Latest research shows Nestle tops confectionery news coverage, but probably wishes the media would give it a break.

Chocolate is in the news this Easter, but not always for the best of reasons. PRmoment commissioned research looking at which chocolate brands are dominating the media right now, and found that Nestle was taking the lion’s share of the coverage.

Media coverage by confectionary brand

Supplied by Echo Sonar

One major reason Nestle is in the news is because of Greenpeace’s latest campaign complaining about the company’s use of palm oil that is a result of illegal deforestation (see here). Although you have to search hard for positive PR about Nestle, the company has succeeded in getting across some of its side of the story, for example at bbc.co.uk on 17 March, this appeared in an item about anti-Nestle protestors: “In a statement, Nestle said it was committed to using only ‘certified sustainable palm oil’ by 2015.” Although it can be argued that waiting until 2015 seems an awfully long time to wait to sort out this problem.

Media topics by confectionary brand

Supplied by Echo Sonar

The Greenpeace campaign has obviously not done Nestle’s reputation any good, but some question how much difference this will make to actual sales. Craig McGill, managing director of PR agency Contently Managed thinks that the campaign will hardly affect Nestle, and isn’t that sure it will particularly boost Greenpeace’s membership figures either. He says: “I honestly don’t think that Easter egg sales will be affected. A lot of people know what Nestle is like, and tut-tut about the company, but don’t actually change their shopping behaviour. I only know one person who says they don’t buy Nestle anymore, and they didn’t buy Nestle before they were aware of Greenpeace’s latest campaign.”

As McGill points out, many people already have a negative opinion about Nestle, so the latest attack does not particularly change how they feel about the organisation. For years, people have been criticising the firm, and have complained about the way it is managed. Cadbury, on the other hand, is less used to being disliked. However, following its recent takeover by Kraft, the news about its management, and particularly about its new owners, has generally not been positive. For example, on 30 March guardian.co.uk reported the large salary of Kraft Foods CEO: “Irene Rosenfeld, the woman who masterminded Kraft's controversial takeover of Cadbury was awarded a pay rise of more than 40 per cent last year, taking her annual pay package to more than £17m.”

Although many of us still have Easter eggs in our homes, it seems that Easter was not the main reason why major chocolate makers were in the news in the last month. No doubt they are hoping that the news will be a bit sweeter this time next year.

MethodologyPRmoment asked Echo Sonar to analyse all UK online media coverage of confectionery companies Cadbury (and Kraft foods), Nestle, and Lindt. The research period was 1 March to 30 March 2010.