THE JUNK FOOD PUSHERS - Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America - page 32

east. The permit was given to the company during a period of drought and against the recommendation of
the local water district management staff. 25
In recent years the company has focused advertising dollars on its Pure Life brand, which is essentially
bottled tap water. Between 2004 and 2009, spending on Pure Life advertising increased by more than 3,000
percent; the company's nearly $9.7 million expenditure on Pure Life ads in 2009 was more than any other
bottled water company spent on a leading domestic brand, and more than Nestlé's next five spring-water
brands combined.
One of the main targets for this advertising is immigrants coming from countries where tap water is un-
safe to drink. This population often has low incomes, and in most households the money spent on bottled
water could be better used to support other needs. When asked whether Nestlé does market specifically to
minority communities, Jane Lazgin, director of corporate communications for Nestlé Waters North Amer-
ica, said, “That's correct. Nestlé Pure Life is a meaningful brand in the Hispanic population.” Lazgin also
acknowledged that Nestlé Pure Life water “comes from wells or municipal systems.” 26
Pure Life is one of Nestlé's “popularly positioned products” (PPP). A company document prepared by
the company's research arm for investors explains that PPP's will be “one of the main growth drivers for
Nestlé in the years to come.” It goes on: “PPPs target less affluent consumers in emerging markets (UN/
World Bank definition—those with an annual purchasing power parity between US$3,000 and 22,000 per-
capita) as well as low food spenders in developed economies. Together, they represent some 50% of the
world's population. Hence, PPPs target the biggest and fastest growing consumer base in emerging mar-
kets as well as important sub-groups in developed markets.” 27
Another product developed by Nestlé for the PPP market is infant formula. According to the company,
“The PPP infant formula is now selling well in the first wave markets: in the Philippines; in Indonesia
as LACTOGEN Klasik; in Indochina as LACTOGEN Complete; and in Mexico under the NIDAL brand.
Rollout to other markets is planned.” 28
The company was the target of a well-publicized boycott in the late 1970s for violating the World Health
Organization guidelines on the advertising of infant formula. As a result of its recent marketing efforts,
Nestlé is experiencing a new surge of criticism for its advertising of infant formula in developing coun-
tries, where it is often prepared in unhygienic conditions with unsafe water and misunderstood directions.
The WHO recommends breast-feeding exclusively for children up to six months of age and supplemental
breastfeeding until age two.
Laurence Gray, World Vision's Asia Pacific advocacy director, says of Nestlé's tactics, “Some of the
marketing strategy presents formula as better than breast-feeding. It doesn't take into account the circum-
stances needed to prepare the formula.” 29
Several Laos-based international NGOs, including Save the Children, Oxfam, CARE International, Plan
International, and World Vision, announced plans to boycott Nestlé's 2012 competition for a prize of al-
most half a million U.S. dollars for outstanding innovation in water, nutrition, or rural development pro-
jects. They charged that the company visits hospitals and gives doctors and nurses who promote the for-
mula gifts and trips. 30
Ironically, at the same time Nestlé is targeting the undernourished in developing countries, it is aiming
for overfed consumers worldwide. The major marketer of high-calorie candy, ice cream, and chocolate
drinks has entered the arena of weight management by purchasing the Jenny Craig line of low-cal foods,
which were made famous through TV ads featuring a slimmed-down Kirstie Alley—until she regained
the weight and they booted her. Nestlé, which has entered the fitness and beauty market, also owns Lean
Cuisine and holds 26.4 percent of L'Oréal, the world's largest cosmetics company.
Nestlé's board chariman, Austrian Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, spent his early career, between 1970 and
1980, working with Nestlé in Latin America, including in Chile, where his portfolio included stopping the