Wednesday 25 February 2009

Confessions involving chocolate and peanut butter

Nestlé: after their years doing a King Herod tribute act, it would have been nice to see them mending their ways. Sadly it seems that those years of ethical ear-bashing have fallen on deaf ones and they are being total bastards to their employees. I'm right behind those wanting to give them a good kicking. It's just a shame that Rowntree's of York, the manufacturers of the classic Kit Kat bar, were assimilated by a corporation with no sense of shame.

The Kit Kat was pretty good as such confections go - what Oscar Wilde said about cigarettes could almost (but not quite) be applied to a Kit Kat:

A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?


Even the post-Nestlé-Anschluss chunky Kit Kat wasn't bad. In fact, the chunky peanut butter Kit Kat is better than not bad - it is extremely good. The chocolate/peanut butter flavour combo, when done right is superb (Rees's Peanut butter cups from the USA attempted the same marriage of flavours, but I found their chocolate a bit cardboardy and unimpressive). Yes, I must admit that I did flout my ethical priciples and try (more than one) peanut butter Kit Kat. I can't offer any defence, but in mitigation I'd like to mention that I bought them from the Co-Op, whose own ethical principles were also compromised by selling them...

It would be nice to occasionally read a good news story about a bad corporation mending its ways and becoming more ethical (a pathetic token percentage of your coffee being "free trade" doesn't count, Nestlé), but in Nestlé's case the corporate culture obviously isn't changing, so I'm giving up my furtive flirtation with the chunky peanut butter Kit Kat, suitably chastened.

Remember, ethical boycotts are for life, not just for Lent* (unless the bastards listen and actually stop being bastards)

*not that I take any notice of Lent anyway, being a benighted heathen

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