Food for thought on Easter from Oxfam's Behind the Brands

Watching TV out of the corner of my eye today, I kept seeing commercials for Easter candies that will no doubt be consumed in gluttonous amounts Sunday by children worldwide.

The adorable ads featured innocuous smiling children hunting for large plastic eggs filled to the brim with sweets. However, they neglected to mention all the time, money and  intensive labor associated with the global chocolate industry.


The chocolate industry has an annual profit of $100 billion with three companies-- Mars, Mondelez International and Nestle-- buying nearly one-third of the world's supply. These companies are among the world's 10 largest food and beverage manufacturers, and Oxfam is encouraging them to improve their supply chain to eliminate discrimination against women cocoa farmers.

Oxfam's newest initiative, Behind the Brands, Mars, Mondelez and Nestle and found that all fail to create fair workplaces for women cocoa farmers. Women who grow and harvest cocoa in countries like the Ivory Coast and Nigeria are paid $2 to $3 daily, while their male counterparts make an average of $7, according to the Oxfam March 2013 Fact Sheet, "Women and the Big Business of Cocoa."

Exacerbating the pay problem is that  less than 5 percent of the profit from the sale of chocolates goes back to the farmer, the fact sheet states. Instead, the money is used for marketing, transportation, store fees and other expenses. Oxfam reports that the lack of financial return to the farmers means that many cocoa farmers suffer from hunger and malnutrition with 57 percent of  cocoa farming households in Ondo, Nigeria, surveyed  in 2007 lacked access  to adequate food.

The 18-month long research project for Behind the Brands also found women are limited in their access to money from the crops they grow and face unjust obstacles in trying to secure ownership of their farmland. Men typically sell the crops to traders and keep the money, and they are more likely to have more economic opportunities because of their gender.

Now, the information from Oxfam's extensive reporting should not prevent you from enjoying either giving or receiving a basket Sunday nearly overflowing with sweet chocolate goodness. Oxfam reports that 17 million pounds of chocolate will be sold for the holiday and simply asks you to take into consideration all the unseen labor that goes into making chocolates and sign its petition.

As a way to festively join Oxfam's campaign with the upcoming holiday, I took props from the Columbus Action Corps' event on Thursday, March 21, "Sweet Justice: Choosing Chocolates," and added an Easter element. Please enjoy the following photos:

Stuffed koala, Sidney, does a "Cadbury Bunny" audition. The fuzzy model poses with a small Easter basket filled with Cadbury  Creme Eggs, owned by Mondelez International (except in the U.S., where Hershey has the license), with the clear message "Tell Cadbury: Respect Women Cocoa Farmers." Credit: Jessica Burchard

Stuffed koala, Sidney, keeps the bunny ears on while standing behind an Easter basket filled with  Dove dark chocolates, which is owned by Mars. The basket's message is "Tell Dove: Take a 'moment' to respect women cocoa farmers." Credit: Jessica Burchard.

Stuffed koala, Sidney, sits pretty in the largest of the three Easter baskets, which contains brightly colored plastic eggs with samples of  Divine and Equal Exchange chocolates inside. The Equal Exchange boxes flank the basket and the Dove and Cadbury wrappers sit in front of it. The basket's message is "Be a good egg. Rethink the Easter basket." Credit: Jessica Burchard.

Jessica J. Burchard, Oxfam Columbus Action Corps Co-Leader 2012-13.