History
The Hershey Co. was founded in 1984 by Milton S. Hershey in rural central Pennsylvania, USA.
Milton, did not get to finish his middle school education. At the age of 14, he left school indefinitely and became an apprentice to a newspaper publisher. This soon changed, and he became an apprentice in the confectionary business. Milton had two unsuccessful business ventures. His third business, Lancaster Caramel Company became very successful, once employing over 1,300 workers. However, after a visit to the World’s Columbia Exposition, he decided to sell the Lancaster Caramel Company for 1 million dollars and thus, The Hershey Company was formed. The very first product made available to the public was Hershey’s cocoa. Soon after products such as the Hershey bar and kisses were developed. Following the success of the company, Milton Hershey and his wife, Catherine Hershey, established the Hershey Industrial School, now known as the Hershey Milton School.
Today
The Hershey Company, has grown to be one of the most brand recognized companies of today. It is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America and as of 2011, they produce over one billion pounds of chocolate products each year. In 2015, Hershey’s had the largest market share of 44%, against other leading brands. (Mars following second with 28.9%) They have established an image that has become a sort of staple by generations of families and in general chocolate consumers. However, in 2000, after the release of the documentary, ‘Slavery: A Global Investigation,’ many people have come out to question what really goes on behind the production of chocolate.
The Hershey Company like many other chocolate producing corporations, obtain their supply of cocoa product such as cocoa butter and cocoa powder at a processed form. The raw material, cocoa beans are at the first level of production. This is the stage where the cocoa beans are harvested.
An example of the cocoa bean supply chain:
Photo Credit: (Cocoa Consumerism)
Many of the plantations and farms that harvest these cocoa beans are situated in the Ivory Coast. Cocoa beans are harvested manually. This involves removing the ripe cocoa pods from the trees and with the use of a machete or a sharp blade, extract the beans from the pods. Unfortunately, children are hired to perform this manual process. On average, they are children from the ages of 12 to 16, but some are reported to be as young as 5 years old.
In 2009, the Payson Center for International Development at Tulane University published a research report on child labor in West African cocoa growing areas. The report measures changes and estimates of child labor in the West African cocoa sector between the 2008 to 2014 harvesting seasons. The report reveals that a total of 5.71 million children between the ages of 5-17 were found in agricultural households in the cocoa growing areas of the Ivory Coast and Ghana in 2008/2009. This number has increased to 5.97 million in the year 2013/2014.
Between 2008 to 2014 in the Ivory Coast and Ghana:
- 24% increase of children working in cocoa production
- 21% increase of child labor in cocoa production
- 18% increase in hazardous in hazardous work in the cocoa sector
These increases are a consequence to the increase in demand and production for cocoa. The research showed the lack of corporate social responsibility corporations involved have on the cocoa industry. Since 2000, there have been various acts and promises from confectionary corporations (including Hershey, Mars and Nestle) that they will self-regulate and eradicate child labor in their supply chain by 2005.
Clearly, however, this has not been met. It is now 2016 and the year to eradicate the unethical practice of child labor has been pushed further to the year 2020.
References:
https://www.hersheys.com/en_us/our-story/hersheys-happiness-history.html#product-grid
https://www.thehersheycompany.com/en_us/this-is-hershey/milton-hershey.html
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/hershey-foods-corporation-history/
http://fortune.com/big-chocolate-child-labor/
http://cocoaconsumerism.weebly.com/supply-chain.html
http://www.icco.org/faq/58-cocoa-harvesting/130-how-exactly-is-cocoa-harvested.html
Business Ethics Case Studies 
Hello fellow group members. I look forward to reading your feedback and comments on this post. I hope to read yours too. -Alyssa
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Great choice. My friend really likes the chocolate of this brand but we both don’t know about the serious ethical issue of the company. She said if she had known earlier, she would not contribute any demand to this company. Child labor is really a serious ethical issue. And I wonder why they use so many childrens and how they treat those children. Why they could escape that kind of law that restrict the child labor？I am really interested in this topic~ looking forward to your next post!
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Hi Poppy,
Children are used to perform manual labor (such as collecting cocoa pods and harvesting the cocoa beans), because they are cheaper to employ. The farmers themselves that own the cocoa plantations make so little already, that they would use children. Most of the cocoa collected come from the Ivory Coast…an already poverty filled country. Thus, some parents would not mind sending their children to these farms to earn something. Other times though, children are trafficked and led to these farms.
It is illegal to employ children, however some can still escape the this law because:
-They hide the fact that they employ children
-The law in these countries are not heavily regulated by the government
-They have no official body that enforces these laws.
-Poverty
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Hi Alyssa.
Good job. I really like your begin story about the founder of Hershey Company a lot . Because it is a typical example of America dream. In fact, I am a big fan of Hershey. I have been to Hershey park in Pennsylvania once. Now, the town’s name was changed to Hershey town, And Hershey did bring sweet and happiness for millions of American family. Unfortunately, it was not so pleasant experience for these little kid in other parts of the world. Do you think Hershey would stop buying cocoa bean form these who use children labor ?
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Hello Yuchun,
Like I told Poppy, I was a bit confused whether I should include the actual historical facts of the company but I’m glad you liked it. I’ve seen the pictures of the hershey park and I was surprised how big it was! They really have come far for a chocolate corporation.
For now, it’s hard to say whether they will stop the use of child labor. In my next article, ‘The Bittersweet Industry,’ I have mentioned this and I don’t think they will fully stop child labor. The Harkin-Engle protocol was made to prevent “the worst forms of child labor.” This context is taken literally and the corporations involved in the cocoa industry will only prevent the worst forms of child labor and will not prevent child labor itself. It is sad that children as young as 11 years old are made to work but for now, that is the reality of many industries, not only the cocoa industry.
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