What Hershey Isn’t Saying Says A Lot

There is no denying that the issues Hershey lays out in their sustainability plan for 2030 are material to their business. Deforestation is a huge problem for agricultural products as a whole, not just cocoa. Packaging is a pervasive issue for all consumer products. These goals address core problems for the company.

Hershey does have a page regarding child labor on their site. The company recognizes from their internal analysis that it is an issue, citing that 6.7% of the children assessed were found to be doing inappropriate work. Yet, the findings were not considered to be a primary objective for Hershey’s 2030 goals that were publicly announced this month.

Child labor in the supply chain is not just unique to Hershey, as they were not the only company featured in the February lawsuit. The power wielded by the major chocolate companies over the nations of Ghana and Ivory Coast is enormous. Although the majority of the world’s cocoa supply is produced in those nations, the relationship with the corporations is nowhere near equitable. Even though Hershey, Mars, and Nestle are huge enterprises, they run the risk of damaging their brand reputation through bad news and lawsuits, as well as potentially losing business to companies that want to pay fair premiums on cocoa. Focusing on environmental issues will help insulate the supply chain from some climate risk, but the social aspects going forward for Hershey are largely lacking substance.