Nestlé goes Fairtrade with iconic Kit Kat
Nestlé has announced that their four-finger Kit Kat bar will be certified by Fairtrade in yet another sign that the Fairtrade movement is becoming mainstream.
The company has so far committed to certifying the brand as Fairtrade in the United Kingdom and Ireland but, like Cadbury with their Dairy Milk brand, it may extend beyond British borders.
The CHF 110m initiative (A$118m) brings together Nestlé’s activity to promote sustainable cocoa supply under one banner, the company said in a statement.
“Nestlé sells more Kit Kats in the UK than anywhere else in the world and I am delighted that following the global launch of The Cocoa Plan, Kit Kat – our leading confectionery brand – will now be Fairtrade certified in the UK and Ireland,” David Rennie, managing director for Nestlé Confectionery, said. “UK consumers are increasingly interested in how we source and manufacture their favourite products and certifying our largest and most iconic brand is one of the ways in which we are committing to improving the lives of as many cocoa farming families as possible.”
Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, has welcomed the move by the York-based Kit Kat brand, noting that “Cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire struggle under the relentless pressures of poverty with shockingly high levels of illiteracy and poor access to healthcare. The significant volumes of cocoa that go into making Kit Kat will open whole new possibilities for these farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, giving them a more sustainable livelihood and the chance to plan for a better future.”
Nestlé has been working in Côte d’Ivoire – one of the poorest countries in the world – for over 50 years, the world’s largest manufacturer advised. The Fairtrade certification of Kit Kat will facilitate long-term direct commitments to cocoa co-operatives in Côte d’Ivoire, including additional payments for the farmers to invest in community or business development projects of their own choice, such as improving healthcare and schools.
The Cocoa Plan will also benefit Ivorian farmers, the company said, by offering agricultural and scientific know-how to improve the quality and yield of cocoa plants, offer farmer training and education, while improving the social conditions for farmers and their communities.
“The public will be cheering this groundbreaking move taking Fairtrade further into the mainstream. This is a huge step towards tipping the balance of trade in favour of disadvantaged cocoa producers,” Ms Lamb concluded.
The Fairtrade Foundation, established in 1992, is the independent non-profit organisation that ensures disadvantaged farmers and workers in developing countries get a better deal.
While this is a step in the right direction, it is more like small toe edging forward than anything signficant leap. Nestle’s history and practices around the world raise questions about its commitment to Fair Trade. Additionally, Nestlé has not announced any plans to use Fair Trade Certified cocoa in its products in the United States.
Nestlé is one of the most boycotted companies in the world. Trade unions have criticized the company for a range of labor rights abuses including in Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Tunisia. Nestlé has also been a target of campaigners concerned about its impact on access to water and baby food marketing, among many other issues.
All the more reason to be highly skeptical about this announcement by Nestle!
This headline is misleading – Nestlé is certifying one chocolate product involving 1% of its chocolate purchase. Just as in 2005 it certified one coffee product involving 0.02% of its coffee purchase. Both these products have been used to try to divert criticism of Nestlé’s trading practices and human rights abuses.
Nestlé has been taken to court in the US for failing to act on a 2001 agreement to end child slavery in its cocoa supply chain and in the past has boycotted a meeting by Senator Horkins (co-sponsor of the Horkins-Engel Protocol in the US) called to examine lack of progress. There are 11 million people dependent on cocoa farming in West Africa, many of them dependent on Nestlé. The KitKat products involved in this scheme will benefit only 6,000 farmers. There is a danger that the improved conditions for these will divert attention from the many others outside the scheme, and be used deliberately to this end by Nestlé.
Stop the Traffik, founded by Steve Chalke, the United Nations Special Advisor on Community Action Against Human Trafficking, said in response to the announcement that ‘two finger’ Kit Kats and all of Nestlé’s other chocolate products ““will continue to exploit the chocolate slaves of the Ivory Coast from where Nestlé source most of their cocoa”.” See:
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/10757
This is a similar situation to its Fairtrade coffee, which involves just 0.1% of the coffee farmers dependent on it, but is used to suggest it is making a huge difference, providing cover for continued unethical practices.
In addition, Nestlé is the most boycotted company in the UK and one of the four most boycotted companies on the planet according to GMIPoll because of the way it pushes its breastmilk substitutes. Even Nestlé’s Global Public Affairs Manager, Dr. Gayle Crozier Willi, admitted in 2007 that Nestlé is ‘widely boycotted’.
Fairtrade KitKat will be added to the boycott list. The boycot has forced some changes in Nestlé marketing practices and policies, but the company, the market leader, refuses to make all necessary changes and is still the worst of the baby food companies. At the present time it is being targeted for practices that include claiming its infant formula ‘protects’ babies – it does not, babies fed on it are more likely to become sick than breastfed babies and in conditions of poverty, they are more likely to die.
Its Fairtrade product should be seen in this context.