PETA ‘Lobs’ a Bunch of Coconuts at Albertsons President and CEO

Albertsons Pushed to Follow Costco’s Lead and Cut Ties With Coconut Milk Brand That Uses Monkey Labor

For Immediate Release:
October 28, 2020

Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382

A special delivery from PETA is on its way to Albertsons President and CEO Vivek Sankaran: a bunch of fresh, humanely obtained coconuts. The delivery comes after Costco told PETA that it had cut ties with Thai brand Chaokoh, which a PETA Asia investigation revealed uses coconuts picked by chained monkeys.

PETA previously praised Albertsons for posting signs warning shoppers about the dangers of leaving dogs and children in parked cars—and now, the group is calling on the chain to extend its compassion to monkeys

“It’s totally nuts that Albertsons is still selling coconut milk made from coconuts picked by monkeys in Thailand who are chained, separated from their peers, driven insane, and forced to work long hours,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on Albertsons to stop being coconuts and say, ‘So long!’ to Chaokoh.”

In addition to Costco’s locations, more than 25,000 stores around the world—including chains Walgreens, Giant, and Food Lion—have pledged not to sell coconut products obtained through monkey labor.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way,” and the group opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. PETA has also sent coconuts and letters to executives of other holdout companies—including Kroger, Publix, and Woodman’s Markets—to ask them to reconsider their business relationship with Chaokoh.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Sankaran follows.

October 28, 2020

Vivek Sankaran

President and CEO

Albertsons

Dear Mr. Sankaran,

Greetings from PETA. We applaud Albertsons for offering tasty vegan meats, cheeses, and other products for your customers and for your decision to post signs warning shoppers about the dangers of leaving dogs and children in parked cars over the summer. We are counting on Albertsons to take action on another important issue. We’ve sent you these coconuts in the hope of finally cracking open a dialog about reconsidering your business relationship with Chaokoh, a brand sold by your company that was implicated in a recent PETA Asia exposé of Thailand’s coconut industry.

Our investigation revealed that Chaokoh is part of an industry that’s forcing monkeys—confined for life, sometimes with their teeth removed, always chained, and often driven insane from being deprived of everything that’s natural and important to them—to climb trees in order to collect coconuts. It seems that most (if not all) of these animals are illegally captured from the forest as babies. Their training is extremely abusive.

Please visit PETA.org/Coconuts to watch the undercover footage.

More than 25,000 other stores, including Costco, have pledged not to purchase products from this company that was implicated in forced monkey labor.

We hope you will act swiftly to remove cruelly sourced coconut products from your shelves. May we please hear from you soon?

Very truly yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk

President