Earlier this year, Nestle’s Kit Kat made green headlines by announcing its bars in the U.K. will be made with fair trade chocolate. Now, Kit Kats have been making headlines again, this time for combining that ethical chocolate with very environmentally destructive palm oil.

 

Greenpeace has launched a campaign, with an unsubtly altered Kit Kat logo that declares Nestle a “Killer.” Why? Nestle “uses palm oil from companies that are trashing Indonesian rainforests, threatening the livelihoods of local people and pushing orangutans towards extinction.” Those unethical palm oil companies includes Sinar Mas group, Indonesia’s largest producer of palm oil, whose practices are so destructive that even Kraft and Unilever have cut ties with the giant.

 

Nestle, however, has stuck with Sinar Mas, thus prompting the Greenpeace campaign. I’m guessing whatever inroads Kit Kat made into the eco-ethical chocolate market with its fair trade sourcing announcement will be derailed by Greenpeace’s efforts, which include a disturbing short video that shows one Kit Kat eater ending up with orangutan blood all over his face.

 

Have a break? from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.

 

Kit Kats aren't Nestle's only products named and shamed. Nestlé's Crunch, CoffeeMate, and PowerBar are among other products orangutan fans should avoid.

 

This isn’t the first time Nestle’s gotten in trouble for destroying rain forests in Indonesia. Back in 2007, World Wildlife Fund reported that Nestle — along with some other companies — was buying coffee illegally grown in habitat for endangered tigers, rhinos, and elephants.'

 

Also on MNN: See our food blogger's take on the story, including a response from Nestle