PRESENTED BY

ANIKHA
RAHANA
SIJI
ZUBAIR

CONTENTS

Key Issues

Is it illegal?

Who all are affected?

Consequentialist perspective

Non-Consequentialist perspective

Stakeholder theory

Q&A

Recommendations

References

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5
6
8
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10
11-15
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KEY ISSUES
Sourcing:
Much of Hersheys cocoa is sourced from West Africa, a region
plagued by forced labor, human trafficking, and abusive child labor.
Hershey doesn't have a system in place to ensure that its cocoa
purchases from this region are not tainted by labor rights abuses.
Transparency:
Hershey continuously refuses to identify its cocoa suppliers,
therefore it is not possible to verify that its chocolate was not made
under conditions of abusive child labor.
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KEY ISSUES
Laggard:
Hershey lag behind its competitors when it comes to purchasing
cocoa that has been certified to meet certain social , labor and
environmental standards.
Green washing:
Hershey points to various charitable donations to children in the US
and programs in West Africa as examples of its social responsibility,
yet it has no policy to ensure that the cocoa used in its products is not
produced with forced, trafficked, or child labor.
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IS IT ILLEGAL?
Child labour, indeed, is illegal.
The suppliers took away the children's right to education
To a company that demands a premium on its products,
this should not have happened.

Does the action violate company or

professional standards?
Yes, it is against companies ethical standards.
Hersheys commitments to its stakeholders through ethical behavior
are outlined in the Code of Ethical Business Conduct.
The code covers issues from conflicts of interest and antitrust to fair
trade, sustainable supply chain management, and workplace
diversity.
All employees go through ethics training and certify their adherence
to the code every year. Hersheys Ethical Business Practices
Committee provides oversight and guidance in all ethical issues at
the company.
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WHO IS AFFECTED?
The children, who lost their right to education

The children who got education as part of the CSR activities.

Reputation of the company.

CONSEQUENTIALIST PERSPECTIVE

Ethical egoism

Company is making decisions

that best suits its interests.
Hersheys had to cross-check
with the suppliers whether they
were adhering to the companys
standards.

Instead, they insisted on profit

maximization which prompted the
suppliers to make use of child
labour.

The suppliers saw them as cheap

labour who would work under any
conditions for a very meagre pay.

Utilitarianism

From a utilitarian ethical

perspective, it would seem that
the use of child labor is not really
all that unethical

In this case, all parties but the

child laborers themselves clearly
benefit from the use of child
labor in cocoa production since it
makes chocolate cheaper at
every step of the supply chain.

DEONTOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE:
It is clear that Hershey was unethical.
With opportunities like Fair Trade in reach, Hershey repeatedly chose to continue
to source from unregulated cocoa farms, where child labor and poverty was the
norm.
While the issues with West African cocoa farms are much bigger than any one
chocolate company, Hershey neglected to do its part in ensuring the fundamental
international rights of its farmers.
The protesters who urged Hershey to Raise the Bar! were right; the company
does indeed need to raise its standards to a more ethical benchmark.

STAKEHOLDER THEORY
The use of child labour in the production process can be said to be
unacceptable.
This appears more so when this practise is viewed from the perspective of
the stakeholder theory.
Stakeholders are those groups who are vital to the survival and the success
of an organisation.
It includes customers, employees, suppliers, communities, etc.
Organisations, according to the stakeholder theory, are supposed to protect
the interest of the stakeholders.
Allowing under aged children to work is clearly the opposite. Also using
suppliers that use, under aged labour is unethical.
Decisions taken without a thorough consideration of their possible impacts
on the stakeholders are usually believed to be unethical.
This is because of the intrinsic worth of the stakeholders interest, which is
directly linked to that of the organisation
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Q &A

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Should Hershey be held ethically responsible for

child labour conditions in the West African cocoa
communities?

About 70% of the worlds cocoa crop is harvested in West Africa,

where abusive human rights practiced such as forced labour,child
labour and human trafficking are rampant.
In countries like Ghana children are pulled from school, forced to work
in the cocoa fields And factories and frequently injured from the job.
Human rights activits have been Protesting these conditions for years.
So Hershey cant be fully held ethically responsible for child labour
conditions
in the West African cocoa communities. But to the protests,a number
of food companies have responded with substantive chanages.
But Hershy despite having a market share in the U.S. of over 40%, is
doing the least in the Area of fair trade.

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How can Hershey balance its ethical culture

and concern for labor conditions in West
Africa in relating to various stakeholders?
Agreement to take immediate action to eliminate forced and child labor in
violation of international human rights standards on forced, child, and
trafficked labor from Hersheys cocoa supply chain through:
1) tracing its supply chain to the farm level,
2) sourcing from farmers who can show through independent verification that
they do not use forced labor or child labor,
3) asking suppliers to end such practices throughout their supply chain.

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Contd
.Commitment to sourcing 100% fair trade certified cocoa beans for
at least one of its top five selling chocolate bars that prominently
displays the Hershey name.
.a commitment to making at least one additional top five selling bar
100% fair trade certified every two years thereafter, so that Hersheys
top five selling cocoa bars will all be 100% fair trade certified within
ten years.
Finally, a commitment that the majority of Hersheys cocoa across
all products will be fair trade certified

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If it is not possible for Hershey to gain control

of its supply chain for a required raw material
(cocoa beans) in its final product, what are its
alternatives?

For a company like hershy it is not difficult to acquire or merge with

any raw material supplier. So that it can have a direct control on the
child labour issue.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
Consumers play an essential role in diminishing the food industrys
injustices.
Child slavery on cocoa farms is a difficult issue to fully address
because the most serious abuses take place across the world;
however, that does not mean our responsibility is reduced, since
chocolate is a luxury and not a necessity like fruits and
vegetables.
So as consumers by consuming those chocolates which adhere to
standards will make companies like Hershey to rethink on their
such practices.

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REFERENCES
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=9TikAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT24&dq=the+hershe
y+company+and+west+african+cocoa+communities
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-03-18/hershey-judge-says-sha
reholders-can-seek-child-labor-files-1https://www.thehersheycompany.com/pdfs/21st_Century-single_page_final
.pdf
https://danielsethics.mgt.unm.edu/pdf/Hershey%20Case.pdf

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