Strawberry the Orangutan Visits the Home of Tony the Tiger

posted by Rainforest Action Network

Strawberry at Kellogg's HQ

Today an orangutan called Strawberry, along with RAN’s Palm Oil Action Team and local residents from Battle Creek, Michigan, paid a visit to the home of Tony the Tiger, a.k.a Kellogg’s headquarters, to call on the snack food giant to cut “Conflict Palm Oil” from its products.

Strawberry’s family lives in the forests of Indonesia on the island of Sumatra, but the expansion of palm oil plantations is threatening their home. After Strawberry learned that Kellogg’s was using Conflict Palm Oil in its products, she set out to tell her story to the company directly and ask the decison makers at Kellogg’s to make sure they help protect her family’s home.

Strawberry hoped she might meet Tony the Tiger—thinking he might be a cousin to the Sumatran tigers she knows from home—but instead she met with his keepers. At the Kellogg’s HQ, she and her friends from the palm oil action team gave representatives of the Kellogg Company a copy of the report that RAN released last week, titled Conflict Palm Oil: How US Snack Food Brands are Contributing to Orangutan Extinction, Climate Change and Human Rights Violations, and outlined RANs demand to cut Conflict Palm Oil.

Strawberry hopes that the folks at Kellogg’s listen to her story and take her demands to heart, but she needs your help to convince Kellogg’s to cut Conflict Palm Oil.

The time for action is now. Here are three things you can do right now to echo our demands to Kellogg’s: 1. Call Kellogg’s at 1-800-962-1413. Here’s a call script you can use:

“Hi, my name is [your name] from [your city]. I’m a [student, mom..] and one of your valued customers! It concerns me that your company cannot guarantee that it is not using conflict palm oil in its products. Kellogg Company must demand responsible palm oil from its suppliers and eliminate conflict palm oil from your products. I encourage you to build on the Kellogg Company existing palm oil procurement commitments by adopting a new global responsible palm oil procurement policy and implementation plan that ensures that the palm oil in your company’s supply chain is fully traceable, legally grown, and sourced from verified responsible palm oil producers not associated with deforestation, expansion onto carbon-rich peatlands or human and labor rights violations. Thank You!”

2. Post this message on Kellogg’s Facebook wall:

Hey Kellogg Company, I’m standing with orangutans, and I can’t stand by brands that use conflict palm oil. Demand responsible palm oil from your suppliers and eliminate conflict palm oil from your products. The power is #InYourPalm.

3. Tweet at Kellogg’s:

@KelloggCompany I can’t stand by brands that use conflict #palmoil. The power is #InYourPalm.

Since April, RAN’s team and our supporters have been calling on Kellogg’s to adopt and implement a time-bound policy that builds on its existing commitment and ensures that the palm oil in the company’s supply chain is fully traceable, legally grown, and sourced from verified responsible palm oil producers not associated with deforestation, expansion onto carbon-rich peatlands or human and labor rights violations.

In August, Kellogg’s responded to our call to action by releasing a strengthened palm oil commitment. Now Kellogg’s needs to turn that commitment into a robust global palm oil policy and remove Conflict Palm Oil from its products.

Adopting a global responsible palm oil policy is even more important now that Kellogg’s has entered into a joint venture partnership with the world’s largest palm oil trader, Wilmar International. Wilmar International currently does not have an adequate global responsible palm oil procurement policy and, like other global palm oil traders such as Cargill, they continue to buy and sell Conflict Palm Oil to companies like the Snack Food 20. It’s crucial that Kellogg’s only maintains joint venture partnerships with supply chain partners who are willing to eliminate Conflict Palm Oil from their global supply chains.

Every day our Palm Oil Action Team is taking action and we are growing a national grassroots movement of US shoppers that are joining Strawberry and demanding that the Snack Food 20 eliminate Conflict Palm Oil.

Find out about the next stop on The Power Is In Your Palm Tour or join our Palm Oil Action Team if you want to help build the movement that will remove Conflict Palm Oil from snack foods. You can also visit www.inyourpalm.org to take action and call on all of the Snack Food 20 companies to cut Conflict Palm Oil from their products.

For more info, download the full Conflict Palm Oil report.