Chocolate not always a sweet deal
Easter is here, and that means only one thing; big money for the chocolate industry.
Chocolate and candy companies have hijacked this holiday, using heavy marketing and advertising aimed at children for decades in order to continue reaping the profits generated by our consumer culture. All children in North America now look forward to Easter because they expect to find countless chocolate eggs hidden around their house, and solid chocolate bunnies to nibble on all day. While we let our children excessively indulge in chocolate, much less fortunate children are being enslaved to provide it.
It is widely known that cocoa plantations are some of the worst exploiters of child labour. According to the U.S. State Department and the International Labor Organization, children, at times younger than nine years old, are forced to work as slaves in horrible conditions.
Although the issue of child slavery gets very little exposure in the media, it is quite commonly used in the cocoa industry. There are currently an estimated 284,000 child slaves, aged between nine and 12, working for cocoa plantations in West Africa alone.
Although most major chocolate companies denounce this activity, and claim to be working towards stopping it, they are actually doing very little to stop it, and are in fact profiting from it. Hershey, Nestle, and M&M/Mars have all refused to switch to fair trade suppliers or even carry and market any amount of fair trade chocolate, due to it's lack of profitability. Then again, how could anything be more profitable than slavery?
The profit-over-people philosophy is typical of trans-national corporations. The chocolate industry is just another glaring example of how the misery and suffering of innocent people becomes a sweet deal for the corporations to capitalize on. This demand for cheap cocoa has resulted in tens of thousands of children being violently kidnapped from their homes, separated from their families and sold into slavery.
The going price for a child slave in the Ivory Coast, where 43 per cent of the world's cocoa comes from, is a mere $28. Once these children are purchased, they are subjected to frequent beatings, given little to eat, not paid at all and imprisoned in squalid conditions by cocoa plantations. These plantations can then supply cocoa at rock-bottom prices to companies like Nestle, Hershey's and M&M/Mars. After taking a largish share, the remaining financial benefits of this enslavement are passed on to us, the mass-consumer of this undervalued product.
As consumers, we bear some responsibility for this horrible situation. We are more concerned with the price of our chocolate bars than we are with the conditions of the workers who make it. It is our willingness to consume the fruits of slave labour that make us accomplices to all these crimes. As consumers we have the power to stop this from continuing. We can boycott all chocolate that is not fair trade, making child-slavery no longer profitable.
So go on and treat yourself and your family to some Fair Trade Chocolate this Easter and help make the world a happier place for all children. Experience how chocolate that does not contain the blood, sweat and tears of enslaved children tastes much sweeter and is more satisfying to your soul.
For fair trade chocolate bars, cocoa powder, cane sugar, or hot chocolate contact fairtradefanshawe@gmail.com.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
Chocolate and candy companies have hijacked this holiday, using heavy marketing and advertising aimed at children for decades in order to continue reaping the profits generated by our consumer culture. All children in North America now look forward to Easter because they expect to find countless chocolate eggs hidden around their house, and solid chocolate bunnies to nibble on all day. While we let our children excessively indulge in chocolate, much less fortunate children are being enslaved to provide it.
It is widely known that cocoa plantations are some of the worst exploiters of child labour. According to the U.S. State Department and the International Labor Organization, children, at times younger than nine years old, are forced to work as slaves in horrible conditions.
Although the issue of child slavery gets very little exposure in the media, it is quite commonly used in the cocoa industry. There are currently an estimated 284,000 child slaves, aged between nine and 12, working for cocoa plantations in West Africa alone.
Although most major chocolate companies denounce this activity, and claim to be working towards stopping it, they are actually doing very little to stop it, and are in fact profiting from it. Hershey, Nestle, and M&M/Mars have all refused to switch to fair trade suppliers or even carry and market any amount of fair trade chocolate, due to it's lack of profitability. Then again, how could anything be more profitable than slavery?
The profit-over-people philosophy is typical of trans-national corporations. The chocolate industry is just another glaring example of how the misery and suffering of innocent people becomes a sweet deal for the corporations to capitalize on. This demand for cheap cocoa has resulted in tens of thousands of children being violently kidnapped from their homes, separated from their families and sold into slavery.
The going price for a child slave in the Ivory Coast, where 43 per cent of the world's cocoa comes from, is a mere $28. Once these children are purchased, they are subjected to frequent beatings, given little to eat, not paid at all and imprisoned in squalid conditions by cocoa plantations. These plantations can then supply cocoa at rock-bottom prices to companies like Nestle, Hershey's and M&M/Mars. After taking a largish share, the remaining financial benefits of this enslavement are passed on to us, the mass-consumer of this undervalued product.
As consumers, we bear some responsibility for this horrible situation. We are more concerned with the price of our chocolate bars than we are with the conditions of the workers who make it. It is our willingness to consume the fruits of slave labour that make us accomplices to all these crimes. As consumers we have the power to stop this from continuing. We can boycott all chocolate that is not fair trade, making child-slavery no longer profitable.
So go on and treat yourself and your family to some Fair Trade Chocolate this Easter and help make the world a happier place for all children. Experience how chocolate that does not contain the blood, sweat and tears of enslaved children tastes much sweeter and is more satisfying to your soul.
For fair trade chocolate bars, cocoa powder, cane sugar, or hot chocolate contact fairtradefanshawe@gmail.com.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
