nestle

Dark Side coffee maker: How not to do 'Star Wars' merchandise

I've been a sucker for "Star Wars" merchandise ever since I had to get a second C-3PO action figure as a kid because I wore all the gold color off of my first one. My first kiss was with a friend named Arnie, who made my nerdy young heart beat with a sweet collection that included an X-Wing Fighter. My brother and I had matching stuffed Ewoks.

I still get a kick out of "Star Wars" swag today because of the creativity that goes into it. Fans almost always get it right when they do things like build a carpet-covered AT-AT cat condo or custom-painted Stormtrooper My Little Ponies complete with helmets and belts. These things have heart.

But this brings me to the limited-edition $120 Nestle "Star Wars" coffee makers that will be available only in Japan. You can choose between a Dark Side coffee maker with Darth Vader on it or a Rebel Alliance coffee maker with C-3PO on it. Pretty much all Nestle did was slap on some graphics and change up the colors on its regular Barista coffee machine.… Read more

Nestle taps GPS tracking in modern Willy Wonka contest

Sweet! Nestle has randomly put a GPS tracking device into half a dozen chocolate bars sold in the U.K. and Ireland, giving candy connoisseurs a chance to win 10,000 pounds ($16,218) upon discovery.

As Obi-Wan Kenobi would probably say, it is as if millions of British dentists suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. … Read more

After Facebook backlash, Nestle steps up sustainability

An aggressive, meant-to-shock Facebook and YouTube campaign on behalf of Greenpeace has led food conglomerate Nestle to modify its policies regarding the use of palm oil.

Nestle announced early Monday that it has partnered with The Forest Trust, a nonprofit group that helps businesses develop practices to harvest forests sustainably. The partnership is designed to reduce the social and environmental impacts of Nestle's corporate supply chain by severing ties to companies that contribute to deforestation. The first issue addressed will be its use of palm oil--the harvesting of which has been connected to the loss of rainforests and the … Read more

Nestle mess shows sticky side of Facebook pages

Uh-oh. We've got another social-media-meets-public-relations disaster on our hands, and this one doesn't even involve any airlines yet. Food giant Nestle, already under pressure from environmentalists, became the subject of a Facebook- and Twitter-based "twitstorm" when the operators of the corporation's Facebook page took a hostile approach to critics.

So here's how it appears to have started: Environmental activist group Greenpeace has long been putting the pressure on Nestle to stop using palm oil, the production of which has been documented as a source of deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and endangered species loss. A … Read more