The past 10 days have seen a growing chorus of protests aimed at KFC’s destructive packaging while the company has remained totally silent over what action it will take to cut the infamous Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) out of its supply chain.
In India, Greenpeace activists dressed as orangutans held banners emblazoned with “KFC: No Good For Rainforests” outside a KFC store in downtown Delhi. A follow-up in Kolkata swiftly followed, with more orangutans lining up to demand that KFC stop turning rainforests into trash to make cheap packaging.
Protests took a forensics turn in the Netherlands, with no less than 29 KFC locations turning into “Forest Crime Scenes” depicting the victim of KFC’s destructive packaging sourcing: the critically endangered Sumatran tiger. There are now fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers in the wild, but KFC supplier APP is still pulping the remaining rainforest habitat of these magnificent creatures to fuel its mills. This even includes APP’s own “tiger sanctuary”.
Meanwhile in Spain, Greenpeace took to the streets to highlight KFC’s direct links to the destruction of Indonesian rainforests. Passers-by in Madrid were invited to reveal the truth behind KFC’s packaging – exotic birds and tigers at the mercy of one mean looking Colonel Sanders. Scarcely able to believe that KFC could be so irresponsible, crowds lined up to throw balls at cardboard cutouts of the Colonel.
Next up, Colonel Sanders got a taste of his own medicine when he showed up in Toronto’s Kensington Market, chainsaw in hand. Over and over again, a shivering “Colonel” was mercilessly dunked by pedestrians in his own iconic bucket. Of course, the original Colonel Sanders would be horrified to learn that KFC buckets and other packaging are being made from rainforests and habitat for critically endangered tigers.
And in Bangkok, more than 30 Greenpeace activists dressed as homeless Sumatran tigers gathered in front of KFC to illustrate the impacts of APP rainforest destruction and to urge the company to stop using cheap packaging from the tiger’s rainforest home. Even some of Bangkok’s monks were moved to join Greenpeace’s call to action!
Now that the secret is out of the bucket, Greenpeace is calling on KFC and its parent company Yum! to immediately drop APP as a supplier and get serious about eliminating deforestation from its supply chains. A host of major companies across the world (Xerox, Mattel, Kraft, to name but a few) have already taken action to remove APP from their supply chains as a result of its links to illegal logging, destruction of Sumatran tiger habitat and unrepentant draining of carbon-rich peatlands vital to prevent climate change.
So far, as KFC’s bosses watched in stunned silence, Greenpeace’s campaign continues to grow before their eyes, with more and more countries taking up the call. KFC needs to act now by ditching APP and introducing new policies to ensure deforestation is cut out of its supply chain. Otherwise it promises to be a long, hot summer for KFC. As they say, “out of the frying pan, into the fire…”
For the rainforests, endangered species and the climate, please join the revolt against KFC’s destructive packaging today. Rainforests aren’t trash: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/getinvolved/KFC-petition/