Greenpeace invades Nestlé shareholder meeting

Greenpeace continued its campaign against Nestlé with a rather dramatic stunt at its shareholders’ meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland last week. According to Treehugger:

Nestlé’s annual shareholder meeting was interrupted by a protester dropping from the ceiling to unfurl a huge banner saying “Nestle, Give the orangutans a break!”

“Nestlé’s chair, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, was explaining how well the company had performed over the last fiscal year when noises were heard up in the roof and leaflets began raining down, not at all unlike a shower of cash,” says Greenpeace’s blog.

Since Nestlé’s use of rainforest-destroying palm oil is at the heart of the issue, Greenpeace also sent a swarm of protesters clad in orangutan costumes to wreak havoc outside the meeting. As the video shows, Greenpeace is great at pulling off eye-grabbing stunts perfect for viral dissemination through social media. But I’m still wondering if Greenpeace will address the Indonesian workers hurt by cancelled palm oil contracts. They could at least demand that some of Nestlé’s windfall profits go toward creating sustainable jobs in Indonesia.