April Allen | Arts & Life Co-Editor

Ending child slavery in the cocoa production business is part of the CNN’s Freedom Project’s focus to end modern day slavery. In an article by CNN’s David Ariosto, he says, “The region [West Africa] is home to about 70% percent of the world’s cocoa but has also been the source of recent scrutiny over its alleged use of child labor.” The largest chocolate producers are Hershey’s and Nestle with Ferrero coming in third according to CNN’s Freedom Project on slavery.

CNN’s Freedom Project led an investigation to determine if promises made to end child slavery ten years ago were met. David McKenzie, a CNN correspondent, was part of the investigation with other journalists who went to the Ivory Coast to visit cocoa famers. Along the way he met children who didn’t know anything other than working and who wanted to go to school, but didn’t know any other life besides working in a field to provide cocoa that eventually becomes a tasty snack for other people. One of the main problems was that most farms hadn’t been contacted and held accountable to labor standards and the Ivorian government. There was a coup in 2002 that divided the country and this slowed down cocoa labor trafficking, but when the country opened up its borders, trafficking went back to its usual steady pace.

The Indiana Business Research Center revealed statistics for Halloween of 2012 saying Tootsie Rolls were the most popular candy followed by Hershey’s Milk Chocolate candy bars and Nestle Crunch. Halloween is the trademark holiday for receiving and distributing the most amount of candy, and in particular large amounts of chocolate.

Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at Buena Vista University (BVU) Jennifer Seymour has been taking action to help others become aware about this issue. She has been making a conscious effort to reach out and let people know there are other options to buy chocolate on Halloween and any other day of the year. She made flyers to hang around campus, supported it on her professional Facebook page, and met with Teachers Inc. about their Spooky Grams they do every year. She says buying chocolate from fair trade businesses is one way to combat child slavery.

“If we don’t buy their product [Hershey’s, Nestle, and other large chocolate companies] then they will have to stop. Awareness is important and is the first thing that needs to be done,” Seymour said.

Seymour believes in using pressure to start a change, but she did note that when you go to the CNN Freedom Project web page that there is an effort being made by Hershey’s, Nestle, and Ferrero. Within the last ten years, changes haven’t been made, but now that child slave labor is being noticed, the companies feel the need to do something. The companies are making baby steps, but the steps are small and don’t take enough priority in the companies.

“It’s everybody buying their product that allows them to continue doing this,” Seymour said.

So what can be done? Seymour says the only way to buy chocolate from companies that can be relied upon is to buy fair trade items. These can be found here in Storm Lake, IA. Downtown Storm Lake has a store with fair trade items called Earthings on the main street across from Maurices and The Buckle.

Being aware is the first step and then practicing ways to buy fair trade items and spreading the word is the next. After Halloween lots of candy sales will take place, but it is recommended not to buy Hershey’s or Nestle if a person is trying to help end the slavery of children in cocoa fields.

Graphic by Keyla Sosa