Tony’s chocolate - duped

[Marsis]

So not as ethical as they like to make out it seems. They partner with a large chocolate brand in Europe and their website and packaging is actually very carefully worded to say they are working towards ‘slave free’ chocolate rather then it actually being slave free. They are no longer on the ‘ethical lists’

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2021/02/13/tonys-chocolonely-dropped-from-ethical-list-over-slavery-links-14076481/amp/

I can’t help but think it’s very clever marketing on their part and quite unethical as I really think looking at the product they want you to think they are slave free.

They did a stunt a few weeks ago with chocolates copying kitkat etc taking the moral high ground but they actually aren’t any different to them it seems. Also they state that the big retailers were pressured to remove the copy bars but nothing to corroborate this and I think I read that they did it themselves as marketing ploy.

Many ethical retailers have pulled them claiming to have been misled. One quite prominent large ethical retailer has dug their heels in or ‘ placed their stake in the sand’ standing by the product saying they never said they were slave free etc although they themselves have made the 100% slavery free claim and not corrected anybody who has made the assumption. It feels like they can’t just admit they were wrong and trying to justify their position not doing their business any favours for the sake of some chocolate bars.

Of anyone is looking for an alternative, the Chocolate Tree does amazing chocolate.

Here’s link to how they work with their suppliers]

I feel pretty sorry for Tony’s chocolate. They must have worked very hard to put the arrangements in place to provide working towards truly ethical chocolate that has no direct slavery in the supply chain at a reasonable margin and they are being lynched for it. Fine, what are you going to do- go back to buying supermarket chocolate and feel superior that you’ve ditched the more ethical product? Tell them to charge at least 10x more to do it properly and destroy their business anyway as that’s what the cost of single small scale supply chain is? You can’t bring chocolate to market at a reasonable price without going through a big producer and I’m sure there’s a reason they didn’t go with nestle! Credit to them for having persuaded the big supplier to implement this traceable component for them and presumably they are studying it closely to see if it’s worth expanding.
I wonder how many of these people protesting are wearing H&M conscious or buying chain store bci cotton. Like that’s better.

I’d only just discovered this after it being a freebie in a Gousto box. Loved it and found it in our local eco shop so have bought it a few times since. Maybe mass-production is always doomed to be unethical somewhere along the way.

Yes the FB is one of the culty types and I don’t think all of the members realise they are being constantly marketed too - not sure if that makes sense. The owners seem a bit superior and seem to encourage excessive buying with their promotions and that seems at odds with a company that is about ethical products. I do get they are a business and their aim is for people to buy from them but feel they should be a bit more transparent and less self righteous.

The bmi bonus is a massive overreaction. It’s not what they are doing. It’s a token £50 and employers are not weighed, and it’s not called that. They are getting massively unfair negative publicity. Good on you all for lynching a small company during a recession. I don’t even eat Tony’s but this pack mentality is pretty ugly.

How about Willie's Cacao, is that good alternative? www.williescacao.com/world-cacao/my-philosophy-of-chocolate-bean-to-bar-chocolate/

@timeisnotaline I would agree with you but the company deliberately marketed itself as something it is not using carefully worded phrasing to mislead people including companies which stock it.

@timeisnotaline id still buy it as gifts because my niece and my dad and a couple of other ppl i know like it. I really really wanted to like it but i just dont like the taste. My dad carried on eating it. After it was broken up so he didnt cut himself again.

Just because i dont like it does not mean it isnt nice chocolate. I cant help that i dont like the taste.

@EasterIssland the fb group really started hacking me off - the straw that broke the camels back was their supposedly no discussion of bfing in the main group (keep it in the parenting group). Start of lockdown there were so many smug posts about how “oh so glad I’m not one of those mums now worrying about where my formula and nappies are coming from!” in the main group - I had PTSD and severe PNA from bfing failing and it just fucked me off so much that they could have posts like that, but I’d post about a product and it wouldn’t get approved. I left the group after that (and fb not long after!). One of the reasons I liked the bp group was it banned discussions on that so it was a “safe space” for me to chat, and I prioritised buying from BP because of it.

I hate how they seem to have a cult like mentality and promote excessive buying - totally get they’re a business who benefit from people buying stuff, but the “chosen ones” in the group constantly promoting the latest shit they’ve been sent and whipping up a frenzy.

I really hate all the Insta ready pictures people post of their little cherubs at 13 months playing perfectly. It took me too long and a battered mental health to realise they’re posed photos “for the gram” and that ain’t reality.

I hate the bragging they encourage with the hashtags to show off what you’ve bought. I’ve said to DH for a long time they encourage consumerism - might be ethical products, but it’s still encouraging it.

It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so I buy elsewhere now.

I think the tri-climb is shite too and felt totally robbed when ours turned up. Not worth £200 regardless of how ethical it is.

(I don’t buy Cadbury or nestle etc)

Hang on: according to that article, their chocolate IS slave free and the beans fully sourceable.

But they use a processor who also, under separate contract, processes beans for non-ethical chocolate.

And RIVALS have taken them off the ethical list.

Still glad I bought their box of eggs yesterday in prep for Easter rather than from a brand where the beans are not traceable.

Oh the insta posts are ridiculous. That's the one thing that pisses me right off. No your kids did not create that mandala, you did!

I left the group because I was so fed up with the virtuous posts. I remember a pile on about TV a couple of years ago, the poor OP was made out to be an evil person for allowing an hour of TV a day.

@RainingBatsAndFrogs have we read a different article 🙈 the chocolate is traceable and slave free, however the company they use to process the beans isn’t slave/child labour free (so beans are fully traceable etc, but that company process them, and do use slaves and child labour, inc for Tony’s is how I’ve understood it)

So Tony’s is ethical and slave free apart from that part of the processing - the thing I take issue is, is them using their slave free/child labour stance to promote their product and false advertising. Rather than being upfront about “this part of processing is an issue that you can’t get around, here’s how we can end it and what we’re doing”

Very happy to stand corrected if I’ve completely misunderstood 🙈

Ok I’ve re-read it:

“Although Tony’s does not directly source its cocoa beans from Barry Callebaut, rival firms and ethical traders suggest processing enables the firm to sell their chocolate at a cheaper price.”

Ok I’ve totally misread it and misunderstood

I’d definitely like to know more about if the processing is slave/child labour free 🤔

"I think essentially I have learnt that chocolate is not an ethical product"

Does anyone have any recs for any that don't use any slave labour and/or child labour? I tried internet searching about a week ago but it's quite hard to find specifics,

This article is a bit more thorough: www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2021/02/16/Tony-s-Chocolonely-rejects-modern-slavery-allegation-in-its-cocoa

The beans aren’t even processed in Africa anyway, that’s in Belgium - much to do about nothing it seems!!

@RainingBatsAndFrogs

Hang on: according to that article, their chocolate IS slave free and the beans fully sourceable.

But they use a processor who also, under separate contract, processes beans for non-ethical chocolate.

And RIVALS have taken them off the ethical list.

Still glad I bought their box of eggs yesterday in prep for Easter rather than from a brand where the beans are not traceable.

Yep. That seems to sum up the situation.

The Metro article says: Slave Free Chocolate founder, Ayn Riggs, said removing Tony’s from the list had been a difficult decision.

Although Tony’s cocoa beans are said to be fully traceable, Riggs added: ‘They’re still getting the price advantage of having a great big company make it for them versus themselves’.

I suspect this is one of the issues with moving from an small, plucky, ethical brand to a mainstream one. They have had to make compromises to make the product affordable. The issue seems to be with how they have framed and communicated those compromises.

I hope they can come back from this. I'm not a huge fan of their chocolate myself, but it's good to have a visible mainstream brand that does highlight the issues with most chocolate companies.

Much ado very consciously whipped up by rivals, I would say.

How ethical.

Obviously the child Labour issue is different from the slave Labour issue, and complex to solve given family run farms, different cultural expectations. But it seems TC are pro active in stopping it, and can say ‘no slave Labour’ with a clean conscience.

Modern slavery in a processing plant in Belgium? Probably not, as an EU employer they will need to prove work permits for their workforce.

The Tony's chocolate thing is nuanced I think as others have pointed out. They're not out and out lying and are still much more ethical than many chocolate producers. Although hardly any mainstream chocolate is actually edible these days, Cadburys particularly is horrendous.

Is the FB group discussion about Babipur? I'm confused by 2 different companies being discussed at once.

Also a PP said a podcast Reply All was unethical. How can a podcast be unethical? Sorry if that's a stupid question.

Marsis I think you have misrepresented what is going on.

Tony’s say their own chocolate is slave-Labour free. Their mission to making chocolate production slavery-free is the wider industry. They are clear about this, it is not ‘clever wording’.

The Metro will have largely reproduced the Press Release from the rivals that struck them off. That’s what newspapers do with these sorts of issues.

Is the body that struck them off an independent regulated body? It doesn’t look like it, but I may be wrong.

I am no champion or otherwise for Tony’s, it is expensive and I can’t understand the ‘lonely’ part of the name: seems odd branding. But the thread title caught my eye as I bought Easter eggs yesterday. And I feel duped by your OP.

Or was until I read the link and other material.

Hahahaha! Babipur sells Tony’s Easter Eggs for £2 more than the price in Waitrose.

That seems like a scam to me!

Maybe they could make it in normal chunks now rather than their pretentious and impractical unequally sized chunks.

Much ado very consciously whipped up by rivals, I would say.

How ethical.

This increasingly seems to be a business strategy for both individuals and companies. Whip up a media (usually social media) storm to try to discredit your rival by painting them as unethical, lacking woke credentials, etc.

@Okokokbear

Ffs! Literally within 15 mins of each other I've found my fave podcast reply all is unethical and my fave chocolate. I've just Googled the bmi bonus. What the actual fuck?

I'm obviously missing something here because I'm baffled about how a podcast can be unethical? Although you say "podcast reply all" so I guess that could be something different to a podcast?