Nestlé
Headquarters
SwitzerlandType of ownership
PublicEstimated percentage of Nestlé's global F&B sales from CF
4%Estimated percentage of Nestlé's global baby food sales from CF
33%Countries covered in country studies
China/Germany/Indonesia/US/Viet Nam© All rights reserved
Score 2024
Score
Score
Important:
The research findings regarding companies’ performance in this Index are based on information shared by companies or gathered by service providers, in addition to information that is available in the public domain.
The level of detail and comprehensiveness of information shared by companies and gathered through external service providers varied. In the case of limited or no engagement by companies, this Index may not represent the full extent of their efforts. Similarly, in the case of limited data collected by service providers, the findings of this Index may not provide a comprehensive representation of company practices.
ATNI’s research and Indexes do not assess compliance with local regulations or laws, but rather assess private sector performance against international standards and guidance.
CF Country Studies
Score
The Country Studies component of the BMS and CF Marketing Indexes 2024 evaluates the extent to which a company’s marketing practices align with specific provisions of the WHO Code (not against local Code-related regulations). The main marketing channels assessed in the Country Studies for the BMS and CF Marketing Indexes 2024 are online points-of-sale, traditional and online media outlets, and product labels which were all assessed according to the NetCode protocol. Nestlé sells CF products in all five countries (China, Germany, Indonesia, US and Viet Nam) selected for the assessment, which altogether represent almost 45% of Nestlé’s estimated global CF sales. The Country Studies results for Nestlé are summarized below for each country and across each marketing channel.
Country Studies overview
| Nestlé | Country assessments | CF market | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total incidences of non-compliance across online, traditional media, and product labels | Number of product labels assessed | Company brands found | CF market share | Proportion of Nestlé's global CF sales | |
| CHINA | 16 | 8 | Gerber | 14% | 15% |
| GERMANY | 2 | 2 | Cerelac | <5% | No information |
| INDONESIA | 7 | 3 | Cerelac | 22% | 2% |
| US | 118 | 74 | Cerelac, Gerber | 38% | 25% |
| VIET NAM | 12 | 11 | Cerelac, Gerber | 24% | 2% |
(0 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 100%)
(>0-10 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 66%)
(>10-20 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 33%)
(> 20 incidences of Code non-compliance corresponding to a country score of 0%)
• In China, Nestlé’s CF sales represent approximately 15% of the company’s global CF sales and it has a relatively high share in the market (approximately 14%). A total of 16 incidences of non-compliance were identified which included eight advertisements or promotions on online media channels and all eight product labels assessed contained one or more instances of non-compliance.
• In Germany, Nestlé has a relatively small CF market share (<5%). A total of two non-compliance incidences were found from the product labels assessed. No observations for CF marketing were made on online media or traditional media channels in Germany during the time of research.
• Nestlé’s share of the Indonesian market for complementary foods is quite high (approximately 22%), but it represents only 2% of the company’s global BMS sales. A total of seven non-compliance incidences were found, of which four were from online media channels and three from all the product labels assessed.
• The highest number of incidences of non-compliance were found in the US (118), where Nestlé has a relatively high share of the US CF market (approximately 38%) and represents approximately 25% of the company’s total global CF sales. Of these observations, a total of 42 advertisements and promotions related to CF brands were found online during the research period, two TV advertisements, and all 74 product labels assessed contained one or more instances of non-compliance.
• While Nestlé’s CF sales in Viet Nam represent only 2% of the company’s global CF sales, the company possesses a relatively high share of the Vietnamese CF market (~24% of the CF market), where 12 incidences of non-compliance were found for the company, 11 of which came from non-compliant labels and 1 online media promotion.
Observed incidences of non-compliance with the Code per country
food < 6 months of age
food 6-36 months of age
Main in-country findings
The highest number of incidences of non-compliant marketing practices for Nestlé were found in the US (118), followed by China (16), Viet Nam (12), Indonesia (7) and Germany (2).
Across all country assessments, the majority of incidences of non-compliance observed for Nestlé were for inappropriate product labels (99). A high number of incidences of non-compliance were also identified through the social listening of online platforms (55). On traditional media, only two incidences of non-compliance were found, both in the US.
Although no commercial complementary foods were found in the assessment that were explicitly intended for infants below six months of age, 25 out of the 74 labels assessed in the US had no clear age range specified. Only one of the 44 advertisements and promotions of CF products found for Nestlé in the US included a clear age of introduction of the CF product. The other commercial complementary foods found during ATNI’s assessment were clearly marketed as suitable for older infants and young children between six months and up to three years of age.
Online findings
• The majority of advertisements and promotions related to Nestlé’s CF brands online (55 in total) were found in the US (42), with some observations found in China (8), Indonesia (4) and Viet Nam (1), all of which are contraventions of the Code. No online advert was found for Nestlé CF products in Germany in the eight-week period the selected channels were monitored. During the research period, a total of five online retail point-of-sale promotions were found for products from Nestlé in the US. For three of these products, no clear recommended age was specified (only “crawler” or “sitter”).
• All of these point-of-sale promotions contained health claim, a nutrition claim and/ or a marketing claim. Further, none included a statement on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond. There were no observations of CF identified among the online retailers monitored in the other four markets assessed.
• The remaining 50 non-compliant observations were found on the company’s local websites and social media platforms and on local parenting websites, with the highest number of findings in the US (37), followed by China (8), Indonesia (4) and Viet Nam (1). Across these four countries, an average of two to four incidences of non-compliance were identified per observation. All the adverts were missing the statement on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond. In the US, none of Nestlé’s CF products found promoted through online media had a clear recommended age of introduction whereas in Indonesia and Viet Nam, the recommended age was clearly indicated in all the advertisements. Other incidences of non-compliance found with the advertisements included soliciting caregivers in the US and Viet Nam to sign-up to online contests and the promotion of bottle feeding in China.
• The majority of the online advertisements found also included at least one type of claim, ranging from 11% of the identified online advertisements in the US, to 50% of those found in China and Indonesia as well as the one advertisement identified in Viet Nam. In all four markets, the most common types of claims identified were marketing and nutrition claims.
Traditional media findings
• In total, two advertisements of Nestlé CF brands were found on television in the US during the six-month monitoring period of selected channels across all five countries, both had at least one incidence of non-compliance with the Code. The two TV advertisements had claims and in both, there was no clear recommended age for introducing the CF products, nor a statement on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond.
CF product label
• A total of 98 Nestlé CF product labels were assessed across the five markets, 74 of which were in the US. On average, the number of incidences of non-compliance per product label per market ranged from two in Indonesia to four in Viet Nam and the US, while no product labels were found to be fully Code-compliant.
• Across the five markets, 94 of the total 98 Nestlé CF labels assessed had at least one type of claim with the exception of one Gerber purée in the US and four in China. All the CF products assessed for Nestlé in China and the US, as well as those with clear images in Germany and Viet Nam, did not include a statement on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond. On the other hand, in Indonesia all of Nestlé’s CF products assessed did include this statement. All of Nestlé’s CF products assessed in China and the US (with the exception of one Cerelac product in the US), and most products in Viet Nam, included an image, text or other representation that might suggest use for infants under the age of six months. This incidence of non-compliance was found on Gerber products which included an image or logo with a baby that might suggest use for infants under the age of six months.
• Another key observation classified as non-compliant with the Code was identified in the US where 25 of the 74 Nestlé products assessed did not include a clear recommended age for introducing the product to older infants and young children, only an image indicating for example “sitter” or “crawler”. While in the other markets, the image also included a clear age of introduction. In addition, all of Nestlé’s CF product labels assessed in Germany, and nine out of the 11 products in Viet Nam, did not have all the information in the appropriate language used locally; information on the labels was written only in English instead.
• It is worth noting that ATNI did not have the resources to collect products from the different markets and take pictures of their labels. For this assessment ATNI used product label images from an external provider. For some products, images were not clear enough or did not show all parts of the package, in these cases ATNI asked the respective companies to provide images of the labels. While Nestlé provided images of product labels (as requested by ATNI) to help complete the assessments, it did not do so for all products. Therefore, assessments remained incomplete for one product in Germany, one product in the US, and two products in Viet Nam. Since at least one incidence of non-compliance was identified from the existing images, these labels were counted as a non-compliant observation.
Recommendations
• Given the incidences of non-compliant marketing practices for CF products observed, Nestlé is recommended to ensure that CF products are appropriately promoted in line with the 2016 WHO Guidance on ending the inappropriate promotion of foods for infants and young children supported by WHA resolution 69.9.
• The WHA 69.9 supported guidance includes recommendations around which messages should be present on CF labels to support optimal infant and young child feeding, and which are inappropriate and could undermine recommended practices. Although no commercial complementary foods explicitly intended for infants below six months of age were found for Nestlé in this assessment, a key issue was found in the US where 25 of the 74 labels were of CF products that had no clear recommended age of introduction specified and many of these included an image or logo with a baby that might suggest use for infants under the age of six months. Nestlé should incorporate the WHA 69.9 supported recommendations in their policies and practices and apply them to their CF products, as none of the CF products in this assessment fully met these requirements. The company should aim to address missing statements on exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond and also ensure that product labels in each market (especially in Germany and Viet Nam) are appropriately translated into local languages.
• Nestlé is strongly encouraged to take responsibility for monitoring its marketing practices beyond local regulations, according to the principles and the aim of the Code and subsequent relevant resolutions, and to take steps to ensure this includes online media channels.
• Nestlé is urged encouraged to consider the recommendations of the WHA 69.9 supported guidance to appropriately advertise and promote all types of CF products and brands intended for older infants and young children between six months and three years of age on all forms of media platforms globally. The company should also online contests and the promotion of bottle feeding.
• Overall, Nestlé is encouraged to consider the gaps identified to improve its CF marketing practices globally such that they fully align with the requirements of the Code. Examples of aspects that the company can improve on include restricting the use of all types of claims as defined by WHO Europe’s Nutrient and Promotion Profile Model for all forms of CF marketing, as well as ensuring that CF product labels have all information available in the local language(s).
• ATNI is calling on Nestlé to review all incidences of non-compliance identified across all marketing channels, which were shared in detail with the company, and to take corrective action in each of the markets.
CF Corporate Profile
Score
The Corporate Profile component of the BMS and CF Marketing Indexes 2024 evaluates the extent to which a company’s policies align with various provisions of the Code, the effectiveness of its related management systems as well as the company’s level of disclosure on commitments relating to CF marketing. Nestlé’s CF marketing commitments were assessed across 9 topics that cover different aspects of the Code resulting in an average score that is the company’s initial overall Corporate Profile score before a geographic penalty (if applicable) is applied. A company that is found to market CF for infants under six months of age only gets half of the initial overall Corporate Profile score (this is identified by one of the indicators in the first topic on “Guiding Principles of Infant and Young Child Feeding”). As described in the findings on the topic “Guiding Principles of Infant and Young Child Feeding” below, Nestlé was found to market CF products for infants under six months of age, therefore its initial overall Corporate Profile score was halved from 16% to 8%. The final Corporate Profile score considers how the company’s marketing commitments are applied across different markets around the world for CF products intended for older infants and young children between six months up to three years of age (CF 6-36 months). The next section ‘Geographic application of CF commitments by product type’ shows how the company’s application of commitments for CF 6-36 months was evaluated. The scores and findings on each topic are described in further detail in the section below on ‘CF Commitments by Topic’.
Geographic application by Nestlé of CF commitments by product type
The percentage of product sales where commitments are upheld, and the geographic penalty applied to CF products intended for older infants and young children aged six months up to three years. The penalty ranges from 0% up to 90% depending on whether a company fully upholds its CF marketing commitments in all or none of the countries in which it operates, respectively, where national Code regulations are absent or less stringent than the company’s policies and standards.
|
Corporate Profile score before penalty |
Product type |
Percentage of Nestlé’s global sales from markets where CF commitments are upheld |
Geographic penalty applied |
Final Corporate Profile score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.8% |
Commercial complementary foods 6-36 months |
0% | 90% | 0.8% |
Commercial Complementary Foods
• No information was found in the public domain nor shared by the company describing if and where (in what markets) marketing commitments are upheld for CF 6-36 products. Therefore, the corresponding geographic penalty is the maximum of 90% applied to the 8% score as described above and the final Corporate Profile score is 1%.
• ATNI calls on Nestlé to consider the expanded definition of the Code, following the World Health Assembly resolution 69.9 recommendations that cover and address the responsible marketing of commercially produced complementary foods intended for older infants and young children aged 6–36 months.
Topics Overview
CF commitments by topic
Most topics include both policy commitments and management systems except for ‘Guiding principles of infant and young child feeding’ which only considers policy commitments, ‘Implementation and Monitoring’ which only considers management systems, and ‘Disclosure’ which only considers the level of disclosure of identified commitments. ‘Lobbying and Policy Influence’ is the only topic that includes policy commitments, management systems and disclosure.