nestle social media backlash

7/17/2019 Nestle Social Media Backlash

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Nestle Social Media

Backlash

Presented by PR Head



Agenda

• Context

• Backlash in Facebook

• Nestlé Facebook Page

• Nestle’s Stand

• Nestle’s Actions

• Nestle revamped PR Strategy

• Key learnings



Context

• Nestlé, found itself mired in a public relations nightmare in 2010 with the

environmental protection group Greenpeace International• The Group held that the company’s chocolate confectionery brand Kit Kat contained

palm oil, whose production was leading to the destruction of rainforests.

• Palm oil has a range of uses and is principally grown in Indonesia where it makes asubstantial contribution to the economy.

• However, the expansion of palm oil cultivation came at the cost of destruction ofrainforests, which were a home to the orangutans.

• Palm oil, derived from the pulp of the fruit of the palm tree, has a variety of usesranging from food and consumer products to cooking oils and fuel additives.



Backlash in Facebook

• Nestlé went on to suffer a negative onslaught on social media

•

The Nestlé Facebook fan page suddenly saw an influx of visitors. Negativecomments about Nestlé ’s actions began to spread on the site.

• It seemed as if Nestlé ’s Facebook page moderator had became too vigilant

• Observers were shocked at the tone of the Nestlé moderator, who did notseem to have a good attitude and wanted to censor opinion on Facebook.

• Nestlé begun to remove all the critical comments and any comment wherethe user had a profile picture with an altered Nestlé ‘s logo.

• Greenpeace supporters started posting more and more negative commentswith altered logos.



Nestlé Facebook Page

Altered logos on Nestle’s Facebook page



Nestle’s Stand• Nestlé wanted to protect its Facebook page

• As a reputed brand, we have been serving our customers withutmost dedication and commitment for more than 140 years

• We felt our reputation was being targeted with maliciousintent

• As a first step, our team has already apologized



• Nestlé had joined a coalition calling for a moratorium onrainforest destruction for palm oil in Indonesia

• We had become an active member of the Roundtable forSustainable Palm Oil.

• We have suspended purchases from a supplier (Sinar Mas)which had admitted to mistakes in the area of deforestation.

• We have made it clear to its suppliers of blended palm oil that itwould not tolerate the presence of oil from non-sustainablesources

Nestle’s Actions



• Nestle has pledged to use only certified sustainably sourcedpalm oil by 2015

• The company had made rapid progress on certified palm oiland palm oil certificates and had covered 18% of itspurchases and would cover 50% by 2011.

• The company had conducted an in depth analysis of itssupply chain to ensure transparency and formulate detailedaction plans

• We have begun to audit our suppliers.

• Nestle has intensified cooperation with internationalorganizations for building a global movement to support the

• Development

• Implementation

• Disclosure of sustainable forestry practices

Nestle’s Actions



Nestle revamped PR Strategy

• Nestle had set up a “digital acceleration team” as part of Nestlé’s effortsto monitor social media sentiment 24 hours a day.

• When the team sees problems, the communications unit co-ordinates

the company’s engagement with the relevant parties, such as

• Suppliers

• Campaigners

• Governments

• Consumers.

• Nestlé executives from across the globe visit the digital acceleration

team centre at the headquarters in Switzerland, to learn aboutmanaging social media communications and digital marketing.



Key learnings

• Be prepared to use social media platforms

• Be prepared for the possible crisis

• Be fast, open and respectful in response

• Take the issue and customers seriously

• Get involved in the dialogue with civil activist groups

• Should not use censors on users and contents (rights of free speech)



Key learnings

nestle social media backlash

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