Time for Hershey to Raise the Bar on Fair Cocoa

While many companies have been reporting on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and practices for years, the Hershey Company just released its first ever CSR report yesterday. The report covers a broad range of CSR issues from supplier diversity to environmental initiatives. While CSR reporting might be new to Hershey, unfortunately there was nothing new for advocates of labor rights and anti-trafficking activists in the report. A new report from the International Labor Rights Forum, Global Exchange, Green America and Oasis USA gives us a look at the "real" corporate social responsibility of Hershey.

Readers of this blog are probably quite familiar with the ongoing problem of child labor, forced labor and trafficking in the West African cocoa industry. Nine years after major chocolate companies like Hershey committed to ensuring that these egregious human rights violations would be eliminated from their chocolate supply chains, we know that children and cocoa farmers continue to be exploited in the production of our favorite treats.

Virtually all of the major chocolate companies like Nestle, Mars and Cadbury, as well as cocoa importers like Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland, have agreed to ensure that at least part of their cocoa is produced under certain labor, social and environmental standards and certified by a third party. Hershey, however, stands out as the only company that has no policy in place to trace its cocoa and ensure and independently verify that certain standards are met.

The new report from labor rights and fair trade advocates, "Time to Raise the Bar: The Real Corporate Social Responsibility Report for the Hershey Company," examines Hershey's cocoa sourcing policies and its programs on the ground in West Africa as well as how it's "global supply chain transformation program" has affected manufacturing workers in the US. The report is a great tool for advocates, shareholders and policymakers looking for more information about how Hershey's CSR practices lag behind competitors.

At the same time, the report says that Hershey can and should "raise the bar" for cocoa farmers. As a company with a rich history of giving back to its local community and caring for the lives of children in the U.S., Hershey is well placed to be a leader on responsible cocoa sourcing. A first step is shifting toward purchasing Fair Trade Certified cocoa.

You can take action today by reading "Time to Raise the Bar." Then, go over to Hershey's CSR survey and tell Hershey that you will not be satisfied with the company's performance and transparency until it begins to source Fair Trade Certified cocoa and implement the recommendations of the "Time to Raise the Bar" report.

Photo credit: Shanti Braford