Kit Kats, Heart Attacks And A Rainforest/Facebook Battle

A tweet has led me to a dilemma for Nestlé We all know ‘Have a break, have a Kit Kat’ but now Greenpeace Canada is saying Nestlé should give rainforests a break and not support rainforest-killing companies.

It’s All About Palm Oil

The Palm Oil used in Kit Kats has caused Greenpeace to act. They are protesting (scroll down to pre-Easter comments) about the harvesting of palm oil and the destruction of rainforests in Indonesia, which threatens the endangered Orangutan.

A ‘Grotesque’ Video With No Warning

Greenpeace has created a ‘grotesquely graphic parody’ of a Kit Kat commercial, showing a bored employee opening a Kit Kat package and crunching on an Orangutan’s finger. See YouTube

The Social Media Mess

Nestlé, like so many brands, has a Facebook fan page, and Greenpeace supporters started posting masses of negative comments which it’s reported led Nestlé to threaten

“please don’t post using an altered version of any of our logos as your profile pic..they will be deleted.”

Finally, the Nestlé minders apologized for snapping back at fans and deleting posts… the first time there’s been such a massive blow-up in the comments of a Facebook fan page.

With Facebook being a huge digital marketing tool there are clear messages about the downsides of operating such a public forum.

“Whether this will be remembered as a single badly mismanaged user backlash or a pratfall of social-media marketing in general has yet to be seen.”Carolyn McCarthy

Not Nestlé ITSELF Destroying Rainforests

Greenpeace does not say that Nestlé is destroying rainforests but rather that it continues to buy palm oil from companies that do destroy the rainforests.

“Demand for palm oil has been increasing so much that the companies that sell it are leveling rainforests in Indonesia to make way for palm oil plantations.
We need those rainforests. They play a crucial role in regulating our climate and absorbing CO2. The companies that produce palm oil are cutting down the lungs of the planet and contributing to making Indonesia the third largest carbon emitter after the United States and China … Deforestation is actually responsible for … 1/5 of total emissions … Deforestation is also trashing orang-utan habitat, pushing this already endangered species to the brink of extinction, and destroying the livelihoods of local people.” www.digitaljournal.com/article/289481

The Complex Upshots Of The GreenPeace Campaign

• Nestlé has undertaken not to support their current supplier who is actually breaking Indonesian law and to use only certified sustainable palm oil by 2015
• Nestlé’s decision to cancel the existing contract has angered palm oil producers in Indonesia, who are threatening a boycott of Nestle products

The Jakarta Globe quoted an industry spokesman as having said

“About 10 million oil palm farmers in 20 Indonesian provinces have stated their readiness to boycott Nestle products. Apkasindo [Indonesian Palm Oil Growers Association] is now preparing to draw up a list of Nestle products on the market.”

The United States Jakarta Embassy says palm oil production is vital to North Sumatra’s economy,

“… employing 52 percent of the workforce overall and between 60 to 90 percent of the workforce outside of the major cities; generating 31.8 trillion Rupiah (about 3.2 billion USD) in provincial GDP; and exporting goods worth nearly one billion USD…

Palm oil trees were viewed by the logging industry as a good way to reforest logged areas cheaply while meeting regulations.
Nestle manufactures ” around 10,000″ different products, which it sells in 130 countries…

Palm oil is favoured by manufacturers because it is cheaper to grow and refine than oil from other vegetable sources.”

About Palm Oil

Mistakenly I thought Palm Oil was one of the very nasty trans fats

“fats that are artificially created through a chemical process of the hydrogenation of oils. This solidifies the oil and limits the body’s ability to regulate cholesterol. These fats are considered to be the most harmful to one’s health”

BUT

though Palm Oil isn’t a trans fat, it’s is highly saturated and not much better. See Is Palm Oil The Only Way To Eat Trans Fat Free?

Sustainable Palm Oil Used By The Body Shop

For some years now I see there has been a Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil which has developed a mechanism for palm oil traceability from plantation to end user.

The Body Shop now promotes its use of sustainable Palm Oil.

Wonder why this isn’t being discussed? What a minefield.