Burger King to eco-activists: have it your way
In what is being hailed a victory for the world’s rainforests, Burger King has dropped Indonesian palm oil producer Sinar Mas from its list of suppliers, the third major brand to cave to a Greenpeace pressure campaign that’s been stalking the corporate pages of Facebook over the past six months.
Greenpeace has used to great effect social media channels to confront companies one-on-one about their business ties with suppliers it calls rainforest wreckers. Its most recent scalp is the King. In late July, Greenpeace unleashed its latest broadside against Sinar Mas accusing the pulp-paper-and-palm-oil conglomerate of “continu[ing] to clear rainforest containing priceless biodiversity.” It didn’t stop there. In a recurring tactic, Greenpeace went after one of Sinar Mas’ most visible customers, Burger King.
As it did with Nestlé, Greenpeace encouraged its army of nearly 600,000 Facebook activists to badger the Burger King Facebook custodians with demands to withdraw all ties with Sinar Mas. No more than a month later and Burger King, which is caught in a tense M&A battle at the moment, delivered this white flag:
And how has the Facebook public reacted to the news of Sinar Mas’ boot? Sheer joy for the orangutans and a huge boost in respect and loyalty from Burger King’s hungry customers. Greenpeace has even heaped it on, encouraging its members to go to the Burger King page and thank the company for its actions:
Perhaps it was the heat of a takeover battle that convinced Burger King to distance itself from any further bad publicity. Whatever the reason, it was a wise move. Earlier this year, Nestlé suffered a major PR crisis online for its dealing with Sinar Mas palm oil in its Kit-Kat bars, and its online presence has still to make a full recovery.
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Burger King’s fans have it their way through #socialmedia – SMI blog post http://tinyurl.com/34vw2yd #social
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Burger King’s fans really do have it their way – In what is being hailed a victory for the world’s rainforests, Burg… http://ow.ly/18PFm3
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Burger King’s fans really do have it their way http://ow.ly/1qOPLb
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Burger King’s fans really do have it their way – BK drops palm oil supplier thanks to social media influence http://ow.ly/1qOPLb
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Burger King respects the power of #SocialMedia . Well done! http://bit.ly/cearrD
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Burger King and social media, hopefully this may trickle down to other companies. Its a shame the
planet has got… http://fb.me/tOoK2Fw0
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Greenpeace krijgt Burger King op knieën met vijandige Facebook page overname -> http://ow.ly/1qOPLb
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Burger King fans really do have it their own way. http://ow.ly/2yQMp
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Burger King fans really do have it their own way. http://ow.ly/2yQM9
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The Burger Kings Unites his Eco-People through Facebook http://ow.ly/2yAOd #socialmedia
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[...] PCRM isn’t a Greenpeace when it comes to social media mobilization [Greenpeace has already forced Burger King to get more eco-friendly though Facebook social pressure], PCRM has shown that even a smaller [...]
[...] fourth major brand Greenpeace has gone after in this way in the past seven months; others such as Burger King and Nestlé quickly felt the pressure and caved. Will Fonterra be [...]
[...] social media-led pressure campaigns. As we reported last year, Greenpeace forced Nestlé and Burger King into public pledges to change its palm oil suppliers to ones who don’t bulldoze orangutan [...]
[...] Take Burger King. Just last month it was forced to change its palm oil sourcing in the face of some fierce Greenpeace social-media protest pressure. Back in 2003 no one had heard of a “social-media swarm,” and the exploding business of [...]
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