Connor Brooke
After a long legal battle in Brazilian court, Swedish food corporation Nestlé has lost and will be forced to label their food products sold within Brazil as containing genetically modified ingredients.
As a major purchaser of Monsanto’s genetically modified crops, many, if not the majority of, Nestlé’s products contain ingredients from genetically modified food. The court ruling mandated that the food giant be required to label anything containing more than one percent genetically modified ingredients accordingly. This comes shortly after Poland banned GMO corn and Peru banned GMOs completely.
Talk of Nestlé’s loss has been all over Facebook and twitter, and has fed the fire of debate over the safety of GMO food. The U.S. government has been a huge advocate of GMOs and Monsanto, but concerned citizens of California have put Proposition 37 on the ballot for the November election.
Prop. 37 would require that genetically modified foods sold within the state of California be labeled accordingly to protect consumers and allow them to make informed choices about their food. Concern surrounding the safety of GMOs is at an all-time high, and Nestlé has failed to engage in the conversation via social media – even as their brand has been at the center of the debate, lately.
By choosing not to reveal their ingredients, Nestlé has come under heavy criticism via social media. What you can take from their situation is that transparency and honesty are hugely important to maintaining a positive brand image. Fighting to keep the source of their ingredients a secret and off of labels has proven extremely detrimental for Nestlé’s credibility.
Graph by Alerti
In running your business, is it vital to recognize the importance of transparency in business, engaging in the social media dialogue surrounding your brand, and the necessity of monitoring the mentions of your brand in social media using social media monitoring sites. Failure to do so can lead to drop-offs in sales, poor brand image, boycotts of your brand, and even legal action as seen in the Nestlé trial.
Highlights
Honsty and Transparency in Business
California’s Prop 37.
Nestlé’s GMO trial
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Connor Brooke.
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Nestlé is a SWISS company… not swede