Disgruntled Of Devon Writes... (Nestle in general)

Member Name: jillmurphy

Product:	Nestle in general
Date:	22/08/04 (1519 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nothing!

Disadvantages: Everything!

Dear Nestle,

I feel there are some things I need to get off my chest. I don't like you. In fact, I hate you. There, I've said it. And now I've said it, I think it's time I told you exactly why.

? I hate you because your children's cereals are so expensive. Currently, at Tesco, a 375g ? 12 serving ? pack of Honey Nut Cheerios costs £1.63. A pack of my usual cereal, Weetabix, also a 12 serving size, costs £1.24. A Weetabix serving is not only 20% bigger than a serving of your offering, it is fully 25% cheaper. Why is this?

? I hate you because your children's cereals have so much added sugar. The sugar content of Honey Nut Cheerios, for example, runs at over a third of the total; 35.2% to be precise. Only one twentieth of a Weetabix biscuit is sugar. Why are you trying to rot my teeth? Why are you trying to rot my children's teeth?

? I hate you because your cereals are too salty. A recommended serving of Honey Nut Cheerios will pump half a gram of salt into me. I'm only supposed to eat six grams of salt in an entire day. Honey Nut Cheerios are a sweet breakfast cereal, why do they also need to be a salty one? Why are you trying to up my blood pressure and put me at risk of a multitude of health problems, including strokes?

? I hate you because you pretend your cereals are healthy by going on and on about their added vitamins. What is the point of an over-processed food that then adds synthetic vitamins to replace what was lost? Why don't you just admit that supplements are only necessary for people who eat crap like the cereals you produce all day every day? I would rather get my vitamins BEFORE they've been manufactured OUT of my food, thank you. I'd
rather eat them as I am supposed to ? in foods in which they naturally occur. Please don't try to fool me that your products are healthy, because they are not.

? I hate your cereals because they have so many peculiar and horrible ingredients. I understand that a honey and nut flavoured breakfast cereal will contain cereal grain, honey and nuts. What I don't understand is the need to include a swathe of unpleasant sounding extras, to whit: Partially Inverted Brown Sugar Syrup, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Trisodium Phosphate, Flavouring, Antioxidant, Tocopherols. What are these items?

? I hate you insist on continuing to market your baby milk formula in the developing world in ways which contravene an internationally agreed code of conduct and which put babies' lives at risk. Why do you think it is ok to flout international codes and why do you have such a total disregard for human life? Don't the poor and the powerless count? Don't babies lives matter to you? They matter to me.

? I hate you too because of the way you treat coffee farmers across the world. Millions of people are out of work by your refusal to trade fairly or to concede any ground at all. Why do you think it ok to bully powerless people like this? Why do you destroy businesses? Why does your range not include a Fair Trade coffee so that your customers can make their own choice?

? I hate you because you misrepresent the unfair way you do business and the suffering you cause real people. I hate the way you employ marketing and advertising men to spin the truth. Why aren't you using the hundreds of thousands of pounds you spend creating these smokescreens to benefit the people you are mistreating and bullying?

? I hate you because it is so darned difficult to avoid buying your
products. You have your sticky fingers in just about every slice of the pie, don't you? It's maddening. And the rate at which you buy and sell brand names is just plain ridiculous. You're into coffee, chocolate, cereals. You're into petfood. You're into soft drinks. I don't want to buy anything you have anything to do with and I resent the fact that you're making it so difficult for me. Are you intent on world domination or something?

? I hate you because your promotions are designed to blackmail parents into buying a nutritionally poor, ridiculously sweet cereal for their children's breakfasts. What is this Box Tops For Education scam? Why does a begging note to purchase your unhealthy cereal appear on the school newsletter sent from our headmaster? I have already saved 39p by buying a HEALTHY cereal, Weetabix, for my children's breakfast and your token is worth only 10p. It's a scam, not a bloody donation! I'm sending my children in with the money, not a cut out from your box top.

? I hate you because your last freebie, The Pro Football PC CD-Rom, caused me to have a row with my son in the middle of the supermarket. I rarely argue with my son, and I resent the fact that your advertising campaign and your sneaky choice of freebie caused my son to be determined to buy a packet of your Honey Nut Cheerios. I made him buy it with his pocket money.

? I hate you because the fact that I made my son buy your Honey Nut Cheerios with his pocket money, caused me to have a row with my husband in the middle of the supermarket. He said that at times, I take ethics too far. Too far? Goshdarnit, as far as you are concerned, I don't take them far enough.

? I hate you because, having bought
Honey Nut Cheerios with his pocket money, my son discovered the Pro Football PC CD-Rom to be utter crap and to add insult to injury, he didn't like eating them because they are so sweet they "made his teeth ache".

Damn and blast, but I hate you, Nestle. You suck.

Unkind regards

Disgruntled of Devon

Capital letters courtesy of: http://www.chuckleweb.co.uk/fixit.php

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