Wednesday, August 26, 2009

ParticipACTION ponies up with Nestlé

Does this seem like a healthy partnership to you?

ParticipACTION, the experiment in social marketing that has proven itself to be really great at brand awareness but has not proven itself to be particularly good at actually inspiring behavioural change, has recently elected Marilyn Knox to the position of Chair of their Board of Directors.

Who's Marilyn Knox?

She's the president of Nestlé Nutrition Canada.

The same Nestlé that last year sold $18 billion dollars of ice cream worldwide. The same Nestlé that's the subject of an international movement to boycott its products due to its unethical marketing of baby food (something I recently blogged about). The same Nestlé that in India obtained a permanent ban on their workers' freedom of assembly.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, ParticipACTION isn`t exactly into oversight.

I mean ParticipACTION's already ponied up with Coca Cola - no doubt a major player in the rise in childhood obesity rates over the course of the past 40 years, why not add a junk food maker with a track record of questionable business practices to the mix?