Greenpeace calls for Simplot to comment on John West campaign

Greenpeace’s campaign to expose John West’s allegedly unsustainable fishing methods has escalated, with the green campaigner claiming John West coerced a company to remove a billboard featuring Greenpeace’s “Reject John West” campaign advertising.

Greenpeace had paid for a billboard reading “John West Killer Deal - RejectJohnWest.com” to be erected for four weeks near John West’s headquarters in Melbourne. The billboard was removed on 30 October.

Independent Outdoor Media (IOM) confirmed that the Greenpeace campaign was cut short due to “commercial pressure”, but would not elaborate on the nature of the pressure.

“Given the focus of the campaign and the proximity of the billboard, Greenpeace is calling on John West owners Simplot to clarify whether it, or any of its commercial partners, exerted pressure on IOM to end the public campaign,” said Greenpeace Oceans campaigner Nathaniel Pelle.

“John West’s owner, Simplot, has enormous media-buying budgets and Greenpeace wants to know whether or not Simplot has pressured IOM to take down the billboard targeting it,” said Pelle.

Greenpeace is urging John West to change its fishing practices, which it says are “destructive”. It claims that John West sells tuna caught using fish aggregating devices (FADs), which result in a 10% bycatch of sharks, manta rays, baby tuna and turtles.

John West says it has formed a partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which will see all John West products sourced sustainably by 2015. The partnership also involves John West committing to WWF’s Global Sustainable Seafood Charter.

In response to Greenpeace’s claims about its fishing practices, John West says its bycatch is only 2% and in 2011, over 60% of its fishing activity did not involve FADs.

Greenpeace has purchased a mobile billboard to drive the streets of Melbourne in order to continue its campaign advertising.