Chocolate, what a treat.
But who is actually behind this godly food?
These two short videos will give you a taste of what their respective reports are about and the harsh conditions children are subjected to, so that individuals such as ourselves can enjoy a few moments of delight.
CNN's David Mackenzie travelled into the heart of Ivory Coast, Africa, to understand exactly where our chocolate comes from.
Another documentary on chocolate child labour was made by BBC called: "Chocolate, a bitter truth", also set in Ivory Coast, the world's largest supplier of cocoa.
What can we do to stop chocolate child slavery? Will chocolate ever taste the same again? Has the sweet reality suddenly turned bitter?
Firstly, I’d like to say that, as the chocolate-addicted I consider I am; I find the exploitation shown in the videos totally unbearable. As we all know, chocolate is a sweet drug that many people like. Its delicious taste and the variety of chocolates to which we have easy access to nowadays, make this product one of the most popular of the market.
ReplyDeleteHowever, child labour is used in order to obtain the plant from which chocolate is created, named cocoa. As it is shown in the videos, many children see themselves forced to leave school to work in the chocolate production, having to look for cocoa.
In my opinion, stopping child slavery is a difficult task but it is not impossible. Nowadays, this activities being done by children are forbidden, but big companies look for cheap labour and the immediate answer is child slavery. So, what we should do is make companies be aware of how children in underdeveloped countries are suffering; because at the moment they are permitting this although they know it’s forbidden. The big problem with this is globalisation. As a consequence of globalisation, developed countries grow and grow and grow whilst countries that are further back, see themselves in disadvantage compared to the first economic powers. So, we find that developed countries increase while the undeveloped have to fall back to extremes such as child slavery. As big companies have an unmovable objective, which is basically grow and be as competitive and they can; they have to take the most out the least money possible. I consider that this idea is the one that makes companies rich and famous, but why don’t they gain this prestige without them stepping on undeveloped countries which have the need of child slavery to survive?
Genuinely, if the only condition to having such a delicious sweet as chocolate is, is based in making suffer young children and ending with their education, then we should all try to live without this pleasant fancy; as, for me, with no doubt the sweet taste of chocolate has suddenly turned bitter.
Ana Las Hayas
In my opinion, stopping child slavery is an extremely complicated task, but I agree with Ana since I do think that it can be almost stopped or at least reduced. I think that consciousness here plays a very important role, because many people are not aware of the fact that behind every chocolate tablet there are children suffering from slavery. But sadly, this is not only found in chocolate, but also in many other quotidian products: trainers, clothes, handbags… as we all know, many companies employ in third world countries as it costs them less, in order to then sell it to us at a better price and therefore increase consumption. I think that if everyone knew the real situation of third world countries, consumption would decrease and maybe companies would start thinking twice before actually paying such miserable salaries to their employees.
ReplyDeleteI had seen a similar video to this one, and I have to say that it was no surprise when I saw it, because many well-known companies use children in order to not waste much money, something which really saddens me. The worst is that we all buy this products, because we depend on them (I’m not referring to chocolate only), and it’s almost unavoidable to buy them. So not only is the reality of chocolate bitter and harsh, but also the reality in which we live in nowadays.
Ana Adán
Chocolate, nowadays, is identified as one of the most consumed and popular products globally, one of the products which has been tasted pleasantly all around the world since decades and one of the products which millions of people from every country eat on their everyday life. But, in contrast, children who are crucial for this chocolate to arrive to these countries, children who work on their daily basis with cocoa, have never bitten a single piece of this tempting, creamy substance. A sad and impacting fact.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Ana Las Hayas and Ana Adán in the fact that stopping child labour is an extremely difficult task, as it would mean society working together as a team to stop this, but personally, what I find extremely difficult to believe, is that multinationals such as Nestle, who as we all know have a worldwide success, can ruin the life of children by not paying them, by giving them an inappropriate tough work and by avoiding them to go to school, just because they don’t want to invest money in workers.
In my opinion, one of the simplest ways to stop chocolate child labour would be by not buying a single product to those companies who we know are being unbelievably selfish, such as Nestle, as then they will not have the habitual consumers for their product and chocolate child labour would stop. I disagree with Ana Las Hayas on what she proposed:
‘So, what we should do is make companies be aware of how children in underdeveloped countries are suffering’
as I think that companies are completely conscious of what they are doing to these children, and moreover, as the video says, they hide this and claim to be innocent.
For me, definitely, the sweet reality hasn’t turned suddenly bitter as I had seen a similar video about companies being painfully unfair with people who work for them, but actually the taste of chocolate has changed negatively, as before seeing this I was not aware that there was so much chocolate child slavery and that Nestle was behind it.
Laura Adán
I must say I agree with all your comments though the one that resembles most to my personal beliefs are Laura's. I give you 100% credit for stating that these massive corporations such as Nestle, know exactly what is going on and what the basis of their scrumptious comestibles are. The only thing that matters to this company specifically, is a roaring trade. As stated in the video, the goal is to sell more but on the same time reducing costs. Apparently from Nestle's point of view, this can only be done through child slavery as "adults have to be paid".
ReplyDeleteAnd the sad thing is that this is happening not only in the pruchase of cocao (also used in other corporations for the elaboration of makeup for example)but as Ana Adán well put out, in many different areas concerning the textile industry in countries of Asia, etc.
You know, slavery is a mass problem in the world and it exists in every country of the world. Even in the seemingly beautiful city of Barcelona, women from undeveloped countries are being forced into prostitution.
Unfortunately slavery is something that has always existed and will always exist. Just as racism and sexism will always prevail, even in democratic and developed countries. What we can do, is decide how we are going to minimise it, and how we are going to fight it. We can satrt by giving innocent children a chance. We can start by putting a stop to the abuse carried out by large and wealthy corporations like Nestle. We can start by giving these children a chance of dreaming of a future and of a decent life free of slavery.
Chocolate has always been my weakness but it has really turned bitter on my taste buds. If everyone felt like this, then slavery at least in the chocolate industry, would have been erradicated and succesfully eliminated.