A leading breast cancer charity has rejected a £1 million promotional deal with the food giant Nestlé because of ethical concerns over the company's promotion of formula baby milk in the Third World.
Breakthrough Breast Cancer has decided not to profit from an offer by Nestlé, which has been accused of repeatedly breaching an international code banning the marketing of baby milk in developing countries. Every 30 seconds a baby diesbecause of contaminated water in a bottle-feed of formula milk.
The promotional tie-in is believed to have been worth £1 million for Breakthrough, which has an annual turnover of £10 million. The plan is understood to have involved a promotion of the charity on cereal packets. Scientific evidence that a mother's milk can protect against breast cancer and accusations that Nestlé promotes sugar-laden breakfast cereals to children may also have been behind the decision.
Campaigners said they were delighted that such a high-profile charity has snubbed the global firm and called for more organisations to boycott donations and promotional tie-ins from companies with dubious business practices.
Patti Rundall, director of the anti-Nestlé lobby group Baby Milk Action, said: "This marks a turning point as this is a charity thinking beyond its own immediate gains and making an ethical decision on what could have been a very lucrative offer.
"Nestlé has repeatedly breached international guidelines on the promotion of baby milk and persists in promoting sugar-laden sweets, cereals and junk food to children in Britain.
"No charity should have anything to do with it."
The issue also brings into question one of the biggest growth areas in charitable giving: cause-related marketing, where big businesses pay to link their products to good causes.
Chocolate giant Cadbury, Walkers crisps and supermarket giant Tesco have all been accused of profiting from campaigns in which customers are encouraged to spend money in exchange for vouchers for schools or charity donations.
Cereal Partners, a company part-owned by Nestlé, approached Breakthrough Breast Cancer last year with the idea of a cause-related marketing campaign linked to a new breakfast product called Fitnesse.
Cereal Partners also owns top-selling brands such as Golden Grahams, Honey Nut Cheerios and Lion Cereal. Research by the Consumers Association earlier this year found that a serving of Lion Cereal contained as much sugar as a chocolate bar. A bowl of Golden Grahams has four times as much salt as a 25g bag of roasted peanuts.
Meetings took place and although details had not been formalised, the plan is understood to have meant that for every packet of the cereal bought, a donation would have been made to Breakthrough.
The charity has a high profile, with celebrity supporters including designer Ralph Lauren and supermodels Kate Moss and Elle Macpherson. Its patron is the Prince of Wales. But after considering the offer, the charity's executives decided to refuse any tie-in with Nestlé.
Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breakthrough said: "After careful consideration we decided not to proceed with the partnership." The charity declined to comment any further, but it is understood that the proposal was put to staff who called for the organisation to reject the deal.
Nestlé employs more than 6,000 workers in Britain and last month announced sales in the quarter to the end of March of £8.7 billion, up from £8.4 billion for the same period in 2003. Last year the Swiss-owned company made profits of £2.65 billion on its products.
Nestlé has long attracted adverse publicity and been subjected to a 20-year boycott campaign over allegations that it has persistently breached World Health Organisation rules over promoting formula milk in developing countries. The code, drawn up in 1981 and agreed by 118 countries, says breastfeeding should be promoted above all other products and that leaflets and labels relating to breast milk substitutes should do nothing to undermine this. But Nestlé and other companies have been accused of flouting the rules by issuing free samples of its products at health clinics in developing countries.
Research last year by the charity Helen Keller International found that Nestlé was promoting 11 products to the west African countries of Togo and Burkina Faso, which were in breach of the labelling standards. Milk substitutes have been promoted as modern in developing countries, despite the fact that the lack of clean water means infection and death is rife because of contaminated milk. Breastfeeding has been shown to reduce a mother's risk of breast cancer by up to 4.3 per cent.
Sue Adkins, director of the group Business in the Community which promotes links between industry and good causes, said: "When companies and charities work well together, it can be very good for both organisations.
"But there needs to be integrity, sincerity and transparency on both sides - otherwise it can rebound on the company and the charity."
In a statement, Nestlé said: "Nestlé takes its corporate social responsibilities very seriously.... The company firmly believes that breastfeeding is the best way to feed a baby, and we are strongly committed to the protection and promotion of breastfeeding."
THE GOOD CAUSE AND EFFECT
Cause-related marketing is one of the biggest growth areas for charitable giving - and one of the most controversial.
The theory is simple: big businesses use their huge marketing budgets - and their products - to promote good causes.
For instance, a charity's logo is plastered on a breakfast cereal with the promise that for every packet sold, a certain amount will go to that organisation.
It can also be very good for company profits. A CRM product is now bought every second in the UK. In 2002, consumers spent £50.4m on CRM products, compared to £33m in 2001, a tracking exercise by Business in the Community found.
Good causes obviously also benefit.
Comic Relief received £360,000 from the Persil promotion - plus free advertising worth more than £3m.
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