Is Nestlé the Most Evil Corporation in the World?

“The most evil corporation in the world” is a tough accusation. However, the ever-growing number of people boycotting Nestlé’s products would argue that the world's largest food and beverage company has more than earned this title with their deeds, which are deemed questionable at best, and downright evil at worst.

One of the biggest scandals the company was involved in is certainly their aggressive marketing of breast milk substitutes in less developed countries in the 1970s, which included convincing mothers that their breast milk was not good enough for their babies and that their formula was healthier than breastfeeding. However, formula is expensive, and women, convinced they had to give their child the best possible start in life and that their own milk just would not do, were diluting the powder with more water than needed to save money. Add to that the fact that the water was very often contaminated, this resulted in up to a million annual infant deaths through malnutrition and diarrheal diseases.

However, Nestlé has not only actively harmed infants. The company has been known to use child labor in cocoa production, encouraging modern-day slavery and child trafficking. The work is physically taxing, the workers in slave-like conditions are subject to regular beatings, and the average farmer in Ghana makes less than a dollar a day on cocoa plantations -- yet Nestlé uses children because they’re even cheaper.

Arguably the most important controversy surrounding the company is their hand in changing the status of access to drinking water from a “right” to a “need.” They also claim local springs for themselves, impose restrictions on residential water use, and bottle the water for profit, even during several droughts.

While these instances are only the most famous scandals Nestlé has found themselves in, others -- like demanding Ethiopia repay their debt to them in the middle of a nation-wide famine, or forced labour in the Thai fishing industry, or their deforestation of Ghana and Ivory Coast -- all serve as examples of why people are actively refusing to buy their products. But are they truly the most evil company in the world? Maybe not -- but if that’s the case, exactly how evil is the actual most evil company?