For Immediate Release:
August 19, 2021
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
Lakeland, Fla. – On Saturday, PETA’s “monkey” mascots will dump hundreds of humanely picked coconuts outside the Lakeland home of Publix CEO Todd Jones in response to the supermarket chain’s continued sale of Chaokoh brand coconut milk even after two PETA Asia undercover investigations have revealed that Chaokoh forces monkeys—who are kept caged and chained for life—to pick coconuts.
When: Saturday, August 21, 12 noon
Where: Lakeland
The “monkeys” previously dumped coconuts outside Publix’s Lakeland corporate office and an Orlando Publix store—and the coconuts will keep coming until the company joins the more than 33,000 stores that have banned coconut milk brands tied to monkey labor.
“Every can of Chaokoh on Publix’s shelves represents the misery of a chained-up monkey,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is bringing the message home to Publix’s CEO that it’s nuts to condone forced monkey labor.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
