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Google Might Have Walked Into A Nestle Boycott Problem With Android KitKat

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Re: Google Might Have Walked Into A Nestle Boycott Problem With Android KitKat

#31

Post by icebraining »

vdaniuk wrote: post #20
ProcessBlue wrote: post #8

This is a good example for how far Google has drifted away from having "Don't be evil" as a core tenet. No PR or marketing person with those words in mind would go near a company like Nestle. Dealing with a company whose CEO views the human right to access to clean water as "extreme" is not something Sergei or Brin would have done ten years ago. I wonder how many Google employees today would know the meaning of "Don'…

Google literally didn't do anything evil by releasing an update to Android with the codename same as a popular chocolate product, which is owned by a company with unethical practices. This is not evil unless you specifically redefine a meaning of the word. Oxford dictionary evil noun profound immorality and wickedness, especially when regarded as a supernatural force: his struggle against the forces of evil a manifes…

Playing Devil's advocate, one could make an argument that by promoting Nestle, they are accomplices in their harmful (and often illegal) activities.

Personally I don't think Google is any more guilty than any other company where Nestle has advertised on, including TV channels or newspapers, but I do think the world would be a better place if companies with Nestle's track record were to be ostracized by both consumers and other companies.

Re: Google Might Have Walked Into A Nestle Boycott Problem With Android KitKat

#32

Post by victorhooi »

nikoio wrote: post #12

Then there is the whole issue of Nestle and water rights. it is not just about breast feeding: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-privatisation-of-water-nest...

Hmm, a typical one-sided rant that conveniently forgets to actually cite any sources.

Go watch the original video - it's freely available on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyAzxmN2s0w

I watched it, and he seems to be basically saying that water should have a value or price. And that for those who don't have access to it, we need to take steps to address that.

I don't see anything controversial about that - fresh water isn't free and it damn as hell is a limited resource. We in our comfortable Western lifestyles definitely use too much of it, so I'm not sure why it shouldn't have a price.

Nowhere in that video does he claim we should somehow go into random third world countries and steal their water - which is what this meme somehow seems to have transformed into.

Anyway, if you want to read the other side (obviously from their perspective):

http://www.nestle.com/aboutus/ask-nestle/answers/nestle-chai...

Re: Google Might Have Walked Into A Nestle Boycott Problem With Android KitKat

#33

Post by danilocampos »

> A very minor part of it comes from mineral water: there are those who think that if tap is good enough for them then no one should use the bottled kind. A rather more serious part of it comes from the production of baby formula.

This is garbage writing that's misleading to boot. The issues with Nestlé and water are much more about its pursuit of water rights at the expense of local populations. These are hardly frivolous concerns. One day you wake up and find that globalization has priced water outside of your income bracket.

Re: Google Might Have Walked Into A Nestle Boycott Problem With Android KitKat

#34

Post by bengillies »

adaml_623 wrote: post #5

Google really didn't think this one through. I don't see how any possible marketing 'synergies' can overcome the vague confusion that some people will have when confronted with the word KitKat and its associated Nestle registered trademark and the very real opinions that Nestle does not behave ethically as a company. Maybe they couldn't think of anything else sweet that started with K but don't I think they've come t…

People generally won't be confronted with Nestle's questionable practices though, so it's likely a non issue. At any rate enough people either don't know, or don't care to make KitKat a popular enough brand for Google to do well out of it.

Re: Google Might Have Walked Into A Nestle Boycott Problem With Android KitKat

#35

Post by shocks »

danilocampos wrote: post #33

> A very minor part of it comes from mineral water: there are those who think that if tap is good enough for them then no one should use the bottled kind. A rather more serious part of it comes from the production of baby formula. This is garbage writing that's misleading to boot. The issues with Nestlé and water are much more about its pursuit of water rights at the expense of local populations. These are hardly fri…

More like the time they convinced women in third world countries to use formula over breast milk, gave them poor instructions on using it that resulted in hundreds of infant deaths, then subsequently withdrew the formula these women now depended on as their breasts no longer produced milk, and hundreds more babies died...

Re: Google Might Have Walked Into A Nestle Boycott Problem With Android KitKat

#36

Post by webhat »

victorhooi wrote: post #29
DeusExMachina wrote: post #24

It's worth also remembering that the Nestlé CEO declared that OGM food is healthy, water is not a human right and we should all work more, not less: http://youtu.be/SEFL8ElXHaU

Err, no he didn't. Did you actually look at the link you posted? Or did you just look at the title, and hope nobody would watch it? First, he claimed that in 15 years of eating GM food in the US, there haven't been any reported illness. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Now, you might think there could be issues down the track, sure - and that may be your informed medical opinion. But nothing he stated is actuall…

Having actually watched this a number of times I was amazed that everybody just believed the hype.

What I was most amused by is Nestlé taking tap water for free, bottling and selling it back to you.

Re: Google Might Have Walked Into A Nestle Boycott Problem With Android KitKat

#37

Post by mcv »

kevingadd wrote: post #28
James_Duval wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably for the same reason you use 'it' when it's quite obvious he's a 'he', it's a more convenient and more colloquial way of phrasing something. *EDIT: for tone & clarity

Not sure what you mean, referring to a person as 'it' is almost universally offensive, at least in the US.

Even when referring to a child of unknown gender? Or a fetus? In Dutch, those are acceptable uses for it (or actually "het").

Re: Google Might Have Walked Into A Nestle Boycott Problem With Android KitKat

#38

Post by michaelgrafl »

dylangs1030 wrote: post #27
ig1 wrote: post #16

As I pointed out in the previous discussion, your smartphone, whatever the brand, almost certainly has metals mined or processed by children in dangerous and unhealthy work environments. That has a much bigger impact on child health than some tenuous three degrees of separation link of a marketing partnership.

Yeah...seriously. I expect some people will take offense to this, but here it goes: So what? If this contrived issue that Google may face is now considered a serious matter, then I guess everything is off limits. "Hey Tom, what should we name our new operating system?" "I don't know, how about 'daring diamond' - it's got alliteration, and everybody loves diamonds." "Mmmm...nope, sorry, that whole blood diamonds thing…

There's a difference between simply calling your OS KitKat and actually partnering up with Nestle when you do it.

Re: Google Might Have Walked Into A Nestle Boycott Problem With Android KitKat

#39

Post by AndrewDucker »

dylangs1030 wrote: post #27
ig1 wrote: post #16

As I pointed out in the previous discussion, your smartphone, whatever the brand, almost certainly has metals mined or processed by children in dangerous and unhealthy work environments. That has a much bigger impact on child health than some tenuous three degrees of separation link of a marketing partnership.

Yeah...seriously. I expect some people will take offense to this, but here it goes: So what? If this contrived issue that Google may face is now considered a serious matter, then I guess everything is off limits. "Hey Tom, what should we name our new operating system?" "I don't know, how about 'daring diamond' - it's got alliteration, and everybody loves diamonds." "Mmmm...nope, sorry, that whole blood diamonds thing…

If you stopped people on the street and asked them what they thought about it, they'd probably say, "Hey, those give me a break commercials?" not "Hey, I boycott Nestle! Screw those bastards."

Clearly _some_ people think the latter. And those are the people who are causing a fuss right now.

Re: Google Might Have Walked Into A Nestle Boycott Problem With Android KitKat

#40

Post by vidarh »

patrickaljord wrote: post #18
powatom wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguing which is the lesser of two evils between Apple and Google is like deciding which fist a mugger hits you with.

Yes, how evil Apple and Google are. Giving jobs to thousands of people, creating new billion dollar markets, creating products billions of people love to use and buy. Evil indeed. How dare they really?

Despite the ghost of Godwin's law, it's worth pointing out that your reasoning works almost as well, with only minor changes, if you replace "Apple and Google" with the Nazi party.

Someone can do good stuff and still be evil to the bone.

(No, I'm not implying Apple or Google are anywhere in the same ballpark as the nazis; for that matter, I don't Apple or Google are evil, even if there are practices I disagree with)

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