Hershey Ethics Case Study

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Executive Summary The Hershey Company is being scrutinized for failing to follow through on the commitment they made to end child poverty by signing the Harkin-Engel Protocol ten years ago. They Hershey Company is facing criticisms from a campaign called Raise the Bar Hershey’s and by competitors and consumers. A large portion of the chocolate industry has committed to providing programs and services that will help end child labor. The Hershey Company is being pressured to make a full commitment to purchasing 100% fair-trade cocoa in the near future. The image that consumers have of the Hershey Company could be tarnished if the Hershey Company fails to make that commitment. Business ethics has become a pressing issue for consumers and now plays a part in the buying process. Consumers are calling for corporate transparency so that consumers can see the true ethics of a business and also so consumers can better understand where their products are coming from and who is producing them. The Hershey Company is facing a problem that could cause reputation and sales to both deteriorate. Article Summary The Hershey Company is being accused of breaking the company commitment to end child labor (Vijayaraghavan, Hershey’s). This is not the first time that the Hershey Company has been accused of using child labor (Vijayaraghavan, Hershey’s). However, ten years ago the Hershey Company signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol to ensure that child labor would end by the year 2005 (Vijayaraghavan, Hershey’s). Over the past ten years the chocolate industry has spent over 75% million on programs and initiatives that would aid in the process to reduce child labor in Ghana and Cote d’Ivorie where child labor is considered to be some of the worst in the world (Vijayaraghavan, Hershey’s). While the chocolate industry as a whole has made progress in reducing and ending child labor, it

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