Hershey: Raise the Bar, be a leader in responsible chocolate

Hershey: Raise the Bar ^

[Coleus]

• Home
• Take Action
• Why Cocoa?
• Why Hershey?
• Resources
• Who’s Involved?
• FAQ

Time to Raise The Bar

The Campaign to Make Hershey Fair Trade

Hershey: Raise The Bar!

It’s time for Hershey to be a leader in responsible chocolate and shift toward Fair Trade Certified cocoa!

Take action this summer! Tell Hershey: We Want More from our S’mores! Check out our NEW s’mores video action!

On June 8th we were in New York City for a rally at the Hershey store in Times Square! Read about the event here.

Click here to see all the pictures from the Rally in Times Square. Even more photographs are available online here. Check out videos from the rally here!

Almost ten years since chocolate companies committed to ending child labor, forced labor, and trafficking in their cocoa supply chains, these egregious labor rights abuses continue. While many chocolate companies have taken steps to trace their cocoa purchasing and implement labor rights standards among their suppliers, the Hershey Company lags behind its competitors. Hershey has no policies in place to trace its cocoa and protect workers.

Read the REAL Corporate Social Responsibility report for the Hershey Company.

Join the campaign to make Hershey Fair Trade!
Name *		* Required
Email *

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Petitions by Change.org|Get Widget|Start a Petition »

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

• See the latest action!

  

• Donate to support Fair Trade Cocoa

  

• Join the Campaign

  

• Get the Raise The Bar Campaign button

  

Copyright 2011 Green America. All rights reserved.

Thesis Theme Customized by LivitLuvit.

[Coleus]

I never heard of this campaign. Hershey is on sale in my local supermarket this week so I will buy some extra bars to infuriate some socialists.

There were petitions about this campaign in the back of my church, I will have to inform my pastor that it's supported by left-wing, progressive organizations that support abortion while at the same time save trees.

[1rudeboy]

Hersheys uses cocoa? Who knew?

[Paladin2]

I find that a chocolate bar b4 bedtime results in awesome dream colors.

[cripplecreek]

Are there any Hershey factories still open in the USA?

[Kickass Conservative]

I tried to trace my cocoa once, but I ended up with lead poisoning from the pencil.

There are only two Chocolate Syrups worth a darn, Hersheys and U-Bet. U-Bet costs twice as much, so I use it sparingly.

I am getting so tired of these Envirowack Social Justice types.

[ClearCase_guy]

Most cocoa comes from Ivory Coast.
Ivory Coast just had a civil war.
The guy who came out on top is a former IMF official and (I believe) is supported by Barack Obama.

This little political stunt couldn't possibly be a way to squeeze concessions from Hershey in order to enrich an African dictatorship -- could it?

[QBFimi]

>> The West African nation of Cote d’Ivoire alone grows 40%...

Uh, that’s the “Ivory Coast” to those of us who speak English, you lefty simps.

[knarf]

Child labor?

Hell ... kids eat it for free.

If they could pack boxes and eat all the chocolate they could for free, is that unfair?

(Not to a kid)

[1rudeboy]

Probably, but you won’t find any using sugar.

[cripplecreek]

What’s overlooked with the knee jerk reactions about child labor is the fact that its often child labor or starvation.

Not saying that child labor is a good thing but sometimes its the best option.

[discostu]

Where’s the campaign to make Hershey not suck? That’s the bar they need to raise.

[at bay]

“Are there any Hershey factories still open in the USA?”

Funny you should ask. They bailed on their Modesto California plant that made kisses, and moved the jobs to Mexico. Look closely at the labels if you wish to avoid Mexican candies.

[cripplecreek]

All I can find in the USA is a demo plant that runs as a tourist attraction in California.

[FourPeas]

My oldest has been asking for some sort of chocolate candy for the past few weeks. I, of course, have been telling him to save his money and buy himself some chocolate. I guess I’ll have to become the middle man between the store and my kid’s craving.

[ClearCase_guy]

Lefties never seem to grasp that.

I remember some years ago in some Asian country, the people worked on banana plantations (or something) a terrible existence. Backbreaking work. Early death. Of course, no one ever heard about it: no one cared, certainly not the Left.

Then, Reebok moved in and built factories. People there had an opportunity to leave the plantations and work in factories making expensive shoes for the American market. Workers flocked in - finally! A better life! No more slaving away in the hot sun on the banana plantation!

Well, the Lefties eventually found out that Reebok was paying people something like $2 a day and demanded that the factories of the evil capitalists be shut down.

Ummmmmmmm ... way to condemn people back into a life of slavery. I don't think they succeeded, but they sure thought it was a noble goal.

[stilloftyhenight]

I want Hershey bars to taste the way they used to taste. I’ll pay more. Whatever they’ve changed has diluted the rich flavor and texture.

[Rembrandt]

Yeah. We want to pay more for our chocolate bars because we’re stupid demwits without a clue of what the world is all about.

[JSteff]

Uh, folks...?
I have seen the UNIONS blocking allowing Hershey to pay realistic wages here in Hershey several years ago.

They wanted every worker to be paid in excess of market wages. NO jobs for High School kids who want to push the broom in the factory at market wage!

Only Union workers to be allowed with a Health Care plan and outrageous benefits. Screw the unions, I saw them close the Cat plant in York to “protect” union jobs?!?

They left York. And now those jobs have left/are leaving the U.S.

Good job unions. I know one of the union goons and he shrugged his shoulders and smiled...”Oh well!” he said when I mentioned Cat and Hershey and the lose of those jobs.

The unions do not care about the workers... just the union and they are the reason we lost Hershey... and CAT.

It is the UNIONS who are to blame!!!!

[Publius6961]

Fair trade in a nutshell...
If a worker in a cacao producing country makes 50 units, and suppliers to American companies pay them 75, but American workers would get 300, then the fair trade demand is for 300

Never mind that the workers get a 50% rise in pay.

Loser logic, but they have already got Starbucks playing that game, as well as many other high priced discretionary items.

I switch to the non-fair trade alternatives as soon as I can.
If you find alternatives for a third less, that tastes just as good, you've found the substitute.

[Ladysforest]

Hubby brought home fair trade honey. I nearly smacked him.

I swear, I have this image in my head of some dirty third world wretch squeezing the honeycomb with their dirty bare hand. Blech!!

I loath the whole “fair trade” trade. So, capitalism bad - fair trade good? Bull.

[saint]

Although their milk chocolate bars have gone the way of others, I still find Hershey’s dark chocolate quite enjoyable. Everbody’s milk chocolate is now so bad I have to spit it out, as well as many dark chocolate bars.

[Coleus]

I find that a chocolate bar b4 bedtime results in awesome dream colors. >>>>

zzzzzz  I'll have to try that...

[MistrX]

Kids need jobs, too.
I picked fruit for 4 years, starting in 3rd grade.
Kids these days are weak.

[MistrX]

Kids need jobs, too.
I picked fruit for 4 years, starting in 3rd grade.
Kids these days are weak.

[Louis Foxwell]

Between 8 and 14 I worked summers on my grandfather’s chicken farm. It was nasty, dirty work for which I was paid in fishing tackle. I learned to work and to fish. Finally got enough tackle to sell fish and quit the chicken business. Back to selling fish in retirement.
Gave up on Hershey years ago.

[PieterCasparzen]

IMHO...

If one’s Church goes left-wing and starts supporting international labor / left-wing / workers of the world / unions, then it’s time to get your Church to stop, or find a new Church.

While it is true that there are poor, it is up to Christians and Churches to help them. Very often Christians think that “government” has to help the poor. Or big “evil” corporations have to be “forced” to help the poor. The Bible in no way directs Christians to support groups such as unions or “movements” which purport to “do good”, any more than it directs Christians to support corporations who say they “do good”.

The Christian must always take great care, when supporting or joining any group or corporation, to find out whether they would be supporting an organization which institutionally goes against God’s Word. Unions, in that they seek to every worker to be paid the same - regardless of the differing productivity of the individual worker - seek to redistribute income from more productive workers to less productive workers.

Private property rights are inherent to Christian doctrine - far be it from a Christian to tell another person that they have earned “too much” and must “give away” some of their wealth. Everyone labors and reaps the fruit of their own labor; how much they reap is God’s will. Wealth redistribution - where a person claims that they know better how to distribute wealth than it has been distributed by the outcome of everyone’s labor - is contradictory to a belief that all happens according to God’s will.

Wealth redistrubution amounts to forcefully taking someone else’s wealth or income, which breaks the 8th commandment. If a group I belong to institutionally advocates breaking the 8th commandment, then I must separate myself and my household from that group.

There are two sides to this coin, of course. A Christian certainly can shop for labor and try to purchase it at a low price. If I own a candy business, I certainly can try to keep my labor costs low enough to make a profit. I will find out that if I am greedy and try to lower such labor cost too much, I will wind up with substandard work and will undoubtedly wind up paying the same or more in the long run than if I had paid a bit more for more skilled and productive workers. Such is common sense, and one only has to glance at the book of Proverbs to find that God wishes us to be wise. Of course, if the Christian hires someone who is in a desparate situation, and negotiatiates so strongly with them that they agree to work for such a low pay that they can’t afford sustenance, tithing and saving at least something after that, then they would be negotiating too harshly, as they would have not fruits of their labor at all. We remember Scripture:

Deuteronomy 24

14 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:

15 At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.

Are we to join or support a group to force such a company that oppresses it’s workers to enjoin it to stop such oppression ? There is no command to join such a group in Scripture - and we must be absolutely sure that such group is abiding by Scripture completely. And there is only one organization that we really should be looking to in terms of abiding by Scripture - the Church. We simply should not have anything to do with such a company or such a person which conducts business in a sinful way. There is sin in the world, and the Bible commands us to separate ourselves from sin:

2 Corinthians 6

14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Of course, the Christian can always go into business themselves, operating within Scriptural guidelines, and compete with sinful businesses, thereby offering a choice that glorifies and pleases God.

[PalmettoMason]

LOL. One thing I love about FR is the "snob" threads.

Beer threads bring out the "Beer Snobs", fast food threads bring out the "Burger Snobs", coffee threads...

Now, chocolate snobs!

One thing about growing up poor... I still enjoy and appreciate it all. Even the cheap stuff. (Sometimes, ESPECIALLY the cheap stuff!)

Who knew that growing up as a "poor kid" would be a blessing.

[hoagy62]

What has changed is that Hershey’s no longer uses cocoa butter in their chocolate. Cocoa butter is the fat extracted from the processing of the cacao bean. It’s common knowledge in the food world that “fat equals flavor”, and cocoa butter provides that. However, it’s expensive. SO...in order to cut costs, Hershey’s stopped using it and replaced it with some sort of compound (I have no idea what) in their chocolate.

If you sample a bar of Hershey’s and then a bar of Nestle’s, you can taste the difference. Nestle’s still uses cocoa butter.

(Granted, they’re run by a huge euro-weenie corporation based in Switzerland, but it’s good chocolate.)