“When you buy cheap chocolate, you might think you’re getting a pretty sweet deal – but chocolate discounts come with bitter notes of child labour with a side of modern slavery wrapped up in every bite,” the brand said in a statement on its website.
“The math is simple: the price you don’t pay for chocolate doesn’t vanish into thin air. It comes at the expense of the farmers who cultivate the cocoa used in the production of cheap chocolate bars. To make this more tangible, let’s crunch some numbers for the world’s biggest cocoa-growing countries:
“In Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the living income is set at $2.16 and $2.49 per person per day, respectively. As a result of the excessively low prices Big Choco is currently paying for cocoa, Cocoa Barometer estimates that cocoa farmers in these countries only earn an average of $0.78 per day. Which explains why so many people are still living in poverty.”
As a direct result, the Global Slavery Index estimates at least 30,000 victims of modern slavery and 1.56 million children employed in child labour in cocoa Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire alone. “Those numbers speak for themselves,’ said Tony’s.
To celebrate World Chocolate Day in a more ethical way, Tony’s new Independent Bars include:
- Milk Pecan Crunch Caramel is ‘nut’ just another bar with caramel. Inspired by the delicious pecan pie, this new creamy milk chocolate bar is choc-ful of sticky caramel, big pecan pieces and crunchy cookie bites.
- Milk Chocolate Chip Cookie is a bar set to make choco lovers dreams ‘crumb’ true. The creamy milk chocolate bar is packed full of crunchy chocolate chip cookie pieces. If that wasn’t enticing enough, the chocolate chips in the cookie pieces are made with Tony’s 70% dark chocolate.
“The more chocolate we need, the more cocoa beans Tony’s buys for a higher price at its partner cooperatives in Ghana & Cote d’Ivoire. Dough-ble the impact, and dough-ble the deliciousness,” it says.
- The bars are available from tonyschocolonely.com and a range of independents.