Postcard colored in by Drea
This Easter season children around the Bay Area sent postcards to the Hershey Corporation asking Hershey to make sure its Cadbury brand Easter chocolates are not produced using child labor.
In addition, over 5,000 people signed Raise the Bar Hershey Coalition‘s petition urging Hershey’s and Cadbury to offer Fair Trade Chocolate Easter eggs and get slave labor out of our Easter baskets.
Young Fair Trade activist Natalie's postcard to Hershey
Why Hershey’s Easter chocolates?
In 1988, the Hershey Company purchased Cadbury’s US chocolate business, including the exclusive rights to make and sell well-known brands like York Peppermint Patties, Cadbury Crème Eggs, and Cadbury Solid Milk Chocolate Bunnies.
And while Cadbury has demonstrated its commitment to ending forced child labor on the West African cocoa industry by selling Fair Trade certified chocolates in the UK, Canada, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, the same cannot be said of Cadbury’s chocolate products in the United States.
Natalie's colored-in postcard for Hershey
Why?
Unfortunately, the Hershey Company refuses to meet the standards set by Cadbury’s overseas operations, even though hundreds of thousands of US consumers have called on Hershey to raise the bar and remove forced child labor as an ingredient in its products. These same consumers are eager to purchase treats for their families that align with their values.
What to Do:
*Check out Green America’s Chocolate Scorecard to find some companies that offer delicious fair trade chocolate.
*Visit our Facebook page to see and comment on the postcards.