🐱 Costco pulled a coconut milk brand for allegedly using forced monkey labor

https://www.mic.com/p/costco-pulled-a-coconut-milk-brand-for-allegedly-using-forced-monkey-labor-40686658

We usually think of exploitative labor practices as human-on-human crimes. Unfortunately for the whole of humanity, big business don’t limit their oppressive and cruel labor practices to homo sapiens. Thai coconut milk company Chaokoh was outed last month for allegedly forcing monkey laborers to pick coconuts, and Costco is the latest retail giant to drop the brand from its shelves in response.


People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — PETA — released a red flag expose of Chaokoh in August after concluding a rigorous investigation. PETA asserts that the company had confined monkeys to cramped cages, chained them, abused them, and forced them to pick as many as 1,000 coconuts a day on 8 different farms in Thailand, CBS reported. The truly heartbreaking videos released by PETA show monkeys driven mad by their inhumane and outrageous treatment.

“We have made it clear to the supplier that we do not support the use of monkeys for harvesting and that all harvesting must be done by human labor,” Ken Kimble, Costco’s vice president, told USA Today. For its part, Chaokoh issued a statement that they, “do not engage the use of monkey labour in our coconut plantations.” Yeah, okay. It’s really hard to find this kind of corporate posturing credible when the whole coconut industry in Thailand is under scrutiny for its monkey labor issues.


As our collective eyes open to the multitude of human tragedies we are currently facing, it may feel easy to shrug this one off. Clearly, we have a lot of more urgent concerns. This is undoubtedly true, and also, from where I sit, the forced labor of monkeys is just another sad symptom of the cruel virus we call capitalism.

Unfortunately, we need the enthusiastic participation of corporate megaliths to wipe out this particular strain of cruelty. The good news is that, in addition to Costco, some major retail players are saying no to the inhumane treatment of monkeys. Giant Food, Food Lion and Stop & Shop — all owned by Ahold Delhaize — and Cost Plus World Market, owned by Bed Bath & Beyond, dropped the brand in September. Neither Walmart nor Target have commented on whether they will follow suit.

 

[ColtWalker1847]

Fun fact: grinding whole coconuts is how chocolate milk is created.

That's cool. Where is the proof that these are working for that company and all the other crap they accuse them of. PETA goes hard on the visuals but never backs any of that shit up.

 

[The Fool]

You're only wrong because I was calling black people monkeys.

Which sentence were you referring to black people as monkeys? The first or the second?
This is a very confusing euphemism.

 

[Blue_Snow]

one of these days, the monkeys will rebel against us. honestly, can't wait for our monkey overlords.

 

[Swiss46]

This one goes out to all my brothers in the coconut milk business.

 

[Big Jake]

Gambian pouch rats sniff out land mines. They're very cute.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Now that's just racist.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

How do you force a monkey to do anything?

It sounds like it would be more work than just doing the work yourself.

Monkeys can be trained to perform tasks. Some disabled people have helper monkeys.

 

[Dr. Ricearoni]

And people say we needed to go back to monke. Ok sure retards. I bet those monkey torture channels on youtube are jerking off about this.

I'm sorry the what now

 

[CWCissey]

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times!?

 

[Battlecruiser3000ad]

Monkeys can be trained to perform tasks. Some disabled people have helper monkeys.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1987680/

There's even movies about it.

 

[Uncle Warren]

I'm sorry the what now

You're new aren't you?

 

[Big Jake]

Which sentence were you referring to black people as monkeys? The first or the second?
This is a very confusing euphemism.

"Monkeys are being used as slave labor".

"I fully support that. Get them off their asses and actually doing something in life. On an unrelated note I'm a fan of primates". * Rimshot *

"Oh I get it, at first it would seem that he supports monkey slavery but then in his second sentence he's revealing the punchline to his joke which is that he actually likes animals thus rendering the totality of his comment a joke at the expense of black people".

It's not that hard, you guys.

 

[The Fool]

"Monkeys are being used as slave labor".

"I fully support that. Get them off their asses and actually doing something in life. On an unrelated note I'm a fan of primates". * Rimshot *

"Oh I get it, at first it would seem that he supports monkey slavery but then in his second sentence he's revealing the punchline to his joke which is that he actually likes animals thus rendering the totality of his comment a joke at the expense of black people".

It's not that hard, you guys.

I don't get it. Why are black people related to monkeys again? Did I miss some context?
This is a really confusing joke, jokes usually fail if you have to explain them.

 

[Fish-Eyed Fool]

I don't know if we should be relying on monkeys for this kind of labor. Hasn't worked out well for the Chinese.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

Coconut milk doesn't exist.
Coconuts are from a plant and milk comes from the mammary glands of mammals.

I remember playing Statropics on Nintendo and getting to the part where I drank Coconut Milk to feel better. My tiny kid brain was like ".... huh... how does THAT work?"

Unfortunately you can call anything milk at this point.

Reminds me if this little tid-bit...

You know this isn't a euphemism for blacks and they literally mean monkeys right

 

[Big Jake]

I don't get it. Why are black people related to monkeys again? Did I miss some context?
This is a really confusing joke, jokes usually fail if you have to explain them.

I think several other people got it. I don't know if you're young or from the US or just not as racist as I am, so I'll explain: In America, usually with the briefest of exposure to them, black people tend to reveal that they are very monkeylike in their behavior. That is to say stupid, lazy, prone to random violence against anyone or anything for no reason, etc.

Hence, being on this site and seeing the title of the topic, I was initially under the assumption that the OP was referring to blacks, not actual monkeys. When I saw that it wasn't, I decided to have fun by acting as if I thought that he was. As a joke. Against black people. Because I generally don't like them when they're reinforcing all of the worst stereotypes about them, which is most of the time.

In other words (Sees thread title) "Yeah! That's awesome! Oh wait, you mean ACTUAL monkeys? Oh, that's kind of a shame actually".

 

[The Fool]

I think several other people got it. I don't know if you're young or from the US or just not as racist as I am, so I'll explain: In America, usually with the briefest of exposure to them, black people tend to reveal that they are very monkeylike in their behavior. That is to say stupid, lazy, prone to random violence against anyone or anything for no reason, etc.

Hence, being on this site and seeing the title of the topic, I was initially under the assumption that the OP was referring to blacks, not actual monkeys. When I saw that it wasn't, I decided to have fun by acting as if I thought that he was. As a joke. Against black people. Because I generally don't like them when they're reinforcing all of the worst stereotypes about them, which is most of the time.

In other words (Sees thread title) "Yeah! That's awesome! Oh wait, you mean ACTUAL monkeys? Oh, that's kind of a shame actually".

Wow, you sound really prejudice. Jokes are supposed to be fun, you sound like you're using it just to express your dissatisfaction at a minority. That was a pretty bad joke.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

Wow, you sound really prejudice. Jokes are supposed to be fun, you sound like you're using it just to express your dissatisfaction at a minority. That was a pretty bad joke.

You sound like an autistic retard that doesn't understand humor.

 

[The Fool]

You sound like an autistic retard that doesn't understand humor.

Why do I sound like an autistic retard that doesn't understand humor?

 

[Big Jake]

Wow, you sound really prejudice. Jokes are supposed to be fun, you sound like you're using it just to express your dissatisfaction at a minority. That was a pretty bad joke.

I'm terribly, terribly ashamed of my actions.