Slavery in the Chocolate Industry
MSGL 502 Ethics and Leadership
An Ethical look into Slavery in the Chocolate Industry
People around the world share a love of chocolate, one of the most delicious and pleasurable foods on earth. However, thousands of Africa’s children are modern-day slaves, bonded to their employers and forced against their will to work in hazardous and heartbreaking conditions. Slavery in the chocolate industry has been widely publicized through the years. The face of enslaved children has been the poster for many articles and even televisions shows that provided their stories of abuse, maltreatment, and even unethical working conditions. In the wake of all of this negative publicity, chocolate companies, (Nestle, Hershey, Mars, etc.), are taking the brunt of the negativity.
In the beginning, as cocoa prices increased across the world, the Ivory Coast Government encouraged the cultivation of cocoa and even gave various incentives for growing such. But now there are various ethical issues that are raised. Is the slavery that is used to grow and cultivate the cocoa beans; viewed is an absolute or relative wrong, and who shares in the moral responsibility for the slavery occurring in the chocolate industry. It has been said that companies are perpetuating this lifestyle by purchasing these slavery-tarnished cocoa beans from places along the Ivory Coast, like Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. It is also said that the companies should be liable for ending the child slavery that is at the very core of their cocoa bean supply chain, but are they the only culprits?
Such an understanding of morality has expanded in our culture since ancient times. Now, in the modern world we are encouraged to act morally in our dealings with all people, not with just the members of our family or tribe, but society as a whole, has caused morality to be codified within the our system of ethics. These ethics then become legislation when they are enacted into laws. Afterward, the laws only become
An Ethical look into Slavery in the Chocolate Industry
People around the world share a love of chocolate, one of the most delicious and pleasurable foods on earth. However, thousands of Africa’s children are modern-day slaves, bonded to their employers and forced against their will to work in hazardous and heartbreaking conditions. Slavery in the chocolate industry has been widely publicized through the years. The face of enslaved children has been the poster for many articles and even televisions shows that provided their stories of abuse, maltreatment, and even unethical working conditions. In the wake of all of this negative publicity, chocolate companies, (Nestle, Hershey, Mars, etc.), are taking the brunt of the negativity.
In the beginning, as cocoa prices increased across the world, the Ivory Coast Government encouraged the cultivation of cocoa and even gave various incentives for growing such. But now there are various ethical issues that are raised. Is the slavery that is used to grow and cultivate the cocoa beans; viewed is an absolute or relative wrong, and who shares in the moral responsibility for the slavery occurring in the chocolate industry. It has been said that companies are perpetuating this lifestyle by purchasing these slavery-tarnished cocoa beans from places along the Ivory Coast, like Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. It is also said that the companies should be liable for ending the child slavery that is at the very core of their cocoa bean supply chain, but are they the only culprits?
Such an understanding of morality has expanded in our culture since ancient times. Now, in the modern world we are encouraged to act morally in our dealings with all people, not with just the members of our family or tribe, but society as a whole, has caused morality to be codified within the our system of ethics. These ethics then become legislation when they are enacted into laws. Afterward, the laws only become
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