Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
This #Halloween, as you revel in terrifying tales and creepy costumes, remember that the most terrifying tale of all isn’t just fun and games—it’s the horrifying truth about palm oil.
Yes – the scary story that most consumers miss is that palm oil in their treats is linked to ecocide, human rights abuses, indigenous land-grabbing and the extinction of forest animals everyone loves. Orangutans, tapirs, rhinos, elephants, tigers, toucans, jaguars, parrots, gorillas – the list runs into the tens of thousands!
Next time you reach for a Halloween treat, snack or chocolate find palm oil free alternatives instead on this website! Actively avoid and bocott the world’s biggest food brands like Nestle, Mondelez, Hersheys, Ferrero and Mars. Remember that “sustainable” palm oil is a massive greenwashing lie. This Halloween, take action and use your wallet as a weapon and buy palm oil free treats this Halloween. 🌍🌳🦍 #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
What is #Halloween’s most terrifying tale? #Palmoil #greenwashing 🧐💰🤑👿 #ecocide contained in your favourite #chocolate ☠️🌴🪔☠️ and #candy! Take action for #wildlife when you #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-6Tz
DYK so-called “sustainable” #palmoil is a #greenwashing lie that still causes #deforestation?🤯 Learn how to #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife this #Halloween 🎃👻🪦 Instead enjoy #palmoilfree and #vegan treats and #candy @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-6Tz
Key Takeaways
- This Halloween, consider the environmental and ethical issues linked to Halloween palm oil in treats.
- Palm oil production contributes to deforestation, human rights abuses, and threatens wildlife like orangutans and tigers.
- Avoid palmoil by choosing alternative treats and boycotting major brands like Nestle, Ferrero and Hersheys.
- The ‘sustainable’ palm oil label often misleads consumers and fails to stop deforestation.
- Use your purchasing power to support palm oil-free options and the #Boycottpalmoil movement.
Table of contents
- What’s the scary story about Halloween palm oil treats?
- But what about sustainable palm oil from the RSPO?
- Don’t farmers get to earn money from palm oil?
- Deep dive into the Halloween scary story of palm oil
- The Problems with Palm Oil
- Greenwashing: Manufacturing consumer demand for palm oil
- The #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife movement starts with you
- Download your free Halloween infographic here
What’s the scary story about Halloween palm oil treats?
The scariest story you will ever hear on Halloween is about palm oil’s devastating impacts on the environment, indigenous peoples and wild animals. Deforestation and ecocide caused by palm oil production threatens wildlife habitats, contributes to air pollution and water pollution, is strongly linked to climate change, and infringes on the rights of indigenous peoples all over the tropical world. Palm oil is commonly used in Halloween candies and treats for one reason only – it is cheap to manufacture.
But what about sustainable palm oil from the RSPO?
RSPO is a greenwashing tool that is funded by and propped up by the palm oil industry’s corporate giants. It was founded by WWF and Unilever who, along with other corporate giants in the palm oil supply chain, benefited from the greenwashing to the tune of millions of dollars over decades. Meanwhile, over 30 years not one of the supply chain members of RSPO actually stopped deforestation or rights abuses. Meaning – it is a fake, greenwashing label.
Palm oil greenwashing is so immense that the World Health Organisation put out a report in 2019 comparing palm oil greenwashing to big tobacco’s historical tactics of targeting children with marketing, astroturfing and paying for it’s own favourable research. An extensive analysis of this greenwashing can be found on this website.
Don’t farmers get to earn money from palm oil?
Although proponents of palm oil claim that it helps farmers to earn a living wage, a 2021 report by Chain Reaction Research found that the world’s biggest brands earn the lion’s share of profit from palm oil, 66% or more of gross profit flows back to the world’s biggest FMCG companies such as Nestle, Unilever, Hersheys and Colgate-Palmolive. In contrast, almost 0% of profit flows back to farmers themselves.
Take action in five ways!
- 1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop:
Use the one-click buttons to share written posts from this website or videos from Youtube to your own network and connect with Palm Oil Detectives on BlueSky, Twitter, Mastodon, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
- Contribute stories:
Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry can contribute stories or get in touch here.
- Supermarket sleuthing:
Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands using palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free. Find palm oil free brands here
- Donate to boost the #Boycott4Wildlife campaign
Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns that help animals, landscapes and people. Donate here
https://ko-fi.com/palmoildetectives - Download the premium version of the Yuka app
Yuka is an independent (not industry-funded) mobile app for Android and Apple. The paid version is $10 USD per year and is well worth the money! Simply scan all supermarket items to find out if they contain palm oil along with countless other nasty highly processed and unhealthy ingredients. You can scan cosmetic and personal care items as well as food. Set up alerts for palm oil to be flagged so you can disregard the items. Download the app
Deep dive into the Halloween scary story of palm oil
A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)
The Problems with Palm Oil
Palm Oil Detectives is a website that gathers together evidence from dozens of different sources in order to clearly show the elaborate and widespread greenwashing of so-called “sustainable” palm oil. Take a look at the 10 forms of “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing to see how this works, using a network of zoos and fake NGOs in order to push the narrative of “sustainable” palm oil to consumers.
Research: Certifying Palm Oil as “Sustainable” Is No Panacea
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Certification Schemes Fail to Stop Palm Oil Deforestation
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SIAT leaves Nigerian farmers starving, illegally “lease” land
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Greenwashing Tactic 9: Partnerships, Sponsorships and Research Funding
Greenwashing Tactic 9. Corporations use NGOs, Zoo partnerships, sponsorships, and research funding to give an industry or brand a ‘green image.
This website also provides evidence in the form of many research papers and reports from many non-profits (those organisations not partnered with the palm oil supply chain). These reports expose the immense corruption, ecocide and greenwashing in the palm oil industry along with its human rights abuses, violence, land-grabbing and animal cruelty – all associated with RSPO members supposedly using “sustainable” palm oil.
Greenwashing: Manufacturing consumer demand for palm oil
Since its inception two decades ago, the global certification for palm oil the RSPO continues to promote “sustainable” palm oil. Yet not one of its supply chain members has actually eradicated deforestation or human rights abuses from their palm oil supply chains. This constant promotion of the palm oil industry in spite of evidence of its ongoing failures is clear evidence of the RSPO’s greenwashing.
The global demand for palm oil contributes significantly to deforestation, particularly in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, Colombia, Nigeria and Uganda. These regions are rich in biodiversity, and the loss of their rainforests impacts numerous species non-human beings of all shapes and sizes. This includes not only the poster child for palm oil ecocide – the three orangutan species, but also rare and endangered plants and animal species.
From the smallest insect to the most magnificent elephant, to exquisite and vibrantly coloured birds – all are under threat by palm oil’s relentless growth across all tropical regions of the world. Indigenous peoples with their unique cultures, customs and languages are also endangered by palm oil expansion as well.
The #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife movement starts with you
If this terrifying tale of palm oil has alarmed you, the good news is – there are actions you can take.
One powerful and effective way to help rare animals, plants and indigenous peoples is to use your wallet as a weapon and boycott palm oil. By learning how to identify palm oil in products and choosing products that are palm oil free, you can contribute to reducing demand for this destructive commodity.
A great place to start is by searching for palm oil-free alternatives on this website and also by promoting the #Boycottpalmoil and #Boycott4Wildlife on movement on social media.
Remember, every purchase you make has an impact. This Halloween, support the wildlife you love and use your wallet as a weapon.
Download your free Halloween infographic here
Learn how to boycott palm oil this Halloween
Avoid and boycott palm oil in brands every Halloween with this complete guide for consumers in Australia, the UK and the USA.
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