MGMT 501 Respomnse

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CHILD SLAVERY IN THE CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY

CHILD SLAVERY IN THE CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY 2

Despite slavery being illegal; in the current world, there are millions of people who are under slavery today. One significant industry that slavery is still rampantly practiced is the cocoa industry. Child slavery in the chocolate industry is a habitual practice as the evidence shows. The company Hershey is a very big example of the company being sued for practicing child labor and for encouraging other slavery practices on children. A Canadian class-action suit was filed against the respective companies disregarding the fact that the same claims were made in America against child labor and failed. (Michelle, 2019). The YouTube video by Santarchy (2011), documented the misery undergone by people in cocoa producing countries where it showed poverty and dependence on the cocoa industry have contributed to child slavery in countries like Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Putting child labor into consideration, one social responsibility issue is the corporate social responsibility that should have been considered by big chocolate companies like Hershey, Nestle, and many others. In actuality, the companies took a vow to stop child labor in their factories but nothing has changed considering the chocolate they produce is still a product of child labor (Michelle, 2019). The companies should have taken responsibility and made sure the children were protected in the future by stopping child labor. Exploiting children by work demands has killed their childhood. Therefore, the corporate social responsibility issue is seen as making these companies very irresponsible corporate citizens to the community.

The second social responsibility issue is for customers using chocolates made in unethical ways by the mentioned companies. The customers should take responsibility and protect the interests and rights of the children by not purchasing products for such companies. By purchasing the products, they are neglecting their social responsibility to society.

In conclusion, many leading companies did not play their corporate social responsibility to protect the children's interests and safeguard their future. On the other hand, all customers with the knowledge of the production of these chocolates and still continuing to support these businesses by buying the product are partaking in the fault and blame and not realizing their social responsibilities.

References

Santarchy (2011), “Slavery in the Chocolate Industry”. Retrieved from;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNpwIzeyjKQ

Michelle A, (2019). Slaves to chocolate: the child labor in your Hershey's bar. Retrieved from:

https://nowtoronto.com/news/chocolate-child-labour-slavery-hersheys/