Nestle? Is that you?

I am still on the fence. I cannot or may be it’s more that I do not want to believe that Nestle is behind the scandalous Facebook’s Nestle Fan Page.

For those that need a bit of a background: Nestle (allegedly) started Facebook Fan Page. The Fan Page attracted an audience. The audience has concerns, questions and feedback for Nestle. EG: Why <Fake?> Nestle is so militant about preventing fans from using the nestle logo in any way, including an avatar for someone’s profile. <Fake> Nestle’s response? Belligerent, mouthy, rude, disrespectful and chump like. Not to mention the socially irresponsible, unethical behavior… Check out Ad Age’s article here.

I have worked with Nestle professionally in the past, albeit their Toronto office in a non-social capacity. If my real life experience is anything to go by, they would be horrified to see someone speaking this way on behalf of their brand.

Having said that… Nestle is no where to be seen. So I went looking for them. Nestle staff on LinkedIn – impossible to reach out to unless you want to use up your precious inmail.  Nestle on Twitter. Yikes! This is where I actually had to acknowledge the fact that perhaps Nestle on Facebook is real. So I looked up Nestle Corporate Offices on the internet and called them. I asked to be put through to their PR department.

The person I spoke with was very pleasant, professional and adamant that she not disclose any information about the situation, but instead take my information and have someone from the Switzerland office follow up with me. I asked her the following question.

“Is this Nestle’s facebook fan page or am I right? Has this fan page been hijacked by a rogue employee?” –  the response? She couldn’t confirm or deny.

Ah well. The verdict is still out for me on this one. I would be very surprised to learn that Nestle is in fact behind this fiasco.