Kroger Makes PETA’s Corporate ‘Naughty’ List for Monkey Labor Scandal
For Immediate Release:
December 17, 2020
Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382
With Christmas just around the corner, PETA is releasing its “naughty” list of 11 top animal-offending companies, checking it twice, and urging the Scrooges to change their ways—and grocery giant Kroger has landed on the list for selling coconut products from suppliers that chain up monkeys and force them to pick coconuts in Thailand.
“All PETA wants for Christmas is for Kroger to stop profiting from chained monkeys,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “By ending its support of abusive brands like Chaokoh, Kroger could give these long-suffering animals a little peace on Earth.”
A PETA Asia investigation revealed that monkeys are chained, isolated from their peers, transported in cages, and forced to climb trees in order to pick coconuts day in and day out for brands such as Chaokoh. Among other efforts, PETA has pushed Kroger to reconsider its relationship with Chaokoh through a billboard, protests, letters from tens of thousands of PETA supporters, and deliveries of humanely picked coconuts. So far, the retailer has refused to join the more than 26,000 other stores—including chains Wegmans, Costco, Walgreens, Food Lion, and Stop & Shop—that have banned coconut milk brands that use coconuts picked by monkeys.
Other companies on PETA’s “naughty” list include Starbucks, which profits from an upcharge of 60 cents or more on eco-friendly, dairy-free milk; Petco, where horrified customers have found dead betta fish floating in tiny plastic cups right on store shelves; and Urban Outfitters, which sells clothing made of wool and other materials stolen from terrified animals. For the full list, please click here.
PETA’s motto is “Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way,” and the group opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
