Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) headquarters in the US still have their heads in the sand about their company’s links to forest destruction, but Greenpeace campaigners around the world are finding inventive ways to challenge the status quo. This time by speaking directly to the people who work at the company’s headquarters… with cookies.
Greenpeace volunteers and forest campaign staff visited the Canadian headquarters of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) bright and early on Monday morning for a friendly visit. This time, bearing gifts of coffee and tiger-themed cookies.
It was a sweet way to communicate to KFC Canada staff that critically endangered Sumatran tiger habitat is being destroyed to make their packaging around the world.
Staff were good natured and seemed happy to engage in conversation, but a few were genuinely surprised to learn that KFC Canada has no policy to keep rainforest destruction out of its supply chain. That comes as little surprise, given that KFC’s parent company Yum! Brands is failing to show leadership and deliver a global, environmentally responsible, purchasing policy.
And so I personally delivered a letter to KFC Canada CEO Sabir Sami, urging him to join our call for Yum! Brands global chief David Novak to develop a global policy to rid rainforest destruction from KFC supply chains.
Canada would not be the first country offices to have taken the initiative. KFC Indonesia, for instance, issued a statement to address the issues of deforestation in its supply chain and declared its decision to suspend purchases from Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).
While KFC bosses in Kentucky keep their heads firmly planted in the sands, their corporate peers have not been afraid to take real action. Companies like Mattel, Hasbro and Lego have all the cuts their ties to rainforest destruction and embraced sustainability. Leaders act.
But if David Novak won’t take action, at least you can – show your support for Greenpeace and our fight to protect the planet’s remaining rainforests here: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/getinvolved/KFC-petition/
Shane Moffatt is a Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Canada