Hershey’s Social Responsibility: A Case Study on How the Rise of Social Media Holds Companies to a Higher Standard

The production and selling of chocolate is around a $100 billion USD per year global industry (Martin, 2017). However, while chocolate may be a big business, there have been many instances of social injustices and questionable business practices thought it’s history. Given that over half of the world’s confectionary market is completely dominated by 5 major players; Mars, Kraft, Nestle, Ferrero and Hershey, all of these companies could have a tremendous impact on efforts to rectify injustices and improve business practices (Martin, 2017). Unfortunately, historically some of these companies, Hershey for example, have not only failed to take an active social role but have actually contributed to the problem. Recently, however Hershey and other major companies have experienced a shift in their company culture and have actively invested their resources into increasing social responsibility and sustainability. This shift and changed attitude can partially be attributed to the rise of social media and the consumer’s growing awareness, investment, and involvement in how companies operate.

History of Hershey

Historically Hershey has not always utilized the most socially responsible business practices. One extremely controversial issue within the chocolate industry is the issue of sourcing. Amongst the many ethical problem that can arise in the process of sourcing cocoa is the issue of acceptable labor conditions. This particular issue has seemed to cause trouble for Hershey’s business on more than one occasion. At the turn of the 20th century it was discovered that slave labor was being used at the Cadbury cocoa farms located in São Tomé and Príncipe (Higgs, 2012). Cadbury, experienced both government and public backlash for his continued involvement within the areas, until finally in 1910 the company formally boycotted cocoa from São Tomé and Príncipe, and moved their operations to the Gold Coast in Africa (Higgs, 2012). Unfortunately, Hershey their American counterpart chose not to participate in the boycott, thereby facilitating the existing infrastructure of slave labor and allowing it to continue well in the mid-1900s (Martin, 2017). This is not the only instance of questionable cocoa sourcing during the Hershey’s history. More recently, Hershey has also received a considerable amount of unfavorable coverage based on the working conditions and the use of child labor in cocoa farms in Cote d’Ivoire specifically along the Ivory Coast (Phillips & Caldwell, 2005).

Hershey’s Shifting Values and Increased Social Responsibility

Although Hershey has had a history of questionable and controversial business practices, the company is now contributing to efforts to rectify social injustices and improve working conditions within the chocolate industry, by increasing their own social responsibility. In 2014, the company also released their first corporate social responsibility report in attempt to increase transparency and accountability, stating that they wanted to “reimagined [their] corporate brand, with a clean, modern identity.”

This video highlights some of the initiative that Hershey has taken on  in order to improve their social responsibility. Some of the accomplishment that they highlight are helping cocoa farmers increase their productivity, reducing waste and water use to increase environmental sustainability, and investing in children and their future. They specifically mention how they are supporting a cause in Ghana known as Project Peanut butter as well as how they have built a school on the Ivory coast and are investing in education at home in the United States.

The Role of Social Media

This increase in social responsibility from not only Hershey, but also other major companies, can be attributed in large part to the rise of social media and the growing awareness and interest of the consumer. Snider, Hill, and Martin (2003) discuss how the internet has given the public access to certain information and has reduced companies’ ability to act as gatekeepers of information to their stakeholders. As a result of this vast expansion of information accessibility, consumers are now more concerned than ever that the companies they are buying from and supporting are not only producing high quality product, but also doing it in a way that is ethically sound. In fact a study conducted by Maignan and Ralston (2002) revealed that one of the main reasons that companies listed for committing to socially responsible behavior was pressure from stakeholders, notably consumers, to behave in socially responsible ways (Campbell, 2007). With the introduction of social media, consumers have a new tool to apply this social pressure with. They are now able to give immediate and very public feedback when their standards for product quality and social responsibility are not being met and companies are responding accordingly.

These tweets are examples of how social media, in this case specifically twitter, has increased the accountability of Hershey. The tweets range from being about issues of quality, to product innovations/requests, to issues about ethical business practice. Despite the wide range of topics that are covered in tweets @ Hershey, Hershey makes a point of responding to every one. This illustrates just how important and powerful social media feedback can be.

One example of social media having a extremely significant and immediate impact on a company’s business is the recent Kendall Jenner Pepsi Commercial fiasco.

Pepsi aired this commercial featuring Kendall Jenner in early April of this year. The video was immediately met with criticism and public outrage on social media about the video being appropriative and tone-deaf, by using serious political issues to sell soda.

Many people complained that it trivialized decades of protests against police brutality, as well as trivializing the black lives matter movement, specifically because of the image towards the end of the commercial of Kendall Jenner handing the police officer a can of Pepsi, which many compared to the now famous image captured of Ieshia Evans at a protest moments before her arrest. This tweet, shown above is just one of many tweets complaining about the lack of social awareness that was displayed in this ad.

One particularly notable tweet came from Bernice King, Martin Luther King’s daughter. She too found the pepsi commercial to be appropriative and trivializing of the hardship and struggle that her father faced in the fight for civil rights.

Within 24 hours, due to the public uproar and continued outrage expressed over social media Pepsi pulled the ad, which probably cost millions to produce and issued a public statement, which they shared across multiple platforms of social media, apologizing for “missing the mark.” While Hershey has never faced social media back lash of this magnitude, the pepsi example clearly illustrates what a huge and swift impact social media and public response can have on how companies conduct their business and represent themselves.

Is it all Enough? Hershey’s Lack of Transparency

Although it is evident that social media has the potential to hold companies accountable and enact tangible change, it may not have a broad enough reach to completely revolutionize the chocolate industry and all of the social injustices occurring within the business just yet. True, Hershey seems to have taken great strides in increasing their company’s social responsibility and investing their resources into making sure that they are improving working conditions and making the world a better place. But, are they really doing enough? One thing that I did find disheartening was the underwhelming amount of company transparency and lack of emphasis on their work in social responsibility on their website.

The images above are all screen shots from different company homepage, In the upper left corner, you will see a screenshot from Hershey’s homepage, in the lower left hand corner is a screen shot of Mars’ homepage and the upper and lower righthand images are screenshots of Nestle’s company homepage.

Zooming onto the main menu of Hershey’s page, you can see that they don’t have any type of link to learn more about their social responsibility. At first I wanted to give Hershey the benefit of the doubt, so I clicked on their link to learn more about their story, to see if there was any mention of social responsibility on that page. I also clicked on their option to learn more about simple ingredients to see if while they were talking about their simple ingredients they also mentioned how they were ethically sourcing them.

What I found was slightly disappointing, these are screen shots from the “Our Story” page (left) and the “Simple Ingredients” page (right). As you can see from the images, the informations is very heavily geared towards the wants and benefits of the consumer and doesn’t really make any effort to talk about socially responsibility at all. It seems like their only concern, at least as it is portrayed on their main website, is their responsibility to their consumer. In fact it was so difficult for me to find any mention of community involvement or social initiatives on their main website that in order to find out more about Hershey’s social responsibility initiatives, I actually had to specifically google “Hershey social responsibility” in order to find anything at all.

In contrast, when you zoom onto the main menu options of the Mars and Nestle home-pages, you can see that right away there are options to learn about “Nestle in society” or how Mars is “Doing Our Part”. Once you visit their actual pages you can tell that both companies have taken great lengths to advertise their altruistic efforts and initiatives, and make their practices transparent and easily accessible. In fact their social responsibility and the initiatives that they are taking to make the world a better place are not only mentioned on these specific links, they are also integrated into their “About us” and “Who We Are” pages.

The images above are screenshots from Nestle’s “About us” page (top image) and Mar’s “Who we are” page (bottom image). As you can see, both  Nestle and Mars have not only taken on missions to making the world a better place, but have integrated those missions into their core values and made them central to the overall goals of the company.

It seems to me like Hershey is unfortunately lagging behind their competitors in corporate transpanrency and committing to socially responsible initiatives and activism. An article by Newman, O’Connell and Exchange (2010) seems to indicate that this lack of transparency from Hershey is not only purposeful, but also indicative of socially irresponsible business behaviors specifically in reference to their sourcing practices. Newman, O’Connell and Exchange (2010) claim that despite almost ten years of commitments from Hershey to take responsibility for their cocoa supply chains and improve conditions for workers, significant problems such as, abusive child labor, trafficking, and forced labor continue to persist.

So, why is there such a difference between the seeming efforts of Hershey and its competitors? One thing that I think is interesting to note is the fact that both Mars and Nestle have expanded their businesses into other consumer packaged goods, from frozen foods, to beverages, to even pet care, while Hershey has really stayed with in the confectionary niche. Is there something about the confectionary market that allows for companies to escape harsh and intensive public scrutiny and thereby requires less social responsibilty? These are essential and pressing questions that we must figure out if we want to really push for social responsibility from all companies. We have seen the power of social media and have examples like Pepsi to prove that businesses will make major changes to their company’s culture, structure and operating environment, when there is enough social outcry for them to do so.  Admittedly, the issue of cocoa sourcing may not be as sexy, thrilling, or star studded as the issue of Kendall Jenner’s pepsi commercial, but we need to find a way to bring the indiscretions of companies like Hershey to the forefront of the publics attention in order to get the conversation trending and really push for tangible change.

Works Cited

Campbell, J. L. (2007). Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? An institutional theory of corporate social responsibility. Academy of management Review, 32(3), 946-967.

Higgs, C. (2012). Chocolate Islands: Cocoa, Slavery, and Colonial Africa. Ohio University Press.

Martin, C. (2017, February 1). Chocolate, Culture and the Politics of Food: Mesoamerica and “the food of the gods” [Lecture]. Cambridge, MA.

Martin, C. (2017, March 1). Chocolate, Culture and the Politics of Food: Slavery, Abolition, and Forced Labor [Lecture]. Cambridge, MA.

Newman, T., O’Connell, E., & Exchange, G. (2010). Time to Raise the Bar: The Real Corporate Social Responsibility Report for the Hershey Company.

Phillips, R., & Caldwell, C. B. (2005). Value chain responsibility: A farewell to arm’s length. Business and Society Review, 110(4), 345-370.

Snider, J., Hill, R. P., & Martin, D. (2003). Corporate social responsibility in the 21st century: A view from the world’s most successful firms. Journal of Business ethics, 48(2), 175-187.

Media Cited

“Responsibility.” Corporate. Hershey, n.d. Web. 05 May 2017. https://www.thehersheycompany.com/en_us/responsibility.html

Account, HERSHEY’SVerified. “Tweets with Replies by HERSHEY’S (@Hersheys).” Twitter. Twitter, 05 May 2017. Web. 05 May 2017.

KendallnKylie. “Kendall Jenner for PEPSI Commercial.” YouTube. YouTube, 04 Apr. 2017. Web. 05 May 2017.

Maya. “The Best Example of White and Economic Privilege/ Ignorance I’ve Ever Seen. Never Forget Ieshia Evans. #Pepsi Pic.twitter.com/lXeTp7OBMj.” Twitter. Twitter, 04 Apr. 2017. Web. 05 May 2017.

Account, Be A KingVerified. “Media Tweets by Be A King (@BerniceKing).” Twitter. Twitter, 05 May 2017. Web. 05 May 2017.

“Pepsi Statement Re: Pepsi Moments Content.” PepsiCo. N.p., 5 Apr. 2017. Web. 05 May 2017.

Null. “Home.” Franchise. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.

Nestle.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.

“Mars, Incorporated – Global Petcare, Chocolate, Food, Candy, and Drink Brands.” Mars, Incorporated. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.

Does Good Chocolate Exist: an analysis of vertical product differentiation in the market for chocolate

The candy aisle in CVS features a colorful selection of sweet confections ranging from caramels to sour gummy candies. Of course, the most prominent appearance in the confectionery aisle is chocolate – chocolate in fact makes up more than 60% of US confection sales (National Confectioners Association). Within the chocolate category there is further variation in brand, flavor, and quality – marked by differences in prices. In the field of industrial organization (how firms make decisions), we call variation in a category of product that cannot be objectively determined as qualitative difference, horizontal differentiation. Variation that can be objectively determined as qualitatively specified is called vertical differentiation. Chocolate products exhibit both forms of differentiation – it is impossible to agree on the qualitative difference between one brand’s milk chocolate bar and dark chocolate almond bar (horizontal differentiation), but everyone can agree that a craft designed chocolate bar is qualitatively better than a generic Hershey’s bar (vertical differentiation).

In fact, the difference between chocolate candies and chocolate has become a source of great debate of recent, with eleven food producing associations, including the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Snack Food Association, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, petitioning the FDA to expand the definition of chocolate to include products that use vegetable oils and fats instead of cocoa butter – products which currently must be called “chocolatey” or “chocolate-flavored” (May, 1). The debate speaks to an issue central to the commercial world of chocolate: what makes chocolate, chocolate, and what makes some chocolate objectively better than others? The factors that horizontally differentiate chocolate products simply cater to different tastes, and effectively offer separate subproducts. The vertically differentiated spread however, is more interesting because its factors are significantly more nuanced and shed critical light on the global chocolate industry. This paper will first discuss the chocolate industry’s vertical differentiation strategies, and then critique the assumption that more expensive chocolate is ethically and qualitatively better.

So what goes into the rise in price (upwards of double) from CVS’s chocolates in the candy aisle to those in the “premium chocolates” section just around the corner? First, we see a simple disparity in packaging. The recognizable brown and white Hershey’s bar, orange and yellow Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and colorful assortment of M&Ms is contrasted with the sleeker look of the premium chocolate bars. These bars are, impressively, all colored darkly, with gold lettering, or in the case of Ferrero Rocher individually wrapped in gold foil. Many of the bars are described with catch phrases, also in gold lettering, signaling to consumers that their products are superior to classic chocolate candies – Lindt’s “Excellence”, and Chuao’s “Gourmet Handcrafted Chocolate”.

(The candy aisle  in Harvard Square CVS, showing Hershey’s Kisses and Reese’s Pieces in foreground)

(Landscape layout of Hershey’s chocolate bars in candy section)

(Premium Chocolates section around the corner from the candy aisle, notice gold lettering and clean portrait orientation of chocolate bars)

 

Brand/Product Name	Price per ounce ($/oz)	Motto/Catchphrase	Additional Points
Hershey’s	0.47	Made with farm fresh milk	“Cocoa is rich in antioxidants”
Reese’s (Hershey)	0.54	Filled with Reese’s peanut butter	n/a
M&M’s (Mars)	0.53	Chocolate candies	n/a
Lindt	1.14	Excellence, gourmet chocolate	“Exotic Fruits” collection
Endangered Species	1.00	Indulge in a cause	nonGMO, Fair Trade, gluten free, vegan
Ferrero Rocher	1.05	A tempting combination	Individually wrapped in gold foil
Ghirardelli	1.14	From bean to bar	Encourages use in cooking with recipes
Chuao Chocolatier	1.89	Gourmet handcrafted chocolate	Chef name, master chocolatier’s message

 

Another tactic to show higher quality visually is the inclusion of diagrams, graphics, and special messages on the back of the bars. Ghirardelli bars include a four panel description of the production process “from bean to bar”, claiming that the company’s ability to control each of the steps causes their chocolates to have “ultimate quality”. Every Chuao chocolate bar is detailed with both an autograph from a particular chef, assumed to be involved in the specific flavor of chocolate bar, and a message from the “master chocolatier”. In comparison, the cheaper chocolates have essentially no additional information about the product – the classic Hershey’s Bar simply says “made with farm fresh milk”, Reese’s cups are “filled with Reese’s peanut butter”, and M&Ms are simply described as “chocolate candies”. The most subtle difference in packaging style is likely the orientation of the bar – while the candy chocolate bars are typically oriented landscape (so that when you read the front, the bar is wider than it is tall), whereas every bar in the “Premium Chocolate” section is oriented portrait (so that it is vertically longer than it is wide).

Beyond the fancy packaging, the most expensive chocolates justify their higher prices with claims to better ingredients. On each of the higher end chocolate brand’s websites, stress the importance of using “superior ingredients” in their chocolates. Asides from claiming that the ingredients selected for their chocolates are better than those used in cheaper chocolates, premium chocolates are marketed as having ingredients specifically selected from specific regions around the world. This is especially true for Craft Chocolates, a category of chocolates too luxurious to be included even in the premium chocolates section in CVS. Potomac chocolates for example, which sell at a whopping $5.11 per ounce, are sold in bars horizontally differentiated according to cocoa bean source. Consumers are essentially paying the extra dollars to taste specific regional cocoa beans in their chocolate.

Potomac chocolate bars differentiated according to source of cocoa beans (https://www.potomacchocolate.com/shop/ )

Some chocolates, including Endangered Species chocolate, also adhere to specific dietary demands by highlighting the use of gluten free or vegan ingredients. Although these specifications don’t objectively imply a change in quality of the product, they do appeal to consumers who have specific diets and can afford specific diets.

The final factor that plays into the quality difference across chocolates is the process of chocolate production. As aforementioned, Ghirardelli is especially proud of their control on the entire chocolate-making process “from bean to bar”, so much so that they include a diagram of it on each chocolate bar. The claim here is the same as with many craft chocolatiers – that with the ability to control each step, from roasting the beans, to grinding, to milling, and conching, comes the opportunity to create both a unique and elite product. Although not necessarily a factor into the flavor of the product, many premium chocolates also boast ethically sourced ingredients, organically farmed ingredients, and environmentally conscious processes. Frequent appearances include the simple use of the phrase “ethically sourced ingredients”, Fair Trade certification, nonGMO certification, and USDA Organic. Endangered Species chocolate is not only a brand that displays all of the above certifications, but is also a brand completely devoted to environmental conservationism – particularly the preservation of endangered species, as its name suggests. The company pledges to donate 10% of net profits from its chocolate sales, and each chocolate bar is dedicated to an endangered animal, including interesting information about the animal and its status. The video below describes the process of Endangered Species’ involvement in aiding the recovery of endangered species around the globe.

Though again, saving endangered species has no direct effect to the quality of the chocolate, it adds a side value to the product, so that consumers willingly choose to pay more for the double benefit of chocolate and saving endangered animals.

As presented, there are myriad factors that play into the price spread across chocolates of assumed differentiated quality. We will now evaluate these factors in order to cement whether the most expensive products are justifiably priced as better products than generic chocolate candy bars.

The most noticeable difference between cheap and pricier chocolates, at first glance, is packaging. Aesthetically packaging is obviously a marketing tactic, and to some degree, consumers are paying for a prettier box around the chocolate, with better sounding catchphrases. Although the flowery language may not actually provide useful information about the product, this kind of product differentiation could in fact be an effective method to signal, in an effort to combat market information asymmetry. Information asymmetry is an economic concept describing a transactional state where one or more sides of the transaction is not fully informed about the transaction or product – a market inefficiency that could result in no transactions taking place, even though the buyer and seller could feasibly form an agreement if the necessary information was fully disclosed. Signaling is a strategy that the supplier can utilize to signal to consumers that their product is in fact a high quality product – advertising, for example, signals to consumers that a firm is well-established enough to even afford advertising, and by extension their products must be trustworthy (Investopedia, 1). In the market for chocolate, unless consumers choose to try all chocolate products that exist on the market and determine, by tasting, which products are in fact the best (which is unlikely – consumer behavior tends to favor revisiting familiar products), it is up to chocolate makers to accurately reveal their value to consumers. Spending extra money per bar of chocolate to decorate the bar with fancy text, textured paper, diagrams, and heartfelt messages from the makers of the chocolate signals to chocolate buyers that these products took more effort, money, and care to create, and that thus they must be better than the less-aesthetically wrapped chocolates.

A second claim held by many of the most expensive chocolate brands is superior or specific ingredients. In terms of ingredients, the cheaper chocolates are surprisingly not particularly different from expensive chocolates, when the cheaper chocolate is simply chocolate. However, when a Hershey’s bar adds some peanut butter and becomes a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, suddenly ingredients like partially hydrogenated vegetable oil make an appearance – an ingredient which “distorts cholesterol levels, encourages obesity, causes inflammatory conditions, and can even be a cause of infertility” (Collier, 1). Contrarily, expensive brands have significantly shorter ingredients lists, and maintain healthier ingredients even when the flavors become more complicated; for example, Lindt truffles use vegetable oil, but avoid refined or hydrogenated oils. From a health perspective then, plain chocolate (milk or dark) is generally as healthy in cheap chocolates as in expensive chocolates when eaten in moderation, while the chocolates in the more interestingly flavored category are definitely healthier in expensive brands.

The focus on specific sourcing of cocoa beans is a particularly nuanced strategy for vertical differentiation of chocolate. The theory that contextualizing a food infuses the food with another layer of flavor is part of the “psychology of taste” discussed by Carla Martin in her April 19th lecture. In this lecture Martin described the particular contextualizing of a food’s origin as Terroir, or “the set of special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place, interacting with the plant’s genetics, expressed in agricultural products”, or simply a “sense of place” (Martin, 4/19). Terroir is a legitimate factor that affects flavor, and products that are able to bring out the Terroir in the chocolate by single-sourcing, simplifying other ingredients or simply bringing the cacao source to attention arguably do in fact offer a unique (and justifiably more expensive) product. There is however an important caveat to the use, or abuse, of Terroir.

Social activist Bell Hooks writes of the problem of “Othering” in Western consumer culture in his work “Eating the Other”, a concept that can absolutely be related to many food industries in the US, including the chocolate industry. In her work Hook describes the use of ethnicity as spice – “when race and ethnicity become commodified as resources for pleasure, the  culture  of  specific  groups,  as  well  as  the  bodies  of  individuals,  can  be  seen  as constituting an alternative playground where members of dominating race […]  affirm  their  power-over  in  intimate  relations  with  the  Other.” (Hooks, 2). For the most part chocolate companies seem to be able to utilize Terroir without objectifying foreign culture, but the line between an appreciation for source and the commodification of other cultures is grey and difficult to clearly draw. It is important that chocolate firms don’t simply repeat the chocolate industry’s historical trend of cultural appropriation, slavery, and exploitation, by commodifying a region of the world and its inhabitants as a flavor.

The final category of factors that seem to affect chocolate quality is the use of ethically and environmentally conscious processes. The goals behind certifications like USDA Organic, Fair Trade and other ethical trade certifications are generally ethically fantastic goals, like environmental conservation and the abolition of child slavery in cacao farms. However the efficacy of each certification is not always straightforward. In an April 5th lecture Carla Martin described a list of problems with Fair Trade, including problems with product quality, issues with corruption and favoring richer farmers, harming farmers who don’t have access to Fair Trade, and ethical questions in marketing (Martin, 4/5). Other trade organizations like Direct Trade and the organizations to which Endangered Species Chocolate donate face similar critiques. In addition, a Fair Trade and USDA Organic certification does not necessarily imply that the entire product is completely fairly traded and organic, because they allow products to have categoric certifications with certain percentages of fairly traded or organic ingredients. These certifications then, don’t necessarily imply that a product is 100% ethically, environmentally, and economically conscious. Regardless of actual effect, products marketed as being certified by one or more of these organizations appeal to the goodwill of consumers, and take advantage of a “feel good” factor in consumer “taste” preferences.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, not all of the factors assumed to boost chocolate products’ value are as ethically conscious or environmentally helpful as they seem to be. However, in general, high-end chocolates are in fact healthier and better quality products, and are signaled as such with more extravagant packaging, leaving cheaper chocolate confections to rely on consumer familiarity to continue to sell. At first glance, attention to details in production processes, Terroir, and side goals (like animal and environmental concerns) seem to simply be added to “spice” up products; which would be horizontal differentiation and not justifying of higher prices. However there is some backing to added value in elements of taste idolized by haute cuisine, like Terroir and a sense of doing good in the world. Ultimately, prices are determined by consumer demand, and it seems consumers are becoming increasingly excited buyers of premium chocolates, as demand for premium chocolates is currently growing at 11% – the largest sector of growth in the confection market (Zhang, 1). Although preferences for the chocolate we find in the candy aisle will likely always exist, and the quality and ethical concern of the best chocolate is not quite perfect, the increased awareness for issues in the chocolate industry and higher expectations for product quality reflected in this consumer sector growth is encouraging. Chocolate can only get better.

Sources Cited

Collier, Andrew. “Deadly Fats: Why are we still eating them?”. Independent UK. 9 June 2008. Web. 05 May 2017. <http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/deadly-fats-why-are-we-still-eating-them-843400.html&gt;

Hooks, Bell. “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance.” Black Looks: Race and Representation. PDF. 1992.

Investopedia. “Signaling Approach”. Investopedia. Web. 05 May 2017.<http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/signallingapproach.asp&gt;

Martin Carla. Lecture. April 5, 2017. Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food. Harvard University.

Martin, Carla. Lecture. April 19, 2017. Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food. Harvard University.

May, Cybele. “Hands off my chocolate, FDA!” Los Angeles Times. 19 April, 2007. Web. 05 May 2017. <http://www.latimes.com/la-oe-may19apr19-story.html&gt;

National Confectioners Association. “Data & Insights”. Web. 05 May <2017. https://www.candyusa.com/data-insights/>

Zhang, Yu. “5 Facts About the Chocolate Industry.” Reynolds Center. National Center for Business Journalism, 12 Oct. 2016. Web. 05 May 2017. <http://businessjournalism.org/2016/10/5-facts-about-the-chocolate-industry/&gt;.

Bean-to-bar: Blue Bandana Chocolates

Figure 1. Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker part of Lake Champlain Chocolates. (2014). Little Brown. Image available from https://vimeo.com/85700650

The company that I chose to learn more about for our final multimedia presentation is Lake Champlain Chocolates (LCC). It is in my home state of Vermont, at the far extreme end of the state from where I live. Though the company has been in operation since 1983, my personal reference is family friends who proudly lived near the company, would purchase gorgeous LCC gourmet signature truffles, onsite, and present them to my chocolate loving grandmother as a very special gift. While I see the company’s label on an expanded product line and in many stores now, only after this bit of research did I realize that Lake Champlain Chocolates had expanded so much—as their website states, they have180 employees and their chocolate products can be purchased in some 2,000 stores– I was also thrilled that an LCC representative agreed to make an appointment with me to answer questions regarding where and how they source their cacao, and the company’s certifications, specifically Fair Trade and Fair for Life: third-party certification for social accountability and fair trade (Figure 2).

Figure 2. What Fair Trade Means. “In March 2013, our chocolate company earned Fair for Life–Social & Fair TradeCertification. Fair for Life is a rigorous third-party certification for social accountability and fair trade. Above and beyond Fair Trade certification, it looks at a company’s practices as a whole, including the ingredients used in its products.” Retrieved from http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/about-us/fair-trade-chocolate

Between my phone interview and the company’s online presence, I learned a great deal including that in 2012, they began creating bean-to-bar in their new Blue Bandana Chocolate division http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/about-us/bean-to-bar-chocolate/  that won them a national Good Food award in 2014 (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Blue Bandana Chocolate is Lake Champlain Chocolates’ bean-to-bar division started in 2012 and winner of the Good Food award in 2014. Cacao nibs shown here being poured into grinder in preparation for making cocoa liquor. Retrieved from http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/about-us/bean-to-bar-chocolate/

So, this was a great opportunity to get to better understand a company within my own state, hear first hand some of what this most recent bean-to–bar division is all about and within the ethnographic context covered in class and course readings. As Blue Bandana Chocolate builds off of the success of their highly regarded parent company LCC, they strive for transparency in the supply chain, create direct relationships with their sources, and support sustainable practices while supporting local communities.

Their product descriptions are as mouthwatering as they are educational: location/sourcing and sustainable ventures are a significant part of this story.

Attention to quality that impacts flavor is referenced throughout, including terroir, a link in the quality chain that can be loosely translated as a “sense of place” but that include characteristics and qualities whose sum effects influence the product, such as the geography and climate of an area and the plant’s genetics. Their advertisements state that,

“Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker is a micro-batch branded product line of Lake

Champlain Chocolates (LCC) founded on the principles of quality, transparency,

taste of place, and the craft of making chocolate. Inspired by his first trip to a cocoa

farm in 2009, founder Eric Lampman delved into the chocolate process and began

experimenting with test batches to perfect the basics. After experimenting with

cocoa beans from six different countries, Lampman settled on three exceptional

chocolates: Madagascar 70%, Guatemala 70% and Madagascar Wild Pepper. They

are made from scratch using only cocoa beans, organic cocoa butter and organic

cane sugar. Each 2.3oz bar is a representation of Lampman’s personal mission to

craft the finest chocolates while celebrating the unique taste of the earth native to

each cacao’s landscape” (Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker, 2016).

Sense of place as discussed in class and course readings (Martin, April 20, 2016) are well represented here, and it was enjoyable to get a deeper sense of this company’s values and commitments.

Some of what comes through quite clearly in Blue Bandana Chocolate’s mission is the desire to learn and innovate, the inspiration from the regions where their cacao is grown, the appreciation for not only the craft of making a quality product, but also to do so within the context of community, both at home in Northern Vermont and in the farming communities where their cacao is sourced. These motivating forces are evident in their product development and certifications; it was clear in my interview with the company representative, and illustrated nicely on the company website, onsite videos and other online interviews. Eric captures so much about the world of chocolate, in his quote,

“American chocolate has for years been presented as consistent and predictable. As a

new craft chocolate maker, we see the beauty in the process of displaying unique

characteristics. We are part of a renaissance of bean-to-bar chocolate makers that are

taking new approaches to things like process, scale, flavor, relationships, and

transparency” (Meet Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker, 2015).

This historical context, and the founder’s perspective on their company is encouraging and expands upon their marketer’s [beautiful] alluring depictions of bird sanctuaries. As a member of the bean-to-bar movement, Blue Bandana Chocolate can be considered to be part of the solution to problems that we have studied in the cacao-chocolate supply chain in our course (Off, 2006; Ryan, 2011; Sylla, 2014; Martin, March 8, 2016; Martin, March 30, 2016; Martin, April 6, 2016). The following expert from the LCC website explains, for instance, their involvement in improving lives within the cacao communities in Cote d’Ivoire through The Family Support Scholarship Program, detailed below, but that includes addressing issues like expanding business opportunities for women, increasing education and school retention rates, reducing the amount of child labor, and impacting longer term benefits/opportunities, directly and indirectly, in these cacao communities.

As the LCC representative explained to me on the phone, bean-to-bar was a very natural progression for the three decades old company. Their product line expanded to include organic cocoa and Kosher chocolate products which were wildly popular. Locally, LCC and Blue Bandana have a strong community connection as Figure 7 indicates. This includes many affiliations within the state including membership within the Vermont Business for Social Responsibility.

In addition, however, it has a broader connection and base of support with the locavore movement across the nation, innovation in creating quality craft products, The following video, filmed onsite at the Burlington, Vermont food festival helps illustrate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0n9n7HQ3_A

This innovation might not succeed without a groundswell of support by customers, and a customer base that is desirous of responsibly sourced products not just in Vermont but across the country. In the following quote, the founder explains the company’s goals and the alignment of all these that lead to the innovation of Blue Bandana chocolate:

“As a family-owned company, we decided that we wanted to directly support a cacao

growing community – whether or not we purchased cacao from them. The chance to

engage with passionate cacao farmers searching for new market opportunities and

farming methods fell right into place with our own goals. We were hoping to build

new relationships that both educated us on post-harvest practices and enabled a win-

win partnership for future growth focused on quality. Today, we continue to use our

interactions with the farmers to educate visitors at our factory about cacao farming

and the full process of making chocolate” (Meet Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker,

2015).

In addition to community affiliations identified above, Figure 9 offers a snapshot of what LCC means by “Local to Global” in their chocolate company. For instance, developing their own source of honey from their own beekeeping near their business in Northern Vermont, to purchasing third party certified Fair Trade chocolate that has resulted in Fair for Life-Social and Fair Trade Certifications. Furthermore, LLC continues to develop direct partnerships with cacao growers and supports a fund, previously mentioned, in Cote d’Ivoire to educate youth and empower women with a World Cocoa Foundation scholarship.

This is a compelling image and message that LLC is promoting. Through coursework, we have been encouraged to look deeper and not just get carried away by a company’s projected image and storyline or even blithely accept the certifications they may have achieved to assuage our consumer guilt; this course has encouraged/demanded that we be more aware and accountable consumers. So, while issues within the cacao supply chain are complex, I appreciate all the concrete examples LCC provides to show what/how this company is living up to its ideals.

The telephone interview offered details that both helped explain LLC sourcing as well as illuminate the many complexities of growing and sourcing cacao. When I asked the representative where Lake Champlain Chocolates sources their cacao, he replied that that was a big question; he followed up by saying that they source from many places and offered specifics including from his first hand experience and having just returned from the Dominican Republic. He said that they basically have three different supply chains. They source cacao beans directly from an estate in Madagascar, an estate in the Dominican Republic, a social enterprise group in Guatemala and from a similar type group in Tanzania and then make bean-to-bar back home in Burlington, Vermont. He said that LCC also sources from large multinationals that does a match balance Fair Trade sourced from West Africa. He stated that they also source a Fair Trade organic fully traceable from cooperative in the Dominican Republic, as well as two cooperatives in Peru; these three co-ops all supply organic chocolates.

I asked him to tell me more about the cooperatives and the farms. He offered examples, including from his most recent trip to the Dominican Republic; this cooperative was organized with its own farmer union essentially, their own farmer fund, where the Fair Trade premium goes. They are then able to have elected officials vote on how to utilize Fair Trade premiums. He explained that they are also made up of an agro industrial arm, basically their sales arm internationally, and a tech arm too, working on many aspects like field assistance, agronomics, composting, rehabilitation of farms, helping with fermentation and drying of cacao beans, etc. His interest in these diverse geographic areas shown through as did his direct trade experience. He stated that in the Dominican Republic, Belize, Haiti, Guatemala, nearly all of those are mainly cacao but then inter-planted with anything from bananas, plantains, avocados, to other hardwoods such as mahogany, high shade structures/long term hardwoods, and short term cash crops planted among cacao to help for instance with local cash that can be obtained throughout the year, and/or even just for their own more immediate consumption. He said that he hadn’t seen any mono crops and didn’t think that LCC sourced from any.

I asked generally, how fair labor practices are generally created and insured? He replied that it is done at the farm level; operations of cooperatives are such that they pool people together, e.g. people helping one another throughout the harvest, sharing resources, and/or through advisement of each others farms, supporting a lifestyle…He added that the cooperative model is such that there’s social community support and that obviously the farmer union is a testament to that, where elected officials are help make decisions with and for the people that they live amongst. He added that some other organization may be less cooperative, more like a local farmers’ association, working with neighbors, something they have to do almost out of necessity related to economy of scale to improve the size and scale of the harvest to work with potential buyers. For instance, depending on the size of the harvest, a farmer may not be able to dry in a quality manner, or may not have economy of scale, and/or if they are looking to sell on the specialty market, may not even have the logistics to get product out. So these farmers’ groups might help with economy of scale which can also build recognition, e.g. to say, ‘hey, we’ve got a quantity, amount worth selling,’ instead of relying on a coyote who comes through offering a low price at an opportune time for themselves to buy, sell or trade off. His answers revealed the preference for local organized control, not “top down,” not one-size-fits-all, and sensitive to distinctions that a broad national approach might miss regarding how cacao is produced and sold (Martin, April 6, 2016).

Furthermore, I appreciated his reflecting upon what Fair Trade and Fair for Life meant for his company allowing them to obtain certified raw materials like sugar and where Fair Trade certifications don’t always have the traceabilty, Fair for Life offers a nice balance, and more traceability within the supply chain such as interactions with premiums. As discussed in class, Fair trade has great aspects, has made positive gains, was never meant to address/solve all supply chain problems, though promises a lot and can’t always deliver on those promises (Martin, April 6, 2016; Sylla, 2014; Ten principles of Fair Trade, 2012). I so appreciated the opportunity to learn more from the company in this way. It was encouraging to hear about the company’s culturally sensitive engagement within diverse communities where they source cacao, and their commitment to continue to work toward transparency in the cacao supply chain while supporting cacao communities. Blue Bandana can be considered to be part of the solution to problems that we have studied in the cacao-chocolate supply chain.

Issues of social justice and sustainability are complex, more research is needed, and solutions will vary according to countries and communities, as LCC seems aware of. However, what really resonated this semester is that places that have been identified as having problems may also be where real solutions can occur. As pointed out in lecture, I believe that we need to advocate for a holistic approach to solving these complex problems, recognizing that we are all implicated, simple solutions like increasing commodity pricing or certifications do not always deliver in the way that we assume and are not adequate unto themselves. Nevertheless, as consumers we do need to interrogate what is behind these solutions and consider them in context. Additionally, we need to avoid a binary perspective and recognize the complexities, doing what LCC is advocating–not rely in top down approach to solving problems while routing out prejudices and culturally inappropriate/nonwestern ideals (Martin, 2016).

References

Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker. (2012). Video available from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0n9n7HQ3_A

Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker. Image (barn) (2014). Little Brown. Image available from

https://vimeo.com/85700650

Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker in Guatemala. (2015). Available from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBDVeelXUxs

Blue Bandana teaches the taste of chocolate. (2012). Retrieved from

http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/blue-bandana-teaches-the-taste-of-

chocolate/

Lake Champlain Chocolate Introduces New Approach to Making Chocolate. (2013).

Retrieved from

https://www.specialtyfood.com/news/article/lake-champlain-chocolates-

introduces-new-approach-to-making-chocolate-122571/

Lake Champlain Launches new Chocolate. (October 20, 2012). Retrieved from

http://www.wptz.com/news/vermont-new-york/burlington/Lake-Champlain-           Chocolates-launches-Blue-Bandana/17070252

Lake Champlain’s New Blue Bandana Chocolate Bars. Retrieved from

http://www.wildrosemarketing.com/whats-new/lake-champlains-new-blue-      bandana-chocolate-bars/

Martin, C. (March 8, 2016). Lecture 8: Modern day slavery. AAAS E-119. Chocolate,

Culture, and the Politics of Food. Retrieved from Harvard University Extension

School Canvas site.

Martin, C. (March 30, 2016). Lecture 9: Race, ethnicity, gender, and class in chocolate

advertisements. AAAS E-119. Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food.

Retrieved from Harvard University Extension School Canvas site.

Martin, C. (April 6, 2016). Lecture 10: Alternative trade and virtuous

localization/globalization. AAAS E-119. Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of

Food. Retrieved from Harvard University Extension School Canvas site.

Martin, C. (April 20, 2016). Lecture 12: Psychology, Terroir, and Taste. AAAS E-119.

Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food. Retrieved from Harvard University

Extension School Canvas site.

Martin, C. (April 27, 2016). Lecture 13: Haut patisserie, artisan chocolate, and food

justice: the future? AAAS E-119. Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food.

Retrieved from Harvard University Extension School Canvas site.

Meet Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker. (2015). Mood of Living. Retrieved from

http://moodofliving.com/portfolio/blue-bandana-chocolate-maker/

Off, C. (2006). Bitter Chocolate: the dark side of the world’s most seductive sweet.

Retrieved from AAAS E-119. Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food.

Retrieved from Harvard University Extension School Canvas site. PDF.

Ryan, O. (2011). Chocolate Nations. Living and dying for cocoa in West Africa.

Retrieved from AAAS E-119. Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food.

Retrieved from Harvard University Extension School Canvas site. PDF.

Sylla, N. (2014). The Fair Trade Scandal: marketing poverty to benefit the rich.

Retrieved from AAAS E-119. Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food.

Retrieved from Harvard University Extension School Canvas site. PDF.

Ten principles of Fair Trade. (2012). Retrieved from http://wfto.com/fair-trade/10-principles-fair-trade

Zwirn, L. (December 2014). New England Chocolatiers set the bar high. Boston Globe.

Retrieved from https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/fooddining/2014/12/02/choc-                   and-awe/8hCzJTclu66ziBA2D1VBnJ/story.html

 

Appendix

Table 1.

Ten Principles of Fair Trade

Principle One: Creating Opportunities for Economically Disadvantaged Producers
Principle Two: Transparency and Accountability

Principle Three: Fair Trading Practices

Principle Four:  Payment of a Fair Price

Principle Five:  Ensuring no Child Labour and Forced Labour
Principle Six:  Commitment to Non Discrimination, Gender Equity and Women’s Economic Empowerment, and Freedom of Association

Principle Seven:  Ensuring Good Working Conditions

Principle Eight:  Providing Capacity Building

Principle Nine:  Promoting Fair Trade

Principle Ten: Respect for the Environment

Ten principles of Fair Trade. (2012). Retrieved from http://wfto.com/fair-trade/10-principles-fair-trade

Table 2. 

“Jim Lampman declared he would create upscale American chocolates that would “rival the Belgians.”  His son has kept the goals high: “Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker is a new dimension for Lake Champlain Chocolates,” says founder and President Jim Lampman. “It’s a priority for my children, Eric and Ellen, to have greater transparency in our supply chain.  And to be directly invested in an origin community is a testament to their commitment to having an impact on the global community.  Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker has the advantage of the history and support of the Lake Champlain Chocolates’ brand, with the fresh perspective, energy and innovation that comes with the younger generation.

Historically LCC has always focused on local — using Vermont ingredients, supporting our local communities.  And we still do,” says Eric Lampman, Director of Innovation and Quality at LCC and creator of Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker. “But now, after thirty-one successful years of being in business, we have the tools and resources to engage with our global supply network in a more substantial way that allows us to have an impact on our supply chain.”

“LCC introduces new approach to making chocolate” Retrievcd from https://www.specialtyfood.com/news/article/lake-champlain-chocolates-introduces-new-approach-to-making-chocolate-122571/

Table 3.

 

When I called the company to inquire if they had organic cacao nibs for sale, they informed me that LCC does have nibs, that they are not certified organic, that they do not believe that chemicals are used in growing cacao but without the certification couldn’t guarantee that. I appreciated that they went on to explain that certifications can be expensive for farmers and that LCC has committed to helping their farmers become certified within the next couple of years. I think that LCC and Blue Bandana Chocolate are doing a marvelous job of educating consumers, being a responsible partner in the farming community to make sure that a quality cacao can achieve recognition and an appropriate market.

 

As Eric explained in an interview, “…our goal is to visit the farms we buy from and to have direct communications with each farmer or producer group with which we work….we strive to develop long-term partnerships with producers that grow premium cacao around the world. Our partnership with indigenous Maya producer groups in the eco-region surrounding Laguna Lachua National Park in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, began in 2012 as a way to work collaboratively at developing new opportunities for both producers and chocolate makers. Small capacity building investments have been made each year to support the planting and post-harvest production of cacao in the region…

       “With each visit to Guatemala, new ideas for incorporating aspects of the Maya

culture return with us. One project we are hoping to develop is up-cycling burlap

sacks into fashionable bags with leather strapping…. Proceeds from the bag sales go

to Food4Farmers, an organization that promotes diversified livelihoods with coffee

farmers – a program we want to connect to the cacao producers in Alta Verapaz”

(Meet Blue Bandana Chocolate Maker, 2015).

L.A. Burdick: A Sweet Idea

Larry Burdick was in his twenties working as a pastry chef in New York when he first traveled to Paris and later to Switzerland to train as a chocolatier in the 1970s and 80s (Gilles, 2014). During his time in Switzerland, Burdick was inspired to begin his own chocolate business, which he opened in 1987 in New York City. Since that time, Burdick’s has expanded to four storefront locations and relocated its headquarters to Walpole, New Hampshire. In the following post, I will explore the values L.A. Burdick aspires to uphold, Burdick’s bean to bar venture which leads to much of its success by allowing it to oversee its production process, and the ways in which the company has given back to local communities overseas. I will analyze Burdick’s goals and endeavors in the context of the chocolate industry locally and abroad.

BURDICK’S HISTORY

In the mid-1980s, Larry discovered “in a confiserie the heady aroma of pure chocolate and hand-made delicacies” that inspired him to open his own business, L.A. Burdick’s website recounts (L.A. Burdick Handmade Chocolates). Burdick returned to the United States with a chocolate pot, guitars for cutting shapes, and dipping forks. Upon his arrival, he and his wife, Paula, co-founded a small chocolate business. Paula’s background in design and style – acquired through her education at the Fashion Institute of Technology – guided her in creating glamorous chocolate products which could be enjoyed in an “ambiance of relaxed elegance” (L.A. Burdick Homemade Chocolates).

When the couple launched its company, they made chocolates out of their home in Brooklyn, but they soon moved to New Hampshire to expand their facilities and staff. This Walpole location remains the home base of the Burdick mail and online shipping business, and its chocolate and pastry production. Larry and Paula chose to start their business in Walpole when Larry was driving up Interstate 91 from Brooklyn, “looking for a good place to raise his family and his business” (Tree, 2008). Larry bought a store on Main Street in Walpole and turned it into a chocolate factory with a storefront café and space for filling mail orders. Adjoining the chocolate store is Walpole Grocery and the Restaurant at Burdick’s, “which presents quality ingredients, an imaginative menu and impeccable service along with a distinctive wine list” (Burdick Catalog, 2012).

This Walpole venture kept the Burdicks busy for the first decade of their success, and its popularity spread as a result of the 1996 Consumer Reports which rated L.A. Burdick chocolates the best in the country (Tree, 2008). In 1999, L.A. Burdick opened in Cambridge, followed by a storefront in Manhattan in 2010. In 2012, the fourth and final location opened in Boston’s Back Bay. Today, the L.A. Burdick chocolate business includes retail chocolate shops in Boston, Cambridge, New York City, and Walpole, a French-inspired restaurant, and a small specialty grocery store (L.A. Burdick Homemade Chocolates).

BUSINESS AS A CHOCOLATIER

Chocolate bonbons (http://www.burdickchocolate.com/BonbonAssortments/everyday-assortments.aspx)

Burdick’s signature chocolate mice (http://www.burdickchocolate.com/ChocolateMiceandPenguins/chocolate-mice.aspx)

Much of Burdick’s popularity is tied to its famously created bonbons (above, top). Other signature items include truffles and chocolate mice (above, bottom). Even more notable is the fact that “every double-caramel bonbon, white chocolate-coated, spiced mousse mouse, and beautifully wrapped, wooden gift box of truffles is made by hand,” according to a 2015 YouTube advertisement video. While Burdick’s chocolate production processes take place overseas in its Grenada factory, the bonbons, truffles, and chocolate delicacies are all made in Walpole. The YouTube video serves as a promotion effort for its Manhattan location, “a café counter where you can get coffee, pastries, and chocolate to take away,” an employee explained in the video. Customers who enter the storefront can sit at tables to enjoy their purchases, socialize over a cup of coffee, or buy baking items, chocolates, and chocolate bars to take with them. “Even if you don’t see the person who receives it, when you put together a basket or box of chocolates and you know it’s going to someone who will really appreciate it, that’s the best part of it. It’s knowing at the end of the day that you work somewhere that makes people happy. People are happy to come in here and people are happy to receive our gifts,” the employee shared in the YouTube video.

This luxurious experience is quickly appreciated when one enters the restaurant. Upon walking into Burdick’s (on April 27, 2016) to observe the storefront in Cambridge, I noted how its customers were able to consume chocolate in an elegant manner; the eating experience was purposefully created through the design of the products, their packaging, and the sophisticated setting of the coffee shop. The Burdick’s location I observed is situated in a wealthy area – the heart of Harvard Square neighboring expensive real estate property – which enables the company to sell high priced chocolate bars, drinks, and desserts because its customers can afford and are wiling to pay for these items to enjoy their taste and the Burdick’s experience.

Further, it must be acknowledged that L.A. Burdick is a chocolatier, which means the company “uses fine chocolate produced by chocolate manufacturers/makers to create unique chocolate products and confectionary” (Martin, “Lecture 5”). Susan Terrio explores the craft community of French chocolatiers in her 2000 Crafting the Culture and History of French Chocolate. She writes about walking into a French chocolaterie as her eyes glossed over the assortment of offerings: “their size, aesthetic display, and evocative names suggested radically different symbolic meanings and social uses than the – dare I admit it – chocolate bars I purchased at home” (Terrio, 2000: page 2).

Burdick’s success within the chocolate industry can be linked more closely to its place as a chocolatier, rather than as a chocolate maker. Terrio writes “when one considers artisanship as a cultural category, it is clear that chocolatiers possess an intermediate, highly ambivalent class position and social status” (Terrio, 2000: page 12). A chocolate maker creates chocolate from cocoa beans; a chocolatier’s role is more romanticized and profitable. Burdick’s chocolate production processes take place overseas in its factory in Grenada, which I will investigate in the following section.

SOURCING

When Larry and Paula set out on what would become a successful business endeavor, they selected Grenada to acquire the majority of their chocolate. “Long known as the ‘Spice Isle,’ the nation of Grenada is one of the world’s largest mace and nutmeg exporters…Grenadian cocoa portrays characteristics unlike cocoa from any other growing region. A robust chocolate, it has an uncommon, bright forefront acidity with long-lasting finishing notes of nutmeg, banana, and molasses” (L.A. Burdick Homemade Chocolates, The Cocoa Isle). Despite the appealing fragrance of Grenadian cocoa, it makes up less than 0.01 percent of the world’s cocoa supply (Ellman, 2014).

The entirety of Burdick’s chocolate production is completed within its factory, making it a “cocoa bean to chocolate bar” venture (L.A. Burdick Homemade Chocolates, The Cocoa Isle). This process includes harvesting, fermenting, sorting, drying, roasting, and conching. Burdick’s purchases and processes beans from farmers at its Grenada factory to sell at its stores and to other high-end chocolate makers. These efforts have led to the success of Burdick’s through ethical practices in contrast to other large companies which cannot oversee their overseas sources. Carol Off writes about the use of forced labor in Cote D’Ivoire, arguing that “almost every critic of the industry has identified the key problem: poverty among the primary producers.” She suggests that an end to the practice could be achieved if cocoa companies “simply undertake to make sure the farmers received a decent price for their beans” (Off, 2010: page 146). By overseeing the entire process of chocolate production, Burdick’s ensures its farmers are both well-paid and well-educated by “opening a chocolate factory that could ship single-origins bars to commercial outlets across the globe” (Smith, 2015).

Another advantage of bean to bar production is that it encourages farmers and workers to produce high quality chocolate because they care about the goods they will send back to the United States. Together, the structure of Burdick’s sourcing makes “cocoa farming more profitable, keeps the unique Grenadian cocoa legacy alive for future generations, provides L.A. Burdick Chocolate with an excellent couverture for our bonbons and enriches the palates of chocolate gourmands everywhere” (L.A. Burdick Homemade Chocolates, The Cocoa Isle). The concept of bean-to-bar has become popular in the United States; there are over 150 craft chocolate makers who oversee the various parts of the production process, like Burdick does, ensuring their standards are met while improving their relationship with the source (Martin, “Lecture 13”).

Pam Williams and Jim Eber’s Raising the Bar: The Future of Fine Chocolate investigates how the industry of fine flavor chocolate has recently evolved and will continue to do so in the future due to its growing popularity and the public interest in sustainable and just practices. In examining the impact of efforts in newer markets, “it is about helping farmers understand that what they do affects the end product – how what they do with harvest and fermentation and drying stages is so critical” (Williams and Eber, 2012: page 51). Thus, Burdick’s helps the farmers who produce its chocolate witness the connection between their efforts and the finished products, creating a sense of pride in their work.

Williams and Eber acknowledge that small US manufacturers “have been driving the recent changes for the better in the industry: Change the world – make better chocolate. They pride themselves on direct and transparent trade, paying top dollar for the best beans, speaking out against forced labor, investing in education, and making chocolate that tastes nothing like the multinational mass-market brands” (Williams and Eber, 2012: page 156). While most of those chocolatiers in the United States are forced to rely on specialty stores, groceries, and to online markets for profitable sales, “more and more of them are also building their success in what might be called a very European way: targeting their local communities at markets, events, and their own retail locations and combining that with a factory tour and tasting experience” (Williams and Eber, 2012: page 156). Perhaps as a result of Larry’s training and chocolate education abroad, Burdick’s has focused its success into efforts in Grenada (alongside many of these small manufacturers).

Burdick’s website emphasizes the relationship the company has with Grenada, which I will delve into in the following section. However, upon walking into the storefront, I noticed that they sold various single origin chocolate bars from different sources. The bars, priced between $8 to $13, are from Chuao, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Madagascar, Venezuela, and Ecuador. I was surprised that the website did not describe any relationship between Burdick’s and these other single origin sites given its unique arrangement with Grenada.

GIVING BACK

The Burdicks’ relationship with the Grenada Cocoa Association began in 1999, when they requested one hundred bags of dry cocoa beans for their only L.A. Burdick store at the time. “Our continuous search for superlative quality, full-flavored chocolate has led us to Grenada…the lush mountain terrain and volcanic soil host a bounty of heady tropical flowers, fruit and nut trees and scattered amongst them – cocoa trees” (L.A. Burdick Homemade Chocolates, Cocoa Journey). However, shortly after, Larry and Paula set out to work with the farmers themselves to eventually establish the Cocoa Farming Future Initiative (CFFI) in Grenada.

By 2001, the Burdicks were traveling to work on this fair trade project in Grenada themselves. However, it was not until 2011 that Paula founded the non-profit CFFI. In 2004 and 2005, hurricanes across Grenada created serious setbacks to the Burdicks’ endeavors, according to the CFFI website. Once farming stabilized, the Burdicks “began working with the island’s cocoa farmers to help them reclaim their lands, improve their crops’ quality and value, and create value-added businesses that will increase and diversify their incomes – all of which support the preservation of this unique tropical ecosystem” (CFFI – Cocoa Farming Future Initiative, About CFFI). Paula also began an educational nonprofit to teach cocoa farmers sustainable farming methods and to help them manage the economic conditions that accompany working as a cocoa farmer.

New Hampshire’s EIV News released a YouTube video highlighting the Burdicks’ work in Grenada in 2012. “The project has created a lot of interest on the island of Grenada. The farmers are excited about the project. I think it’s encouraged people to stay in cocoa farming,” Larry said in the video interview. By partnering with Grenadian cocoa farmers to build a factory on the island, “this helps decrease cost of shipping overseas, and puts more money in farmers’ pockets [since the middle man is cut out]. When you add that fine cocoa to the island’s ecosystem – the terrior, the organic soil, the plant life that grows on the island – you have a special flavor in the beans” (Smith, 2012). By establishing this model in Grenada, the farmers have been exposed to organic farming practices and are able to “realize the benefits of value-added processing” (Pienda, 2016).

Furthermore, Burdick’s refuses to use cacao produced by child labor. In contrast to larger companies far removed from their chocolate source, Burdick’s supervision of chocolate production from bean to bar mandates just practices. Though the Fair Trade certification theoretically demands that companies engage in fair practices, critics of the initiative suggest that the marketing system is difficult to monitor, and fails to ensure standards are met (Sylla, 2014). Sylla argues “Fair Trade is but the most recent example of another sophisticated ‘scam’ by the ‘invisible hand’ of the free market” (Sylla, 2014: page 18). The Fair Trade movement has also been criticized for being used to expand the consumer base and appeal of certain brands of chocolate rather than focusing on improving the work of farmers themselves. Instead of depending on a certification, Burdick’s takes pride in the origin of its chocolate through its bean-to-bar venture.

CONCLUSIONS

Through an investigation of L.A. Burdick Chocolate, I have presented the evolution and expansion of a chocolate business that started in Walpole, New Hampshire less than three decades ago. While one must acknowledge that Burdick’s is a chocolatier, allowing the company to more easily be profitable, I argue that the success of the business is at least in part due to its maintenance of all parts of the chocolate production process. Further, Burdick’s has used its success to give back to the island of Grenada by founding the Cocoa Farming Futures Initiative, creating jobs in its sourcing community, and educating farmers on sustainable practices.

References

“Burdick Catalog.” L.A. Burdick Homemade Chocolate (2012): n. pag. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

“CFFI – Cocoa Farming Future Initiative – Raising Funds and Awareness for Grenada Cocoa Farmers.” CFFI – Cocoa Farming Future Initiative. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

Gilles, Gaelle. “L.A. Burdick Makes Delicious Homemade Chocolate.” DOWNTOWN Magazine. DOWNTOWN Magazine NYC, Inc. 25 July 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

Ellman, Lloyd. “Crop-to-Cup Cocoa: L.A. Burdick Offers a Liquid Tour of the World’s Premier Producers | Edible Manhattan.”Edible Manhattan. N.p., 17 Nov. 2014. Web. 02 May 2016.

L.A. Burdick Handmade Chocolates, Company History, L.A. Burdick Chocolate. April 27, 2016, http://www.burdickchocolate.com/company-history.aspx

L.A. Burdick Handmade Chocolates, Company Today, L.A. Burdick Chocolate. April 27, 2016, http://www.burdickchocolate.com/company-history.aspx

Martin, Carla D. “Lecture 5: Popular Sweet Tooths and Scandal.” Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food. CGIS South, Tsai Auditorium S010, Cambridge. Lecture.

Martin, Carla D. “Lecture 13: Haute Patisserie, Artisan Chocolate, and Food Justice: the Future?” Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food. CGIS South, Tsai Auditorium S010, Cambridge. Lecture.

Manhattan Sideways. “LA BURDICK.” YouTube. YouTube, 14 June 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

Off, Carol. Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World’s Most Seductive Sweet. Vintage Canada, 2010.

Pienda, Melanie. “Burdick Clears the Air on Rumors of Walpole Chocolate Company Sale.” SentinelSource.com. N.p., 5 Apr. 2016. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

Smith, Courtney. “L.A. Burdick Chocolate’s Grenada Project.” YouTube. YouTube, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

Smith, Zoe. “New Grenada Chocolate Company Offers Youth a Future in Agriculture – Grenada 40.” Grenada 40. 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

Sylla, Ndongo. The Fair Trade Scandal: Marketing Poverty to Benefit the Rich. Ohio University Press, 2014.

Terrio, Susan J. Crafting the Culture and History of French Chocolate. University of California Press, 2000.

Tree, Christina. “Burdick Lure Works in New Hampshire, Too.” Boston Globe. N.p., 5 Oct. 2008. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

Williams, Pam, and Jim Eber. Raising the Bar: The Future of Fine Chocolate. Wilmor Pub., 2012.

 

Putting the Pieces Together: An Analysis of Chocolate Advertising

For an industry trying to rid itself of a reputation rooted in unfair labor practices and misrepresentation, DOVE’s advertisement (below) does the opposite. The contrast between black and white appears prominently, the presumed consumption of chocolate by a woman suggests its gendered attribution, and the portion-controlled offering insinuates that people do not have the ability to resist consuming chocolate, overemphasizing its alluring effects. In the following analysis, I consider these three shortcomings of this advertisement, and create an alternative option which takes them into account. Instead of marketing chocolate in a racialized, sexualized, and obsessive manner like DOVE, and many chocolate companies do today, the new advertisement I created focuses on giving chocolate as a gift between friends. By placing the pieces of chocolate in the shape of a heart, the intention is twofold: to value the source of its production and to demonstrate the way chocolate can bring people together.

2008 Dove advertisement (http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/files/2010/11/dove.jpg)

DOVE Chocolate

DOVE Chocolate was founded by Leo Stefanos in the 1950s, who named “the new treat after his south side candy shop, a moniker chosen for its ‘peaceful’ quality” (Dove Chocolate 2009). See the DOVE Chocolate timeline here. In 1986, DOVE was acquired by M&M/Mars, which worked to improve the appeal of the chocolate, refining DOVE’s taste in the process. DOVE is known as a creamy indulgence, lying on a spectrum between the all-American Hershey and high-end Ghirardelli products. The advertisement above, released in 2008, demonstrates the line’s emphasis on how DOVE gives its consumer ‘me-time.’ The product is intended to be indulgent, using pure cocoa butter to create a smooth texture; DOVE centers its advertising approach on giving consumers their “me” moments in the midst of busy work and home lives.

Advertisement Critique

Upon viewing the DOVE advertisement initially, I noted the contrasting dark and light shades throughout the image. Chocolate and vanilla have long served as metaphors for race (Martin Lecture 9). Vanilla is linked to whiteness, associated with purity and cleanliness, while chocolate is linked to blackness, associated with impurity and sin, dirtiness, and sexuality. In this advertisement, the brown bed sheets signify darkness, closely resembling the color of the chocolate bar at the bottom of the image, and representing the enslaved West African cacao farmers. The woman’s expression portrays the pleasure experienced by a white consumer after enjoying a piece of DOVE Chocolate, removed from the labor of the farmers which provides the source of her contentment. Carol Off demonstrates her reaction to the forced labor that children in Cote d’Ivoire perform. “I feel the profound irony before me: the children who struggle to produce the small delights of life in the world I come from have never known such pleasure, and most likely, they never will” (2008).

The advertisement’s use of dark and light represents the distinction between the wealthy, white American customer who blissfully dreams of the piece of DOVE Chocolate she ate and the West African cacao farmers who toil away to produce it. The use of contrasting colors and shades extends its role in symbolizing darkness and whiteness; chocolate serves as a euphemism for people of color against the color of the white woman who has just enjoyed chocolate as an indulgent treat.

The woman’s presence in the DOVE Chocolate advertisement portrays females as irrational actors who use chocolate to indulge themselves. The woman seems lost in an alternative world as a result of consuming chocolate. In fact, “the consumption of chocolate in the west became feminized early in its history” (Robertson 2009). Here, and in many other chocolate ads, women are portrayed as having a sexualized relationship with chocolate (Robertson 2009). Thus its marketing includes romanticism and self-indulgence, continuing the stereotype of an excessive passion related to chocolate consumption.

Finally, this image’s advertisement of portion-controlled chocolate emphasizes the fact that consumers cannot refrain from eating too much chocolate, particularly in the West. Candy became demonized alongside the temperance movement in the late eighteenth century (Martin Lecture 7). Candy became increasingly regarded as the cause for childhood cavities and obesity among “overindulging adults.” Lawrence Allen explores how the Big Five chocolate companies battled over their presence in China, evaluating the difference between the perception of chocolate as a good in the East versus the West. “It is also the inside story of East meeting West through the introduction into China, a xenophobic land of austerity and deprivation, of an icon of the Western world’s decadence and self-indulgence: chocolate” (2010). The Western market’s regard for chocolate as a luxurious, indulgent good for oneself contrasted with the Eastern image of chocolate for gift-giving purposes. However, alongside this self-indulgent use is the idea that people do not have the self-control to limit their consumption, which is suggested through the woman’s expression and the wording at the bottom of the ad.

New Advertisement

Above, I created an alternative advertisement for DOVE Chocolate. It excludes the presence of people in order to remove stereotypes based on race, ethnicity, and gender. This omission also removes any sexualized themes from the advertisement. In this ad, chocolate is not portrayed as an object that cannot be resisted; instead of focusing on self-indulgence through having a “[me] moment,” DOVE Chocolate is used to do something for others. While DOVE encourages people to reconnect with themselves, my advertisement encourages them to reconnect with each other and with its sourcing. I included the Rainforest Alliance symbol within the ad (below) to educate consumers about DOVE’s agreement that 100% of its cocoa are from Rainforest Alliance certified farms. These “well managed cacao farms help reduce soil erosion, improve air quality, and provide a habitat for animals, often conserving remnants of once-plentiful tropical forests” (Dove Chocolate 2009).

Conclusions

By portraying DOVE Chocolate as a way of fostering friendships and as a sustainable chocolate company, the new advertisement emphasizes its beneficial qualities rather than furthering stereotypes perpetuated throughout the modern industry. “Adverts have perpetuated western sexist and racist ideologies under a veneer of pleasurable consumption, and have divorced chocolate from the conditions of production” (Robertson 2009). Modern chocolate advertisements display a racialized and sexualized presentation of the product; the above ad suggests that humans cannot limit their indulgence and need outside assistance to resist the temptation. The ad that I proposed brings DOVE’s positive attributes to the forefront, deemphasizing the way it has been previously misrepresented by focusing on friendships instead of sexualized relationships, and on the company’s sustainable practices.

Works Cited

Allen, Lawrence L. “Chocolate Fortunes: The Battle for the Hearts, Minds, and Wallets of China’s Consumers.” Thunderbird International Business Review 52.1 (2010): 13-20.

Dove Chocolate. 2009. Cocoa Sustainability. Retrieved April 3, 2016, from https://www.dovechocolate.com/aboutDove/CocoaSustainability.

Off, Carol. Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World’s Most Seductive Sweet. Vintage Canada, 2010.

Robertson, Emma. Chocolate, Women and Empire: A Social and Cultural History. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009.

Images and media

Dove Chocolate. 2009. The Dove Story. Retrieved April 2, 2016, from https://www.dovechocolate.com/aboutdove.

Dove pure silk bar 2008 advertising image. Web. 2 April 2016. http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/files/2010/11/dove.jpg

Rainforest Alliance certified logo. Web. 3 April 2016. http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/.