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.

I thought that for ages as well LadyEloise

@LadyEloise

I've bought Tony's Chocolonely bars before but thought they were called Tony's Chocolooney As in someone was mad for chocolate. And I'm considered quite observant.

Much better name!

"Not 100% slave free?

We have never found an instance of modern slavery in our supply chain, however, we do not guarantee our chocolate is 100% slave free. While we are doing everything we can to prevent slavery and child labour, we are also realistic. Firstly, we cannot be there to monitor the cocoa plantations 24/7, and we don’t believe in that kind of monitoring. And our ambition extends beyond our own bar: we want to change the whole industry which involves being where the problems are so that we can solve them. Only then can we say we have achieved our mission to make all chocolate 100% slave free.

So.. is there illegal labour in our supply chain?

The short answer is yes, but we have never said differently, and we are glad we know about it because then we can eradicate it. We actively look for instances so we can solve them. We have a Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) in place across all 7 cocoa cooperatives that we source from in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Last year we found 387 cases of illegal child labour and remediated 221. Most big chocolate companies do not know how many cases of illegal labour there are in their cocoa supply chain and therefore they cannot work to remediate them, this is only made possible because we have a 100% traceable supply chain (as validated by PWC in our annual reports)"

I think this is realistic and transparent, not misleading. They have never found slavery in their supply chain, they actively look for it, therefore as far as they know their choc is slavery-free.

Oh wow, I never noticed it was ‘lonely’?? So weird. Why lonely? I thought Loney, as in, rhymes with Tony....

@Youhavetoquitwhileyoureahead

"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,

Yes, Tonys. I wish I could delete all these comments about I don’t like how it tastes anyway. It’s not the point here. I don’t eat it, but I’m not going to join the pile on because of flavour. Foie gras on the other hand, is an explosion of heaven in your mouth. I didn’t realise being delicious is associated with ethics so maybe I will rethink my I don’t buy foie gras stance.

Tony’s clearly have some fans and maybe they had read in detail the website where they state they are not slave free and are just aiming to be but give the impression they are. They are a big successful company I don’t think this thread is going to result in their downfall. If I bought clothing from a company that claimed to pay workers a fair wage I wouldn’t be happy if they rented a corner of factory where most of the workers weren’t. If you lay down with dogs..

I don’t care that much about the product but you can’t delete things that don’t agree with your views.

If they had been clear about their message I would be ok but it was deliberately misleading, their mission is the slightly woolly ‘we aim to eradicate slavery by 2025’ they do not claim their chocolate is slavery free even though people on this thread say it is which shows what a very good job of convincing/misleading people that it is.

I used to work with Divine Chocolate and have stuck with their products ever since as I was so impressed with their model which is genuinely ethical and empowers the chocolate producers. (I haven't worked with them for a decade and have no links to them)

I prefer the taste and stance of Seed and Bean, the Spiced Ginger is divine

seedandbean.co.uk/collections/mini-bars

I really like Divine chocolate!

I don't know about the ethics of the beans etc but a great chocolate initiative is Grace Chocolates. They are chocolates handmade by women in a prison in Scotland. I've bought the 'make your own' kits to do with the kits and they are fun and the chocolate is scrumptious.

they do not claim their chocolate is slavery free even though people on this thread say it is which shows what a very good job of convincing/misleading people that it is.

I think it’s more of a translation issue. Originally here in NL they were ‘slave-free’ (slaafvrij) then it became clear that it just wasn’t possible. They changed the wording to “Onderweg naar slaafvrij”, literally ‘On the way to slave-free’, which is a perfectly normal way to phrase it in Dutch but could certainly be interpreted as weasel words in English.
I suspect that’s also why the ‘slave free’ is in bigger letters (because that’s how the logo was originally).
I’m not too bothered about Tony’s, I can take it or leave it, but it’s a pretty bog-standard supermarket brand here and not that much more expensive than similar sized bars made by other brands.
The irritating bar divisions are to remind you of the inequalities in the supply chain.
I neither work for nor care too much about the brand, I should add! But I think they’ve done a good job of raising awareness of the connection between slavery and chocolate.

I find know why mn raves about it, it tastes like cheap chocolate, to me.

they do not claim their chocolate is slavery free even though people on this thread say it is which shows what a very good job of convincing/misleading people that it is.

BUT...despite being pro-active in checking for slavery, they have not found it in their supply chain. So as far as they can possibly tell, they are slavery-free.

It's like the scientific method - you can say that there is no evidence that such-and-such has happened but you can't say it never would. I understand what they are saying. I don't feel mislead, thanks.

The box of choc eggs I have in front of me, presumably printed before this furore says "Our vision is slave-free chocolate. Not just our chocolate but all chocolate worldwide. The kore people join our mission and share our story the sooner 100% slave free becomes the norm"

Meanwhile their claims in their accounts are independently verified.

It seems very clear to me.

This phrase on their packaging does suggest they are slave free - which is apparently not true, and they claim they don't say.
"Alone we make slave free chocolate"

There are lots of smaller indies like Yes Bebe who have addressed this very differently and much more appropriately in my opinion. As others have mentioned there has been a few instances of BP acting inappropriately lately, for example cultural appropriation, sexual harrassment and as mentioned, the undeclared adverts within their Facebook group. Yes Bebe will be my first choice going forwards, I much prefer their stance and way of tackling issues which arrive.

Many indie sellers appear to feel duped which is such a shame as Tony's really did look ideal on the surface. The BMI bonus is awful, but unless you go digging, the average consumer will be convinced by the packaging which does indicate it is 100% slavery free.

But since they have found no evidence of slavery on their supply chain....it is true.

I daresay Heinz say they make dead-mouse-free baked beans (or would if they were asked) and take every possible precaution to make sure that is true ..but one was once found in a can.

The wording was changed as people pointed out it was a bit lost in translation, although technically as far as they can reasonably tell there has never been slavery used in their supply chain, so it is correct. The point they're making is that because of the way the chocolate trade is set up, they cannot be 100% sure (short of someone being present and every point to make sure the processes are in place). BMI bonus was stopped ages ago, so they seem responsive to what their staff want/feel.

Last year we found 387 cases of illegal child labour and remediated 221.

So over 100 cases of child labour they did nothing about.

Their comments above slave free also seem to be saying ‘we haven’t found any instances of child slavery but we haven’t really been looking that closely as we can’t be there 24/7’.

What they are saying is that they set up supply chains to be free of slavery, but unless there is someone from their company physically there at all times then no, they cannot hand on heart say that 100% of the time it has been adhered to; but they have independent reports (which they publish) amongst other things which are satisfied they run as they should. They purposefully employ people in areas where it's a huge problem to try and show other companies it can be done in the very places they also have workers.

But over 200 they did, they are a relatively small company in terms of the entire chocolate industry. If you know anything about the industry you would know that it impressive, not sure why you are so wound up about this when there is plenty online from them which is transparent and honest and open about it.

I recently bought some for a gift , had almond in it i think , i was really disappointed , quite mediocre .
For the £3.50 !!! i paid for it i remarked that i could have bought 3.5 bars of poundshop toblerone looky likey which is very nice .
I won't buy it again .

Meh, their advertisement is misleading imo.

Like the new bars that say “ The Sweet Solution from: Tony’s ..because all chocolate should be made without modern slavery and illegal child labour”
But their chocolate has been made with illegal child labour too, so... where’s the sweet solution?

@tsmainsqueeze

I recently bought some for a gift , had almond in it i think , i was really disappointed , quite mediocre . For the £3.50 !!! i paid for it i remarked that i could have bought 3.5 bars of poundshop toblerone looky likey which is very nice . I won't buy it again .

OMG the price I just looked it up and it’s currently €2.89 at our local Dutch supermarket, and they frequently have BOGOF and ‘buy one, get one for half off’ offers. I’d never pay 4 euros for it (except I suppose I would because I approve of their mission. But the chocolate’s nothing special.)

@Playtimeisover

Meh, their advertisement is misleading imo.

Like the new bars that say “ The Sweet Solution from: Tony’s ..because all chocolate should be made without modern slavery and illegal child labour”
But their chocolate has been made with illegal child labour too, so... where’s the sweet solution?

It hasn't

The major problem is that chocolate produced as close to ethically as possible (for example, bean-to-bar chocolate in which the manufacturers deal directly with the farmers and complete most of the process in the UK) is very, very expensive; often 10 times as expensive as Dairy milk, let alone supermarket chocolate. Generally speaking, cheap chocolate is unethical chocolate but people don’t want to pay the amount it costs to make chocolate without exploitation. Any large company that tries to make the situation at least somewhat better should really be being praised, even if what they’re doing isn’t perfect.

Isn’t this from Tony’s? “ Last year we found 387 cases of illegal child labour and remediated 221”

That to me means that their chocolate has been made with illegal child labour.

Cadbury also has some lovely information about how they are fighting illegal child labour and empowering women, but no one thinks they are an ethical brand.

I think there's a confusion of terms going on in the discussions around this, which is possibly why some posters are saying they are slave-free and others are saying they aren't

From what I understand, Tony's make a distinction between slavery and illegal child labour.

So they might not have found slavery but they have found illegal child Labour.

From the website of an small independent stockist of Tony's who apparently spoke to them at length about this:
^"They stand by the fact they unknowlingly have no Slavery in their supply pipeline, however, have found Child Labour. We argued they are one in the same. Their response was that one was forced, and the child is cut off from family and not paid, and the other is child labour. Illegal child labour has different levels of severity. Working long hours or working during school hours, as well as dangerous working conditions, such as using a machete, spraying chemical pesticides or lifting heavy loads are all forms of illegal child labour.
The below table shows which work activities children can perform at different ages, if a child is found performing one of the tasks they should not be this is classed as illegal child labour, and in Tony's mind not slavery."