Hershey's Archives - Fair World Project

Hershey’s and Godiva: Two Time Losers

Ryan Zinn — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 23:14:17 +0000

The upcoming elections are providing to be a crucial flashpoint for social and environmental issues. In California, a diverse group of organizations, farmers and businesses have banded together to place a right to know initiative on the California ballot, Proposition 37, to require labeling of genetically modified foods. After years of organizing at the federal level, advocates for sustainable farming and safe food have focused their efforts on key states in an effort to provide consumers with the information to choose foods free of genetically modified ingredients.

Hershey’s and Godiva both poor social track records . Hershey’s has been a perennial target for refusing to take action to end child slave labor on cocoa farms in the Côte D’Ivoire. You can find more information about Hershey’s and their track record at Raise the Bar or their report card by Free2Work.Godiva received a “D-” ranking from Free2Work and is not certified by any 3rd party agency.

Now, both Hershey’s and Godiva are doubling down and opposing consumers’ right to know regarding genetically engineered foods. Hershey’s has contributed $498,006.72 and Godiva has contributed $11,121.53 to the No on 37 Campaign. You can see a full list of corporations supporting and opposing Proposition 37 here.

Visit the California Right to Know campaign page to learn more and support Proposition 37.

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Can a “fair trade” chocolate bar contain no fair trade cocoa?

Ryan Zinn — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:14:19 +0000

The answer sadly is yes, and soon. Fair Trade USA’s recent departure from FLO is ushering in a new era of fair trade standards and policies with major implications for fair trade producers, businesses and consumers. As FTUSA’s graphic explains below, a product need contain only 11% certified fair trade ingredients to carry the Fair Trade Certified (Ingredients) label.? To carry the Fair Trade Certified mark, a product must contain only 25% certified fair trade ingredients. So Hershey’s, a perennial target for shirking corporate responsibility and fair trade (see Raise the Bar campaign), could place the FTUSA mark on their chocolate bars with no certified fair trade cocoa. For example, Hershey’s could source only fair trade sugar for their chocolate bar, but no fair trade cocoa, and still carry the FTUSA mark. So much for FTUSA “raising the bar.”

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Activists turn heat up on Hershey’s

Ryan Zinn — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 23:35:57 +0000

Today Hershey’s is hosting its annual shareholders’ meeting in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Despite being the United States’ oldest and largest chocolate company, Hershey’s has refused to implement any policy to protect its workers, including children, or trace its cocoa. Virtually every other major global chocolate company has instituted some policy for tracing its cocoa, and in some cases, sourcing fair trade cocoa. With close over 4o% of the US chocolate market, the time has come for Hershey’s to source fair trade cocoa for its products.

In the lead up to Hershey’s shareholder meeting, a number of NGOs, children’s rights supporters and labor activists have mobilized to encourage Hershey’s to source fair trade cocoa. The Organic Consumers Association launched an online letter writing campaign that has generated over 5,000 letters to Hershey to date.

The Raise the Bar campaign has successfully mobilized thousands of consumers and activists to pressure Hershey’s to go fair trade and eliminate forced labor, human trafficking, and abusive child labor in their supply chain.

Raise the Bar also sponsored a “Brand Jam” for creative activists to jam the Hershey brand and expose its policies on human trafficking and child labor. See the winning submission below.

Go further! Read the Fair World Project’s article: Chocolate, the Bitter and the Sweet.

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