Protests against Nestlé afflict GES (NAFIA translation of Swedish newspaper article appearing in Aftonbladet 11 July 2003. Niklas Strömstedt [of pop group GES]: "It's bloody awful to be associated with that company" The GES concert at Skansen was disturbed by a protest action yesterday. The tour is sponsored by Nestlé - the food giant that is accused of contributing to infant deaths in Africa. "It's just bloody awful that we are associated with that company", says Niklas Strömstedt. Yesterday GES gave a concert to a sold-out Skansen [park] at Stockholm. But Anders Glennmark, Orup and Niklas Strömstedt were disrupted by protests outside the entrance to Skansen. In food shops and in other outlets Nestlé advertises with the GES name on poster. If the customer buys Nestlé products for 300 SEK they get a free ticket to the concert with the pop group. Breaks the WHO Code This irritated Nafia, the Nordic Working Group for International Breastfeeding Issues. "They are breaking the WHO Code when they market breastmilk substitutes in the Third World to babies under one year of age. 1.5 million babies die annually from not being breastfed." according to Eva Lockner at Nafia, who also organised the protest. It is the concert producer EMA Telstar that has signed the contract with Nestlé, completely behind the backs of GES. When Niklas Strömstedt found out about the collaboration he was furious. "We have made a mistake" "I was incredibly angry and asked what EMA thinks they're doing. I know what Nestlé is accused of and absolutely do not want to be associated with them. We're the ones who are going to have to take the flack," says Niklas Strömstedt. Staffan Holm is CEO at EMA Telstar. "We have made a mistake and appologize. We do not go through all our collaborative contracts with the artists and we were not aware of the accusations. Unfortunately we are now bound to a contract that we cannot just go in and break off", says Staffan Holm. Now the routines are going to be changed at EMA. And Holm has now decided to donate all the income from the Nestlé campaign to Save the Children. A little comfort, according to GES. "I think it's fine that there are protests at our concert", he says. Consider themselves innocent According to Nestlé in Sweden, the company is completely innocent of the accusations. "We follow the WHO Code down to the last detail. These are unfortunate and false accusations that are a carry-over from what the company did in the sixties and seventies. Today it would be impossible to run such a multinational company unethically", says press contact Marie Louise Elmgren.