Bring back the Nestle

Should Leeds Student Union really ban chocolate?

By Anonymous

I am a man who likes chocolate. Specifically, I am a man who likes Yorkie bars. I enjoy my chocolate in large lumps, untainted by nuts and caramel. I have also only been partially swayed by the hilariously chauvinistic ‘not for girls’ advertising campaign. Consequently, I was distraught to recently discover that the union shop does not sell Yorkie bars, or in fact, any other Nestlé products. Having only joined the university this year, I was unaware of the ban on Nestlé products on ethical grounds. Now, call me a bastard (most people do), but I neither support nor indeed, care about Nestlé’s morality, or apparent lack of, I only condone their chocolate, as I imagine do many other people. I know people who oppose Nestlé on ethical grounds and therefore refuse to buy their products, but that is their choice, which is my point. The purpose of a free market is to provide products and services and allow people to decide for themselves whether they want to buy them. Frankly, I find the ban on Nestlé products at best, patronising and at worst, authoritarian. You may say I’m part of the problem, but after an apparent 12 years of the ban being in place, I don’t think this is part of the solution. 

In general, I am actually quite sick of this over-liberal attitude. It seems that every week, the union is trying to ban some product or university funding on moral grounds. The fact is that exploiting people is how capitalism works. It may not be a fair system, but equally it is how nature works, and that seems to get along pretty well. Rich countries exploit poor countries, small kids get bullied and have their lunch money stolen then grow up and exploit their workers. Also, unless you end up volunteering for a charity or joining a hippy commune, you will realise that your company will probably be doing things that ethically appal you, be it systematically torching the rainforests or simply cutting jobs. The reason is that shareholders and therefore profits always come first, and if you can’t learn that at university, you’ll be in for a shock in the real world. 

On a side note, I refuse to buy fair-trade goods. Not because I disagree with the ethics, but because of one company. Several years ago, my mum bought a pack of fair-trade cereal bars and discovered a piece of plastic from the production process within the bar itself. As it happens, she discovered the plastic whilst eating the bar, by choking on it. Another of the bars contained a second piece. We contacted the company with the attached pieces of offending plastic and some photographs; they replied somewhat sceptically that they would look into the matter. That was the last we heard from them. If that had been a Nestlé bar, I would still be eating their compensation chocolate now. I understand that not exploiting people means reduced profits, but if it is at the cost of hygienic production facilities, then count me out, I’ll see you in hell. And on the way, I’ll be buying several hundred Yorkie bars from the first corner shop I see.