About a dozen protesters, some clad in inflatable chicken costumes, gathered outside The Breakers in Palm Beach on May 11 to protest Unilever over its global cage-free-egg commitment during a major beauty industry summit at the resort.
And the next day across town, a smaller and separate protest targeting alleged unfair labor practices at Apollo Global Management took place outside the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, a few doors down from the international asset-management firm’s Palm Beach office. The Apollo Global demonstration included an inflatable rat that towered over the protesters.
At the Unilever protest
The Unilever protest was organized by The Humane League, an animal advocacy group that says it has worked for about two decades to end the abuse of animals raised for food.
The group said it organizes hundreds of protests and other advocacy campaigns annually, including events and email drives targeting companies over animal welfare practices.
The Humane League said it was targeting Unilever, a British multinational company that owns brands across food, personal care and household products, because of what activists described as a gap in the company’s 2018 pledge to source 100% cage-free eggs globally by 2025.
According to organizers, Unilever has adopted cage-free egg sourcing in North America and Europe but not elsewhere, leaving millions of hens in cages each year and creating what they call a two-tier animal welfare system between Western and developing markets.
“We need Unilever to fulfill their global cage-free egg policy in all regions that they operate in,” Drea Gutierrez, who helped organize the protest, told the Daily News. “Unilever made a global commitment, and they are currently failing. We’re not going to allow companies to get away with animal abuse.”
She said the timing of the protest coincided with the WWD Beauty CEO Summit at the oceanfront resort, which brought together executives, founders and innovators in the global beauty industry.
Representatives of Unilever and the WWD Beauty CEO Summit did not respond to requests for comment.
The event, held May 11–13, focused on how advances in science, technology and consumer behavior are reshaping the business of beauty.
Among the scheduled speakers at the summit were Herrish Patel, president of Unilever USA, and Casey DePalma McCartney, chief brand communications officer for Unilever USA.
“We’re here because the summit is going to have at least two Unilever executives attend,” Gutierrez said. “These people hold power and they can influence Unilever’s supply chain and hold the company that they work for accountable to do better for animals and get them out of cages and egg factory farms.”
Melodi Gulsen, a Los Angeles resident who joined the protest May 11, echoed Gutierrez’s comments, saying demonstrators hoped to pressure company leaders attending the summit to follow through on the cage-free commitment.
“Unilever made a cage-free promise and they’ve pulled back on it with no progress,” she said. “So we’re here to hold the CEO of U.S. Unilever accountable. We want to urge them to go completely cage-free and make a global commitment.”
During the two-hour protest, held on the sidewalk along South County Road outside the entrance to The Breakers, protesters held signs, chanted and shared their message with passersby.
“They’ve had years to get ready and actually get millions of egg-laying hens out of battery cages and egg-laying farms,” protester Elizabeth Martinez said.
In a statement to the Daily News, a representative of The Breakers said the resort respected the right to peaceful protest and was working with the Palm Beach Police Department to ensure safety during the demonstrations.
“We respect the right to peaceful expression and remain focused on ensuring a safe and seamless experience for our guests, clients, club members and team,” the statement said.
At the Apollo Global Management protest
Outside the Four Seasons Resort on the morning of May 12, protesters targeted New York City-based Apollo Global Management over alleged labor practices. The Four Seasons, 2800 S. Ocean Blvd., stands near an office building at 2875 S. Ocean Blvd., where Apollo Global Management has an office, according to its website.
A handful of demonstrators gathered outside the Four Seasons alongside a large inflatable rat — commonly used in labor protests — to criticize the firm’s role in the 5 Times Square project, a major office-to-residential conversion in New York City. They alleged construction workers on the project were being paid substandard wages.
Wearing fluorescent safety vests, two of the protesters held a sign urging passersby to contact Apollo Global Management and call for fair treatment of workers.
A representative of Apollo Global Management told the Palm Beach Daily News the company was “disappointed by the false allegations and the distraction they create from an important project for New York City.”
In a statement, the firm said 40% of the 5 Times Square office-to-residential conversion project had been awarded to union contractors.
“We are proud to be associated with a development that is directly addressing one of New York City’s most pressing challenges,” the statement said. “The shortage of adequate housing in this city is real, and projects like this one are part of the solution.”
According to project information, Apollo is a financial partner and part-owner in the 5 Times Square redevelopment with RXR Realty and SL Green Realty.
The Four Seasons would not confirm whether representatives of Apollo Global Management were meeting there during the protest.
Palm Beach police later asked protesters to deflate the rat because it was blocking the sidewalk and extending into the roadway. The protesters were gone from the area soon afterward.
The Apollo Global protest took place on the same day that Democratic members of Congress held an unofficial hearing at West Palm Beach City Hall into sexual abuse by the late Jeffrey Epstein. In March 2021, billionaire Leon Black resigned as CEO and chairman of Apollo Global Management, which he had co-founded, amid scrutiny over his ties to Epstein. Black has denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s criminal conduct.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Protesters in Palm Beach target Unilever, Apollo Global Management
Reporting by Jodie Wagner, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
