Hershey, Cocoa, and Child Labor An everyday person, when asked to describe chocolate, would probably start by calling it "magic." The presence of chocolate in the everyday American life is an experience sought after, craved for, and bought for under two dollars at the corner convenience store. Indeed, chocolate is edible ecstasy that is put in everything: coffee, icecream, cereal, even the spicy sauce for Mexican mole. Chocolate has a cultural presence like no other food commodity; it is brought back to loved ones from the faraway places of Switzerland and Germany, it is given as a symbol of love, and moreover, it is the first thing everyone instinctually goes too when that loves does not work out. A teary-eyed young woman eating chocolate and watching romantic comedies has become so common it has become a cliche in American cinema. There is something about chocolate that makes the muddy, smooth, brown Make Chocolate Fair, a European Campaign for ethic chocolate reports that cocoa farmers in West Africa live off of less that $1.25 a day, which means that a mere 6% of all revenues from chocolate such as Hershey goes to its farmers, while a whopping 70% goes too the conglomerate company. This 6% of shares is startingly low compared to the 1980's, in which farmers got 16%. (Make Chocolate Fair, 2013) These unlivable wages have led large portions of countries such as Ghana and Cote d'Iviore to become extremely impoverished, a consequence unjust considering the strenuous and dangerous work going into the growth of cocoa beans, which involves climbing trees, cutting the cocoa pods off with machetes, letting the beans fermet by covering them with banana leaves, and loading them into bags and carrying the one-hundred pound bags on their backs to be sold. However, admist the already outragious working conditions of cocoa farmers, Hershey and other chocolate companies have a far darker secret, and it isn't "Special
During Valentine’s week alone, millions of pounds of chocolate candies alone are sold (“Who consumes the most chocolate,” 2012, para 8). This naturally creates a demand for product, which in turns causes a need for ingredients. The main component in chocolate, of course, is cocoa. Since Côte d’Ivoire provides 40 percent of the world’s supply of this crucial ingredient (Losch, 2002, p. 206), it merits investigation i...
You all know the Chocolate Company: Hershey's; but where did it all begin? As with Walt Disney, it started with a dream. A dream that a certain person could rule the candy market. This certain person is Milton Snavely Hershey. Milton Hershey founded Hershey’s Chocolate Company in 1900. Did you know that his first product wasn't chocolate? No, he created and sold many other confections; his greatest being caramel. His highest achievement of all was creating the world's largest candy manufacturing company today. Milton S. Hershey learned most of his work from Joe Royer, the owner of an Ice Cream Parlor and Garden. Joe Royer taught Milton for four years until he quit. Milton didn't quit because he didn't like the apprenticeship. No, he quit to start his own confectionary business. Milton S. Hershey gave this world a company that changed the way we see chocolate today.
Hersey’s should improve its decision when purchasing its cocoa. First of all Hersey’s should publicly announce where there source of cocoa is purchased from and how it’s being cropped. I believe they should also include who is out in fields picking the cocoa and should inform the consumer about its labor practices. Hersey’s should do the right thing and pay them children for their labor. They should also Invest in getting a certified for purchasing there cocoa instead of doing it the cheap way such as forcing children to work, and enslaving them to work 80 to 100 hours per week picking cocoa out in the fields, and stop abusing of their
The cocoa industry is made up of small scale family farms with low economic standings and a few large scale plantations which control the cocoa market. Due to large scale cocoa plantations small scale farms are struggling economically which has resulted in a fragile unsustainable society. The use of hybrid cocoa crops has made it easy for large scale plantation to control the market and remove negotiating leverage from small family farms. Family farms have grown accustomed to the use of child labor, and as a result have negatively influenced the education of many children in major cocoa producing countries. Family small scale farms have had to compete with better yielding crops and little wealth, in response they have grown accustomed to child
A lot of movies today are not only created for the cause of enjoyment, however frequently bring a solid lesson the director wishes to carry. In the movie Chocolat (directed by Lasse Hallstorm), Vianne defy the idea that the way of life, repute and their related ethical values do no longer make a person morally right. From the beginning of the film chocolate becomes chocolate transforms into an image of enticement and something prohibited. Vienne enters town during the Lent and within the beginning people are afraid to flavor her chocolate because it is prohibited with the aid of their faith. Comte de Reynaud, a religious mayor of the metropolis, begins a campaign against Vienne and her shop. He states that Vienne’s affect is dangerous and that
“My success is the result of not being satisfied with mediocrity and in making the most out of opportunities,” –Milton Hershey. He was a young, successful, dreamer who never gave up. His success came from hard work and determination. This is what Milton Hershey had done from the time he was a kid. From his apprenticing, failures, his businesses, town, and school he never gave up and has become historic person that has been and will be remembered for many years to come.
Black Gold traces the journey of Tadesse Meskela, the representative of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in Southern Ethiopia, as he travels around the globe, selling super premium grade of coffee, directly from the birth place of coffee: Ethiopia, to find the 74000 coffee farmers a fair share of their hard work. Although the farmers of Ethiopia strive to achieve some of the best green bean of coffee for the TWO BILLION CUP strong market of consumer every day, they have been progressive getting worse side of the bargain, their profits being at a 30 year low. Although a normal consumer does not mind paying anywhere from $3 to $5 for his daily dose of coffee, the farmers of this region are been getting $0.5 per pound of the green bean. This roughly translates into a farmer getting 3 cents for a $3 cup of coffee. This is what the British documentary film maker Brothers, Nick and Marc Francis have tried to show through this film of theirs.
Do people really love to eat chocolate?! According to David McKenzie in his article “Who Consumes The Most Chocolate?” 91% of all women and 87% of all men admit to eat chocolate, it may not be on a daily basis but it’s on a regular basis (David McKenzie 1). Scientifically, Chocolate changes the mood of their consumer as it increases serotonin levels in blood, which is the happiness hormone. As a result people feel happier every time they eat chocolate. That’s why chocolate companies clutched the opportunity and started to develop different ads to grab the consumers’ attention and increase sales. Since there are various types of chocolate, companies used different ad themes to differentiate them. For example, Moro: charge your energy-- Kit Kat: have a break have a Kit Kat — Twix: Need a moment? – Snickers: you’re not you when you’re hungry. Snickers is one of the most successful brands of chocolate that have huge number of consumers. One of the most successful campaigns was “You’re not you when you’re hungry.” It’s based on the idea that when you’re hungry you’re not quite yourself. As a result of the campaign, there was a 5% growth in sales worldwide. The Egyptian versions of
During the time frame of 1450-1750, the Columbian Exchange was at its height of power and influence. Many products were introduced from foreign lands, like animals such as cattle, chickens, and horse, and agriculture such as potatoes, bananas, and avocados. Diseases also became widespread and persisted to distant lands where it wreaked devastation upon the non-immunized people. One such influential product during this time period was the cacao, or more commonly known as chocolate. First discovered and used in the Americas, cacao beans quickly traveled to and became a popular treat in European lands. It was valuable in the New World and even used as a currency by the Aztecs. Only the rich and privileged were allowed to purchase the valuable item in the beginning. Cacao was even used in religious ceremonies by the native people. When it moved to Europe and other lands, it also created a lot of stir. The cacao plant had quite a large impact upon the Columbian Exchange.
Apparently, child slave labor has been out of hand in the chocolate industry for over fifteen years. In West Africa, children are forced to work on farms harvesting cocoa under inhumane conditions. They would be routinely beaten and would be given insufficient amounts of food. These children are stripped of their human rights. In July 2015, a report from Tulane University found a fifty-one percent increase in the number of children working in the cocoa industry from 2008/09 to 2013/14. In response to child slavery in West Africa, Hershey and other companies in the chocolate industry will invest $400 million by 2020 to increase the supply of certified cocoa and decrease questionable labor practices. They will educate farmers and their families of the dangers of child labor (“Lawsuit: Your Candy Bar Was Made By Child
We may think of chocolates as God's gift to humanity as they may soothes all our problems and suffering. But, have you ever wonder that these chocolates – sweet, good and pleasurable as it may, have dark sides?.
This reality is a reflection of the inequality in income distribution in the production and marketing of cocoa-based products, where 70% of the final price of the product is received by transnational companies and the industry, while producers receive only 5% of final prices. This often does not even get the farmers to cover the costs of production. Additionally this means that the market structure leaves producers with little ability to make decisions and unlikely to actively participate in the definition of international economic rules. For this reason they are forced to produce at low cost, which affects the working conditions of farmers.
This reality is a reflection of the income distribution inequality in the production and marketing of cocoa-based products. It is estimated that 70% of the final price of the product is received by transnational companies, while farmers receive only 5% of the final price . This 5% often does not help the farmers to cover the costs of production. This means that the market structure leaves the producers with little ability to make decisions and makes them unlikely to pursue active participation in the definition of international economic rules. Moreover, this forces the farmers to produce at the lowest possible cost, which affects the working conditions of farmers.
Central Idea: Explain how cocoa beans are processed to produce the chocolate we all know and love
The Theobroma cacao tree is where it all started. Olmecs, Aztecs, and Mayans were the original consumers of cocoa: they would form it into a drink and ingest it for medicinal reasons (Allen Par. 7). The Spanish then brought it back to Europe and continued to treat a variety of ailments with it (Allen Par. 7). In the last 40 years people have started to question the health benefits of chocolate, but new research is starting to prove that the Olmecs, Aztecs, Mayans and Spaniards were not too far off. Now, the pods from the tree containing cocoa beans are collected, and the cocoa beans are taken out of the pod (Healing Foods Pyramid Par. 15). The beans are then fermented, dried, roasted, then ground to make cocoa liquor (Healing Foods Pyramid Par. 15). The cocoa liquor is then combined with sugar, vanilla, and cocoa butter to make what is now known as chocolate (Healing Foods Pyramid Par. 15). Controversy over the health benefits and detriments of chocolate is slowly subsiding, but there are many things that a lot of people still do not know about how chocolate can affect ones health. Chocolate is misunderstood.