Dive Brief:
- Kellogg has agreed to change the way it purchases palm oil. The cereal maker pledges to do business only with companies who can prove they do not damage rain forests.
- The move is a major victory for activists who have lobbied the company to improve its sourcing methods as a way to protect the environment.
- The food manufacturer has adopted an aggressive timeline to clean up its palm-oil purchasing — promising to source all such material from appropriate suppliers by 2016.
Dive Insight:
Back in November, we made note of how activists were successfully linking Kellogg's "Tony the Tiger" mascot to the deforestation crisis. We said then that Kellogg "needs to find a way out of this and fast."
It would appear that Kellogg has done exactly that. We applaud this move. We applaud the speed at which it was done. And we'd urge anyone in the food industry who faces similar challenges from activist consumers to follow suit.