# Evil Nestle
Evil Nestle refers to a July 2019 Reddit meme campaign that painted food giant Nestlé as a cartoon villain over water privatization claims and former CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe's 2005 documentary comment calling the belief that water is a human right an 'extreme' view[1]. The jokes concentrated on r/dankmemes, where Redditor TriggerOnTheTrey's July 11th post listing Nestlé's accused scandals gained over 10,000 points and set off copycat posts across the subreddit[3].
## Origin
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe served as Nestlé's CEO from 1997 to 2008 and appeared in the 2005 Austrian documentary We Feed the World defending the privatization of water supplies[1]. In the interview, he described the NGO position that water is a human right as 'extreme' and argued that giving water a market price would prompt governments to help people without access instead of relying on charity[1]. Clips of the quote circulated online for more than a decade before gaining new momentum in meme form.
Reddit user TriggerOnTheTrey posted the earliest known Evil Nestle meme on July 11th, 2019, using a Lisa Simpson's Presentation image on r/dankmemes to walk through the company's various accused misdeeds[3]. The 2005 documentary clip was the backlash catalyst, while the meme format itself only emerged with that July 11, 2019 post.
- **Platform:** Reddit (r/dankmemes)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2019
## Overview
Posts in the Evil Nestle format typically catalog the company's accused abuses in list form, mixing confirmed scandals like aggressive water pumping during the California drought with the Brabeck-Letmathe soundbite that fueled the backlash[1]. Snopes rated the 'water is not a human right' claim as 'Mixture', noting the ex-CEO never used those exact words but did describe the belief as 'extreme' in the 2005 Austrian documentary We Feed the World[1].
A common visual approach uses the Lisa Simpson's Presentation template, with Nestlé's grievances piled onto a classroom slide. Other posts cast the company as Lucifer, a Satanic ritual target, or a Captain Planet villain, playing off the gap between a bland corporate logo and the laundry list of accusations attached to it[2]. Memebase called the Reddit trend a 'meme war' being waged against the company and its ethics[2].
## How to Use
Common conventions load a Lisa Simpson's Presentation slide with Nestlé's accused abuses (water pumping during droughts, baby formula marketing scandals, child labor allegations), ending on the Brabeck-Letmathe water quote as the punchline[3]. Other posts often cast the company as Lucifer or a Satanic ritual target, playing off the clash between a wholesome food brand and the stacked grievances[2].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Evil Nestle?
A July 2019 Reddit meme targeting food giant Nestlé over water privatization claims and its ex-CEO's 2005 documentary comments about water as a human right[1].
### Where did Evil Nestle come from?
r/dankmemes, where user TriggerOnTheTrey's Lisa Simpson's Presentation post on July 11th, 2019 kicked off a run of copycat jokes about Nestlé's ethics[2].
### What does Evil Nestle mean?
A corporate ethics joke casting Nestlé as a cartoon villain, built around former CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe's 2005 statement that calling water a human right is an 'extreme' view[1].
### How do you use Evil Nestle?
Common conventions use a Lisa Simpson's Presentation image or Lucifer imagery to list Nestlé's accused scandals, often ending on the CEO's water quote[2].
### Is Evil Nestle still popular?
The run peaked in July 2019 on r/dankmemes with multiple posts above 10,000 points, with Memebase describing the summer as a 'meme war' against the company[2].
## References
1. [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nestle-ceo-water-not-human-right/]()
2. [https://cheezburger.com/8812293/redditors-are-waging-a-meme-war-against-evil-nestle-and-their-ethics]()
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/evil-nestle]()
---
Source: https://meme.com/memes/evil-nestle
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library