Maine says no to Nestlé

[DainBramaged]

ONCE AGAIN, Maine voters said "No to Nestlé!"

Activists in the communities that surround the Branch Brook Aquifer, located in the southern part of the state, handily defeated a water extraction ordinance on a referendum vote in the town of Wells.

The ordinance, written with the direction of the Nestlé lawyers, would have opened the door to large-scale bottled water extractors. The November vote was 3,194 against large-scale extraction and 1,420 in favor--a 69.2 percent margin. This was convincing testimony that a grassroots campaign cannot be replaced by slick marketing.

This was a David-and-Goliath battle. Activists were armed with photocopies to educate citizens about the dangers of corporate control of their groundwater resources, but Nestlé pent hundreds of thousands of advertising dollars to influence the vote in the small seaside community. However, its campaign backfired, as the townspeople were overwhelmed and annoyed by the barrage of ads, and the appearance that Nestlé was trying to buy their vote.

It wasn't enough that Nestlé was pouring money into the campaign like water to convince people that they are good environmental stewards. The company's PR firm resorted to employing many dirty tricks, such as printing the wrong polling hours on not just one advertising piece mailed to every household, but two.

Then, Nestlé's telemarketers lied to people about how to vote. Canvassers got testimony from several very unhappy people who were told to vote against their interests. The voters were furious when they realized they had been duped.

In spite of Nestlé's McCarthyist attempt to discredit opposition leaders some months ago and their most recent dirty tricks, the largest multinational food and beverage corporation in the world, which is well-connected in the statehouse, lost an important battle to a grassroots campaign fought by a handful of water warriors.

http://socialistworker.org/2009/11/09/maine-says-no-to-nestle

[John Q. Citizen]

1. That's good news!

[bbinacan]

2. The souce is socialist worker?

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

:rofl:

[DainBramaged]

6. What's so funny? MSM didn't cover this........

[Selatius]

13. I see no reason to shoot the messenger instead of addressing the substance of the article. nt

[DainBramaged]

15. That's typical here, so many people with a shotgun approach to DU

they don't give a rat's ass about the message, only that the source isn't as pure as they think it should be........besides, the story is important, unless of course, the poster is part of the Nestle conspiracy.......of disinformation.

[Doremus]

3. We have a Nestle branch here. I wonder if they're bottling water...?

I'll have to do a little checking.

[DainBramaged]

16. They try and pull that 'spring water' deal

I don't think there are many springs in Ohio...except maybe at the Borg Warner plant.......

[Bonobo]

4. They tried to get our water here in Western Mass earlier and we told them...

to take a flying fuck at the moon.

http://www.alternet.org/water/93901/nestle_targets_aquifers_and_springs_in_new_england_for_bottled_water/

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/09/09/nestles_montague_plan_all_wet/

[Veruca Salt]

18. I used to live in Western MA and the tap water where I lived

was delicious. I always said it could be bottled and sold; same with my SoPo water up here in ME.

I'm super glad nestle was stopped... now we just need some rigid irremovable laws against them stealing our water.

[graywarrior]

5. Fryeburg, ME has the best drinking water on the planet

They've been fighting to keep Nestle out for a long time. This is great news.

[XemaSab]

7. After the defeat of the bottling plant in McCloud

this is great news! :D

[Bonobo]

8. Kickin' their ass all over the place, ain't we!~ nt

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. ALL RIGHT!

I could not be happier to hear this!

Those people are the worst m-f's on the planet. They can rot in hell, for all I care.

K&R

:kick:

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. They should stick to making chocolate

[intaglio]

11. My partner will not buy Nestle

She calls them baby killers (Milk formulas sold to Africa)

[HopeHoops]

12. I've boycotted Nestle since at least 1987 because of their formula marketing tactics

Back then, Nestle sent people into hospitals in third world countries dressed like medical professionals to convince mothers that their formula was superior to breast milk. After using the generous supply of free samples, the women had run dry and could not go back to nursing. Since the formula is expensive, they would dilute it to make it stretch and often with water that was of questionable condition.

Nestle claimed to have stopped the practice, but over the years I've seen numerous reports to the contrary. They still push the free samples and still have representatives in hospitals spreading the false notion that formula is better than breast milk.

I will not buy any product that is made by Nestle or a subsidiary like Contadina and Libby's. Their actions in Maine fit the company attitude perfectly - anything to make a buck.

[Bonobo]

17. OMG! That is horrible. nt

[ddeclue]

14. Watch out FLORIDA!

Of course we bend over backwards to offer companies like this tax breaks and environmental exemptions here in Florida so they can make a killing sucking our over burdened aquifer dry down here in the sunshine state.

:eyes:

[niyad]

19. we were boycotting them for years because of their practices--including the selling of infant

formula-- glad I have continued to do so. they are still scum