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Comment by toofy | Hacker News Reader

Nestle products are titled under 2000 different brand names.

For instance, cheerios, golden grahams, digiorno pizza, jacks pizza, lean cuisine, gerber, maybeline makeup brands, some shampoo brands, etc…

It’s definitely possible, but it’s a rabbit hole and isn’t as easy as “i won’t buy nestle hot chocolate.”

Honestly, I understand the can of worms this might open, but a part of me thinks the parent company name should have to be on all products–transparency so we have something closer to information symmetry. It’s more difficult than I think it should be to buy ethically.

We hear all the time “If you don’t like what a company is doing, then vote with your dollars.” But then we see how many companies have a multi-tier web of subsidiaries which can sometimes feel like they’re obfuscating intentionally. I don’t mean to imply they’re all intentionally obfuscating but it sure feels like that sometimes.

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Yeah, fair enough, I can see it being hard for most people to bin Nestle (though not Sinclair?).

My response to Nestle was a "me personally" thing which probably doesn't apply to most other people - I don't really buy branded junk food, almost everything I eat I prepare myself from fresh ingredients. I read through the Wikipedia list [1] and didn't see any brands I've purchased this year.

But you're quite right that I was wrongly exaggerating by saying it was easy to boycott Nestle. I should have just emphasized that it's possible to boycott Nestle (if you know what the subsidiaries are), and easy (I think?) to boycott Sinclair.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nestl%C3%A9_brands

> everything I eat I prepare myself from fresh ingredients

Nestle owns a lot of brands in the "ingredients" space too, unless you mean you are making everything from scratch. Buitoni pasta, Maggi bullions and soup bases, Carnation condensed and powdered milks, and Garden Burger meat alternatives are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Carnation has been the most annoying for me to boycott because at my grocery store there is no other options for evaporated milk, dulce de leche, and malted milk powder.

I just went through the entire list of brands on that page and realised I'd been boycotting Nestle as well this last year or so, only without my knowledge. (I'm peripherally aware that they're considered "evil", but haven't given too much conscious thought w.r.t my own actions, and so haven't taken a position on whether I'm "boycotting" Nestle producsts or not.)

I'm similar to you -- make most of my own meals and don't really consume snack food and drink. Even all of the "prepared ingredient" type stuff that I buy (dried pasta, sauces) tend to be non-Nestle brands, so I really have to wonder if it's a lack of imagination that prompts people to claim that it's hard to avoid Nestle.

Of course, I'm in the UK (London) and not the USA, so maybe it's different? But I have a hard time understanding why it would be.

Edited to add: I also have a recent infant, to whom I've (again, without even trying) avoided feeding any Nestle products.

I was doing really well until I saw on that list that they own Purina, which is what we feed our cats. It's a shame, as several veterinarians I've talked to have said they believe Purina (Pro Plan/ONE) to be some of the best stuff out there for cats.

..from the vet sponsored by Purina... Purina pet food is trash.

No opinion on Purina, but it's shocking to me how widely understood it is that medical professionals are bought and sold, and nobody seems concerned about this or worried about whether it violates professional ethics standards.

Every dentist I've ever been to has given me an Oral-B toothbrush at the end of my visit. Oral-B gives free stuff to dentists with the understanding that when they give it to their patients, it will have the connotation of an endorsement and the patients will go on to buy these things themselves.

I remember as a kid our family doctor would give my mother little samples of things that various pharmaceuticals had given him. Can't recall what they were, some kind of herbal remedy or naturopathic thing probably.

> Nestle products are titled under 2000 different brand names. For instance, [...] maybeline makeup brands

Isn't Maybelline a subsidiary of L'oréal rather than Nestlé?

There are layers to this. Like e.g. the baby formula we've been buying turned out to be a brand of a brand of Danone.

Yes but Nestlé owns a big chunk of L’Oréal:

https://www.nestle.com/ask-nestle/our-company/answers/nature...

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