4 ms·

I'm not a Nestle fan, but I'm not sure they're evil and they're nowhere close to the most evil company. One well-documented prime example would be Krupp: https:

• margalabargala 3y ago
  They're up there for most evil currently-extant Western company. Certainly near the top for most evil company that a median HN user might directly interact with the products of (unlike, say, arms manufacturers). I would argue they are much more evil than any oil company.
  • tstrimple 3y ago
    > Certainly near the top for most evil company that a median HN user might directly buy the product of. And a lot of folks don't really know just how many bands Nestle owns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestl%C3%A9_brands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestl%C3%A9_brands They have over 50 brands of water alone. Avoiding their products requires home work and diligence.
    • timeon 3y ago
      Seems like it is mostly junk-food. Not hard to avoid.
      • tstrimple 3y ago
        Ah yes. The well known categories of junk food being bottled water and coffee. Maybe you're one of the weirdos who categorize pizza as "junk food", but no reasonable person would expect that California Pizza Kitchen, DiGiorno, Delissio , Jacks and Tombstone (which are all sold next to each other on the same shelves) are all owned by the same company. That accounts for 80%+ of the chains in major grocery stores. The "competition" is entirely fabricated.
  • nickff 3y ago
    I think many people interact with Krupp's modern incarnation on a very regular basis; ThyssenKrupp is one of the largest manufacturers of elevators in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThyssenKrupp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThyssenKrupp
    • margalabargala 3y ago
      Based on the "Controversies" section on that wikipedia page, it does not appear that the modern incarnation is particularly evil. The current incarnation of the East India Company is also not particularly evil, despite the many evils done centuries ago: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-10971109 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-10971109
• mrguyorama 3y ago
  Making weapons of war is a kind of banal evil that most people can wrap their heads around. Nestle spent enormous effort purposely convincing impoverished mothers in third world countries to spend their little money on Nestle infant formula despite knowing 1) The mothers would not be able to get clean water to make the formula with 2) would not be able to properly refrigerate unused but already mixed formula, which is a foodborne illness time bomb 3) that the mothers could not afford enough formula to adequately feed their infants, and the infants would be malnourished as a result And they did this while trying to convince people formula was "healthier", while they knew that to be untrue. When an infant formula company poisoned some kids in China meanwhile, some company execs literally got the death penalty.
  • margalabargala 3y ago
    > When an infant formula company poisoned some kids in China meanwhile, some company execs literally got the death penalty. The melamine tainted milk was purchased and used by...Nestle. https://abc7chicago.com/archive/6405382/ https://abc7chicago.com/archive/6405382/
  • nickff 3y ago
    If you read the Wiki, you'll see that weapon's manufacturing is nowhere near the worst thing Krupp did. Krupp used Jewish slave labor during WWII, and treated the slaves so badly that the SS criticized them for it.
    • pixxel 3y ago
      That was 80 years ago. Why are you disrupting the current topic on Nestle current evils.