• cerement@slrpnk.net
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    10 months ago

    when Tony’s Chocolonely started up based on slave free, the financial journals were doing headlines like “will they be able to survive this bold new direction?”

    • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      They eventually found the cocoa market to be almost impossible to separate from slavery. They still do their best, which is a lot more than most, but they don’t make any guarantees

      • brbposting
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        10 months ago

        They have some argument for doing business with one of the largest processors who’s not the worst but not provably ethical. Discouraging.

        Found it:

        At Tony’s, we exist so make all chocolate 100% slave-free, not just our own. That means climbing into the lion’s den and tackling change from within. It means getting to the root of the problem and paving the way for others by proving the scalability of our solutions.

        Surprised that the processor, Barry Callebaut, is down for Tony to publish such blunt criticism of them. It’s like “don’t worry, Barry’s made a totally separate production line for us - only the Barry’s non-Tony production line contains the slave blood!”

      • cerement@slrpnk.net
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        10 months ago

        like Nestlé getting out of a child slavery lawsuit because none of the slavery happened in the US?

          • xX_fnord_Xx@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            That would be a rad game, if you could wake up Manchurian Candidate style in a bathroom in the 42nd floor rest room just before a board meeting at Corpotek and there is a voice in the back of your head that guides you to the pistol that is hiding under the second toilet from the wall.

            What would the song that activates you be?

        • Chigüir@slrpnk.net
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          10 months ago

          Fuck it, from where I come from: people in agriculture get smacked just by existing or trying to build common cause with “let’s end hunger in the world”. I’m with you, salutations from America Latina ! And let’s make those fuckers get what they deserve.

          • cerement@slrpnk.net
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            10 months ago

            Quando dou comida aos pobres, chamam-me de santo. Quando pergunto por que eles são pobres, chamam-me de comunista. (When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.)

            —Dom Hélder Câmara, cited in Zildo Rocha, Helder, O Dom: uma vida que marcou os rumos da Igreja no Brasil (2000)

    • metaStatic@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      The biggest problem with claiming to be slave free is that you need to own the farms to make sure, which means the locals don’t get those profits either.

      Whittaker’s is slave free but they can’t advertise it because they support the local economies … which means they can’t be reasonably sure slaves aren’t used when they’re not looking.

    • 🦄🦄🦄@feddit.de
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      10 months ago

      I have yet to see proof that Tony’s is actually slavery free. And if it isn’t (as in “we are doing oUr BeSt”) then why the hell would I buy from them instead of… not buying chooclate?

  • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    John Oliver covered this on Last Week Tonight. tl;dw Cocoa is almost exclusively grown in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, two West African countries. Most of these farms are family run and there are millions of them. All the Cocoa they produce is purchased by a few companies who dictate price. Because they buy at such a low price, the only way these farms make money is if they force children in their families to work the farm for no compensation. Ie. Child slavery.

  • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Y’all need to read about the chocolate wars and the trade of it if you’re surprised about this. Now is also the one time in history where chocolate has been it’s most ethical and least slavery driven. Chocolate has never been 100% ethical

  • Butt Pirate@reddthat.com
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    10 months ago

    Oh the printers always screw that up.

    “We’re Slavers. Free Chocolate!”

    There, fixed.

    Lionel Hutz

  • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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    10 months ago

    I like how they tried to incorporate the quotation marks as some sort of quirky font by adding it above chocolate as well, yet it is still obvious.

        • Chakravanti
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          10 months ago

          Would you let me take everything you have right there for free and sell it? Like…water?

          …even if a make an unholy shitton of plastic that will contribute massive to the goal of killing everyone?

  • Shanedino@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Wonder if it’s like cagefree or free range chicken where the label is actually meaningless and could be actively misleading and still legal.

  • SCB@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Slavery predates capitalism by about as long as tribes predate capitalism.

    • Chakravanti
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      10 months ago

      You say that with some kind of implication of acceptism…

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I say that because slavery has nothing to do with capitalism and never has.

                • Chakravanti
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                  10 months ago

                  Exploitation is Slavery. If you don’t a job for some rich asshole, you’re dead. Do you just not educate yourself beyond your own comfort? Do you just think than any comfort you chew like tobacco is anything but delusion?

                  That’s nightshade. Come back to reality and spit that the fuck out, now.