In this otherwise sweet and genuine post by Classy Chaos blogger OHmommy who attended the fiasco that was the #NestleFamily Blogger Junket, one thing struck me as lacking a lot of nuance. Her comment that: “Not many mothers can add ‘making the world’s largest food corporation think during Q and A’s’ to their resume as a SAHM.”
She hit the nail on the head. She thinks she asked hard hitting questions but is most likely not experienced in the world of dealing with corporate America or differentiating corporate doublespeak from truth and NESTLE KNOWS IT. Inviting bloggers to a junket was a safe way of spreading the gospel because they know that the answers to any “tough questions” they ask are going to be taken as the truth because most bloggers, especially those who fall under the unfortunate category/moniker of mommy bloggers, can’t discern the difference. It has nothing to do with intelligence but rather a lack of experience in the corporate world or perhaps reading between the lines. That’s ok — not everyone does — but to reiterate corporate doublespeak without understanding that…
-while corporations are made up of people with feelings,
-a corporation or company’s #1 purpose is to make money,
-and as such, their agenda will always be to have one message that always makes the company look good.
Here is my response to her post:
I’m glad that you asked tough questions of the Nestle execs but if you think you made “the world’s largest food corporation think during Q and A’s,” you are forgetting or not realizing that you are not the first people to ask them these questions nor the last — their words and reactions may smack of sincerity but they are professional marketers who have heard it all before and have an answer that seems genuine but is rehearsed.
Don’t believe me? When people go on a job interview and respond to the “what is your greatest weakness” question with the typical “I’m a perfectionist” response, do you think the interviewer hasn’t heard it a million times, actually believes it or doesn’t realize that it’s a safe answer designed to make a flaw look like a asset?
From what I understand, Nestle has refused to engage or participate with watchdog groups like Baby Milk Action or International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), so I don’t expect them to be 100% honest or forthcoming with anyone else. Besides, they know that you’re going to report back with what they said. They might have responded in a way that satisfied you but every company has two answers for every question: the truth and what they tell the outside world which sounds like it could be the truth but isn’t.
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I’m wondering how this whole hairy issue might have turned out had Nestle not encouraged the use of the hashtag and created a special Nestle Family twitter page for it. Would we have talked this much about it? Would the discussion have gone viral like it did?
