Nestle’s efforts to court South American poor draws criticism
Posted by Joe Cannon
Here is the latest take on the ethics of marketing to disadvantaged consumers. Nestle has begun sailing a “supermarket barge” down the Amazon River and its tributaries. The company has adapted some of its products with cheaper ingredients and smaller packages — to offer them at prices low-income shoppers can afford. Sounds like good marketing — adapting the marketing mix to fit the needs of a target market.
Not so fast. The program has drawn criticism from many corners — showing the power of a few prominent voices on the internet to influence public opinion. This article in the Atlantic “Nestle Barge to Ply the Amazon, Bringing Ice Cream and Rage,” (June 21, 2010). The debate raises interesting ethical and social responsibility questions. It also raises questions about Nestle’s strategy and implementation of this project.
This issue might be discussed one one of the first few days of school around issues of micro- and macro-marketing (we cover these in chapter one of our books — along with social responsibility). It also provides a nice ethical debate to have in the segmentation and targeting chapter.
Tags: emerging market
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 5:29 pm and is filed under Ethics, International, Segmentation, Social responsibility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.