Nutrition Impostor: Nestle Chocolate Bars

Another Nutrition Impostor for the books…This time it’s Nestle.

Standing in line at the grocery store, I noticed a few of the chocolate bars had, what looked to me, like the “heart smart” check from the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation. Upon closer inspection I see that it is merely a red shape resembling a heart (part of the Nestle logo), with a big white check mark.

It looks to me that Nestle is using clever but oh-so shady visual marketing tactics to get people to think that they’re making a good choice by buying a chocolate bar. They simply removed the word “Nestle” from their logo, and put in a check mark instead. What would be their motivation to do that? According to their website, it has something to do with "Creamier chocolate". And it's just a happy coincidence that the Nestle logo is a mis-shaped heart.

I'm not convinced. It seems to me like they are trying to confuse consumers into thinking they’re buying a product that is healthier in some way to the poor, check mark-less bar beside it. The font size of "Creamier chocolate" is so small, I didn't even notice it. What I noticed was the check mark. If Nestle really wanted to emphasize the chocolate aspect, it would make more sense to make the font bigger and take the check mark out altogether.

The use of this symbol will definitely confuse consumers. With so many “health” symbols out there now, it’s hard to tell what’s what. These symbols are not regulated, but there are “rules” around using heart heath claims.

The Guide to Food Labelling and Advertising from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency states:

“The use of heart symbols and heart healthy claims to describe a food or food choice (whether on labels, menus or in advertising) are generally not acceptable. They may give an erroneous impression that consuming a single food or menu selection will provide heart health or prevent heart disease.”

Nestle has been known for shady practices in the past so I wasn’t all that surprised to find out this way the company behind said check mark. But still I say, Shame on you, Nestle.

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