Blog #10: Break me off a piece of that Killer bar!

I recently worked on a presentation project with a fellow classmate (Lorena S.) about social media for another class. In researching for our piece of the pie, Lorena showed me a video that parodied a Nestlé KitKat commercial released by the environmental group Greenpeace. Greenpeace is an organization that has been around since 1971. "We exist to expose environmental criminals, and to challenge government and corporations when they fail to live up to their mandate to safeguard our environment and our future." Living up to their promise to be a voice for the environment and the earth, Greenpeace launched a campaign (including an incorporated logo replacing "KitKat" with "Killer") pushing the Nestlé food corporation to end ties to the Sinar Mas Group (the largest producer of palm oil) in Indonesia and the destruction of the rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands. Palm oil is used in products like chocolate, bread, margarine, cosmetics and the production of biodiesel. As a member of the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Nestlé is just one of the companies that has made a commitment to finding alternative ways to making palm oil more sustainable. Although Nestlé has denied that they do business with the Sinar Mas Group, Greenpeace released a report entitled "Caught Red-Handed" revealing information (with over 70 entries as sources of evidence) about Nestlé's association with the group. Sumatran rainforests are home to endangered orangutans. Because these rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands are being leveled to make way for palm oil plantations, orangutans are forced to live off young palm trees for sustenance. This conflict of interest puts them at a larger risk of extinction.

The reason I chose to use Greenpeace vs Nestlé is because it was the video Greenpeace released via YouTube to begin their campaign. We have talked extensively about the impact social media has had on how we communicate in today's digitally connected world. I can't think of a better or more recent example of social media aiding in political activism than this. Because their parody commercial went viral when it hit YouTube, Nestlé has felt the rippling effects of Internet political activism at its best; not to mention feeling the effects on their Facebook page as well. Nestlé's first response began with asking YouTube to pull the commercial citing copyright infringement in hopes of silencing Greenpeace. But it was too late. As you probably know, once a video goes viral there's no way to keep it under wraps. Greenpeace re-posted the video anyway on Vimeo.com and used Twitter to get the word out that the video was back up. On Nestlé's end the response on their Facebook page from consumers was astounding. They currently have over 96,000 friends and the number continues to grow. They have made several postings in the last few days in response to all the negative hype surrounding the Greenpeace video and maintains their commitment to used certified sustainable palm oil by 2015 and posted comments saying, "We care and will continue to pressure our suppliers to eliminate any sources of palm oil which are related to rainforest destruction. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/nestlepalmoil."


Although Greenpeace has been around long before the Internet and social media, using these tools to their advantage and is proof that social media gives even the most complacent of activists a chance to voice an opinion from the comfort of their homes. It's unfortunate for Nestlé that Internet political activism has changed the way people stand up for the rights of the earth and all it's creatures, but I guess that's just the way the KitKat breaks.