Clive Simpkins

Nestlé pumping kids full of sugar

Nestlé was once associated with all that is nutritious and healthy. The brand values might have been described as high-quality, utterly dependable, inherently good-for-you products. No longer in my opinion.

Apart from their corporate dramas about things like Melamine in baby formula [read here], palm oil for KitKat being sourced from the decimated former jungle land of Indonesia, which attracted the attention of Greenpeace [see video here], they've produced in my opinion, utter junk food in the form of their Nestlé Milo Cereal. 

Look at this 'nutritional' information taken off the pack [below]. 

Being the co-rearer of a little man with ADHD, I'm deeply conscious that this sugar content could send a rocket to the moon. How does a supposedly responsible, self-proclaimed 'ethical' company like Nestlé opportunistically leverage a line extension out of Milo in the pursuit of profit, without giving a damn about the negative health effects on the minds and bodies of children? They even promote this garbage in schools. That's how Siphe came home and asked about it. There was someone from Nestlé promoting the Milo drink at his school.

The front of the cereal pack is very misleading. It punts 'wholegrain' in large letters. The pic of people playing soccer implies health and  fitness - not obesity or hyperactive sugar-rush induced behaviour. It contains 34.1 grams of sugar per 100 grams of product. That's more than one third of the product which is pure sugar. Take an even closer, more critical look at the 'nutrition' list and you'll see it has less than 5 grams of fibre per 100 grams of product. Not a good ambassador for a 'wholegrain' cereal. This 'food' should be classed as toxic to children and taken off supermarket shelves.

I shall be taking up the (in my opinion) misrepresentation of this 'nutritious' cereal with the advertising standards authority as a matter of principle.

Nestlé seems to have lost its way. It now appears to be profits before people or ethics. Very sad. Please share this with your friends who have children at home - and tell them not to buy or serve this cocktail of garbage. Look at the Nestlé logo below: 'Good Food - Good Life'. I don't think so.

 

Publicise to make money!

 I'm approached on almost a daily basis as if I'm some kind of miracle Rainmaker - to help people with their struggling businesses. Very few sectors of the economy (including mine) have escaped being touched by the global and South African recession of 2009. Although the 'body' of that recession may be over, many sectors are still negatively affected in 2010 by the 'long tail' of the recession monster. 

At a time when resources are stretched to the maximum and energies are at their lowest, optimism is a struggle and it seem like no positive end in sight - that's precisely when we have to work hardest to raise our visibility.

Here's an article I wrote - in two sections due to length - for RISKsa magazine readers - on getting publicity for their business. You might wonder how it's going to help. Well, somehow or other, you have to get yourself above the clutter of competing advertising and promotion, to be seen by those who might be in line for your services or talents.

Read 'em and see if they help. I certainly hope they do!

Download Publicise your Business Part 1

Download Publicise your business Part 2

Jack Russell goes ballistic - or balloonistic. Must watch!

This is sooo cute:Download KillerJackRussell

What the Roman Catholic Church should be doing

Today 2^nd April, 2010 is 'Good Friday' - the day on which Christians memorialise the incredible sacrifice made by Jesus Christ for his disciples. Instead of minds being totally on that astonishing act of surrender and compassion, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) will regretfully be top of mind for all the wrong reasons.

Any institution that fails to keep pace to some extent with shifting social norms and mores is headed for obscurity or extinction – if only in the hearts of adherents. The Pope, with respect to his elevated office, has made a mess of the reputation management around the paedophilia revelations from within the church. He has been defensive and indeed implied a 'conspiracy' against the church. All the very things we'd tell a chief executive or spokesperson for a large corporation never to do. The fact that he's the Pope and that it's a church with global reach does not mean it can march to a different drumbeat in the public perception. People are now accustomed to an acknowledgement of culpability, a meaningful apology and notice of immediate and future remedial action.

So what should the Pope be doing? In my opinion, with the interests of the RCC at heart (but not as a member of the faith), some or all of the following:

1. Set up the equivalent of an 'inquisition' but with the correct intention.
2. Root out the people behind the molestation of children and defrock or excommunicate them or at the very least ensure they never get to work with or near children.
3. Root out the senior clergy responsible for covering up the appalling breaches of trust and do the same to them.
4. Introduce at local level a whistle-blowing system for the multiple thousands of good and chaste priests and nuns in the church to be able to report suspicious behavior.
5. Create the equivalent of a Roman Catholic 'Child Line' where children or their parents who are concerned about behaviour by a particular priest, nun, teacher or official can call – even anonymously – in order to have the matter looked into.
6. Introduce as part of Sunday School, lessons and the pre-confirmation process, for children in every RCC parish around the world, a course on recognising inappropriate touch, 'sexual grooming' discussion or abuse and how to report it without guilt or fear.
7. Introduce psychometric or other testing throughout the church to identify clergy at risk of potentially damaging behaviour and route those people into counselling, therapy - or invite them to change their role or career.
8. Set out to educate people on the difference between homosexuality and paedophilia – which are proven to be totally unconnected.
9. Clarify that a homosexual or lesbian priest or nun can serve God and the community as chastely and devotedly as any other. Sexual orientation is a mind issue – not one of the soul.
10. Perhaps the most radical of all – consider following the Franciscan model of several orders. Have an order of priests and nuns for whom final vows are their deepest celebration of devotion and commitment to God. For those who cannot or choose not to live that austere, self-sacrificing life, (whether heterosexual or homosexual) let there be a second order of nuns and priests who are indeed (like the Anglican Church) able to marry or have partners. Better to serve God and the community with the mind fully on God and community duty, rather than on relieving sexual tension, or worse – in the case of paedophiles - abusing children.

Just run across this constructively transparent and appropriate response from the German Archbishop.

http://clivesimpkins.brandyourself.com/

Clive Simpkins

Leadership, Governance, Tech and you

Wrote this on invitation for Property Professional Magazine. Of particular relevance in our present South African dispensation.

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