait a minute, isn't this the same company who clearly stated
that their decision to use or not use GM is based on consumer
preference? So, what the urge/request/demand made by 28,000
consumers does not count?
I am getting more and more convinced that this is nothing short
of apathy on part of this irresponsible company.
It came as no surprise that they offered us water and coffee and
all the rest, but thank you very much that's not what we were here
for. We were here to give them a taste of consumer preference (over
28,000 consumers in India do NOT want GM food), and ask them to
promise a GM-free future.
Still no response. In fact, their employees were asked not to
step out or in any way interact with those of us standing
outside.
On the outside, volunteers and consumers got together and
quickly made hay nests (representative of Nestlé's logo). They were
seated peacefully on the ground, with the same message. But the
guys who unfurled large yellow banners with the message irked the
guards, they got pissed off and tried hard to snatch them back and
shoo us away. But we stayed on, with the banner and the
message.
Coming back inside, I heard Sanjay Khajuria, Vice President,
Corporate Affairs, Nestlé India came down, looked around, and went
back upstairs. Then, he called and spoke to Jai. He refused to come
down and talk. He refused for a meeting. It was futile… like
banging your head against the wall.
Their silence, however speaks volumes.
After two hours, we left, and hopefully not in vain. As of now,
40,000 consumers have written in to Nestlé, now it's your turn.
P.S. While this was happening in India, Nestlé is under fire
globally after it's PR exercise horribly backfired starting with
their invitation to influential 'mom and dad bloggers' who they had
invited to their office with the intent of meeting their CEO and
earn some brownie points through positive write-ups in the realm of
social media.
The event took place between October 30 to September 1 at
Pasadena, and the company even sent out free steaks to the mommy
bloggers' homes, aimed at the men of the house. Nestlé setup a
Twitter hashtag, '#nestlefamily' in order to aggregate all their
tweets emanating from this farce goodwill.
And guess what, they were over-ruled by a set of innumerable
consumers who were hopping mad, and positively off with Nestlé and
it's bought over bloggers! Nestlé, listen to this loud and clear,
we are not sold out, we are consumers with a right and a
choice!
Keep my food GM-free
Write to Nestlé & tell them you don't want GM contaminated products asking for a GM-free future.
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