“The Dark Side of Chocolate”

It’s February, and whether you like it or not, Valentine’s Day – a holiday equally loathed and celebrated by many – is only two weeks away. Along with Valentine’s Day comes shiny red heart-shaped boxes filled with chocolate. Chocolate is a tried-and-true Valentine’s gift and for good reason. Who doesn’t like chocolate? During Valentine’s week, Americans will consume more than 58 million pounds of chocolate candy. 
 

But there is a dark side to chocolate. For thousands of people, chocolate is the reason for their enslavement. 70 percent of the world’s cocoa is produced in West Africa, where many farms employ children that are trafficked and forced to work in conditions akin to slavery. To further illustrate, CorpWatch reports: 

“Approximately 286,000 children between the ages of nine and 12 have been reported to work on cocoa farms on the Ivory Coast alone with as many as 12,000 likely to have arrived in their situation as a result of child trafficking. These children are often at risk of injury from machetes and exposure to harmful pesticides. With world cocoa prices so low, many farmers maintain their labor force through trafficking; West African parents living in poverty often sell their kids to cocoa farmers for $50-$100 in hopes that the children will make some money on their own. 

“Sadly, although they work 80 to 100 hours per week, children working on cocoa farms frequently make little or no money and are regularly beaten, starved, and exhausted. Most of these children will never even taste the final product that results from their suffering. 

“How can consumers tell whether or not the products they consume are produced by slaves? The $13 billion dollar chocolate industry is dominated by two firms: Hershey’s and M&M’s/Mars. Both of these companies use mostly Ivory Coast cocoa; their products are almost certainly produced partly by slaves.”

Hershey is one of the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer, and gets most of its cocoa from West Africa. And even in today’s cynical climate, John Robbins astutely writes,

“There is a dark side to the operations of the Hershey company that make it particularly egregious. …The company purchases the primary ingredient in its products from sources [known for] notorious [or] abusive labor practices including forced labor, human trafficking, and child slavery. Furthermore, “Buying cocoa from farms that employ such abusive child labor practices enables Hershey to keep its costs down and its profits up. In early 2010, the company reported a 54 percent jump in profits because of what it called ‘improved supply-chain efficiencies.’ Such ‘efficiencies’ allow Hershey’s CEO, David J. West, to make $8 million a year while unpaid children are forced to labor under cruel conditions on the farms growing the company’s cocoa.”

Today, most likely, we would not be ballsy or emboldened enough to openly admit or argue that the economic benefit (i.e. larger profits due to “improved supply-chain efficiencies”) of using slave chocolate would outweigh the human cost (as it was the common argument for slavery in the US in the 18^th and 19^th centuries). Or are we? On a consumer level, are we caring and brave enough to ask the right questions, seek out better products, and pay the extra 50 cents or so?  

Instead, what if every chocolate consumer in the US started questioning where their chocolate comes from – particularly getting on Hershey’s case about its blatant lack of responsibility and paying PR lip service? (i.e.,  slave chocolate; as exhibited in Hershey’s own Corporate Responsibility Report [PDF] – which, in a lot of words, says nothing). What if we – one by one – decided to buy ethically-produced/Fair Trade Certified chocolate? What kind of multiplier effect would we have? 58 million pounds of chocolate, is the answer. That is 58 million pounds of chocolate that were not produced by illegally trafficked minors.

Conclusion
In closing, I’m not necessarily banning you from buying chocolates this Valentine’s Day. Instead, why not celebrate your love this Valentine’s Day with something truly sweet? Why not spend the extra effort and money to get quality, fair trade chocolate for your loved one?  Does that cheap red heart-shaped box express true love, anyway? Why not become a part a larger “love movement” by giving the most precious gift of all: freedom? Fair trade chocolate makes this possible.

Join the Discussion…

Article written by Gloria (“Ria”) Shin of Learn.Think.Act. © All rights reserved, 2012. Top Photo from The Dark Side of Chocolate Documentary, 2010. Heart photo from Nielson Wire. Theo chocolate featured in last photo, which has a fair trade certification.