THE UNKNOWN COLOURFUL WORLD OF M&M's®
Above is a picture of Europe's
first M&M's World® store which is in London’s Leicester Square.
The official blurb says it
is ‘Dedicated to the colourful fun of
M&M's®…’
The company behind it,
Mars, states that it is committed in ensuring that their “…actions should never be at the expense, economic or otherwise, of
others who we work with. We strongly believe that only success that is shared
can be sustained and it is our goal to achieve this in all we do.”
As the makers of some of
the world's most-loved confectionery products, they are a major user of cocoa,
and “for over 30 years Mars has supported
cocoa sustainability.”
Really? At what cost? By
that, I do not mean to them, but from a humanitarian point of view. Yes, we can
read their claim that they were “…the
first global chocolate company to commit to sourcing only certified cocoa, and
we will do so by 2020.” They go on to
proudly claim that as of June this year, “all MALTESERS® in the UK and Ireland will
carry the Fair Trade logo.” My, that does sound good.
Well first this is 2012,
not 2020. And secondly, Mars is a company that is behind a great deal more
products than just MALTESERS®.
So let us look at some of
the facts.
Côte d’Ivoire (The Ivory
Coast of West Africa) produces 43% of the world’s chocolate. Due to increased
poverty, changing traditions, and corrupt governments, Africa is rampant with
child slavery in many areas, and there are currently around 300,000 children who
are enslaved in the cocoa, coffee, and cotton industries.
You read that right.
300,000 child slaves (not forgetting the adult ones). And this is the year
2012.
These children are subject
to the most horrible conditions, abuse, and punishment for any resistance, in little
or no way similar to the abhorrent treatment that went on in the plantations
during the Transatlantic Salve Trade. It is not unknown for a child (some as
young as 7 years old) to have their feet chopped off in order to prevent them
running away.
All of the major chocolate
manufacturers are fully aware of the atrocities occurring daily on the many cocoa
plantations in West Africa; Mars/M&M's being one of them, along with Hershey’s
and Nestlé.
On September the 19th
2001 the Harkin-Engel Protocol was signed (including by Paul Michaels, the
President of Mars/M&M’s) to ensure the end of child labour in all chocolate
farms. The deadline for this to be completed was 2005. It was then put back to 2008,
and then to 2010 (incidentaly, in that same year the revenue of Mars was $30
billion, a One-Year Growth of 7.1%). This
agreement still remains unfulfilled, and in fact, the 300,000 child slaves entrapped in the trade today is an increase on the figure as it stood in 2001, so the problem is getting worse, not better.
Fair Trade on a bag of MALTESERS®
brought in the UK may sound a jolly decent thing. However, when one thinks of
how much confectionary is sold around the World by the Mars Empire, does this
statement of intent not seem a little empty of gesture, let alone to be one truly
embodying considerable change?
Besides, the simple fact
is that we the consumers have no sure way of knowing if the chocolate we are
buying has been tainted with the blood of child slaves, and it was only in 2010
that the founders of the Fair Trade Certification process had to suspend
several of their West African suppliers due to evidence that they were using
child labour. This is something that these huge corporations seem more than
happy to continue ignoring, which they will continue to do because we continue to be happy buying.
Drissa, a recently freed
cocoa slave who, like most of those who farm the cocoa for our consumption, had
never even tasted chocolate, was asked what he would tell the people who eat
chocolate made from slave labour, he replied: “When people eat chocolate they are eating my flesh.”
That is the truth behind Europe's
first M&M's World® store in London’s Leicester Square, so dedicated
to the colourful fun of M&M's®…’ It is coloured with the blood, sweat
and suffering of children.
Suddenly, that treat doesn’t
taste so sweet.