This report is a quick dive into the world of palm oil, where brands, NGOs and governments are key stakeholders. They use marketing, activism and lobbying to advance their interests but sometimes it's interesting to take a step back and analyze the situation. We wanted to use our social data analytics technology and expertise to see how the global online conversations about palm oil had evolved over these last few years. In France, public opinion is changing : people used to be concerned about palm oil's impact on their health but now they're more concerned about the environment.

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2. In a context of volatile media coverage on
environmental or health topics, palm oil has
had its share of controversies. Brands are
regularly the target of negative or
destabilization campaigns.
We thought we would take a look at all these
events and provide an overview on the
subject.
Photo : http://commons.wikimedia.org
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3. To study the reputation of palm oil and how it
evolved these last months, we data mined the
web and came up with 490 000 mentions on
palm oil.
The data is sourced from the public web
(Twitter, blogs, forum, medias…)
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4. 2010 : A Greenpeace campaign accuses Kit Kat of deforesting to the
point where orangutans are going extinct.
2012 : French Green Party introduces a “Nutella Tax” to the Senate.
2013 : Jean-Marc Ayrault the French PM goes to Malaysia and declares
the “Nutella Tax” bill is buried
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Numberofmentions
In a year, international web users have progressively lost interest in the topic of palm oil.
Source: 450 217 mentions on the public web
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Half the conversations are about the Environment. The second concern is around Health
Source: 450 217 mentions on the public web 8

9. When discussing palm oil, web users are
mainly concerned about the environment
(and more specifically deforestation).
NGOs are vigilant when it comes to corporate
promises regarding sustainable palm oil. If
NGOs believe promises are not kept, they go
after the brands held responsible.
Across the world, palm oil mentions are
decreasing due to a lack of major news and
events.
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Volumedementions
Mentions about the topic of palm oil is increasing in France. Most are driven by activism and high-
visibility events such as the death of Ferrero’s founder.
Huile de Palme Nutella + Huile de Palme "Bad buzz" Nutella
Source: 41 800 mentions, public web
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In France, “Health” is the main conversation topic for most of the 1st semester we analyzed. However, towards
October, people increasingly turned to discussing palm oil and the environment.
Source: 450 217 mentions, public web 11

12. In 2014 the sensitive health conversations
progressively gave way to environmental
concerns. At the start of 2015, 71% of
mentions were about the environment.
Social topics are still a minority but have
occasional spikes in mentions.
In France a campaign for Nutella was
considered a ”brand fail” in February 2015.
When we look at it in the context of global
mentions about palm oil, the topic is barely
there.
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14. Across the world, governments and
agriculture firms are accused of
evicting tribes and villagers from
their ancestral lands in the name of
expanding palm oil plantations.
Relevant stakeholders
Forceful evictions and clashes with
the police are regularly relayed by
NGOs or opposition parties in the
exporting countries.
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15. The health risks for palm plantation
workers is increasingly coming under
scrutiny and criticism. Child workers
are often mentioned as well.
Relevant stakeholders
Anti-GMO NGOs are going after the
toxicity of the Paraquat insecticide
and the consequences it could have
on exposed workers.
Copyright © Digital Insighters "Fabricant d'huile de palme (Edéa)" by Rodrig mbock15

16. Cameroon is intensifying its efforts
to become a major player on the
world palm oil market.
Relevant stakeholders
NGOs based in Africa are starting to
cover and attack the deforestation
and extinction of endangered
species due to deforestation.
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