The Dark Side of the Chocolate Industry

Uncover the dark side of the world's favorite sweet in this eye-opening video. From historical roots to modern exploitation, discover the shocking truth behind the chocolate industry's hidden costs.

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[sanderdeboer]

This is why Tony Chocolonely started, after a Dutch tv show (keuringsdienst van waren) investigated the chocolate industry and found child slavery in Eastern Africa. The main journalist Teun van de Keuken (Teun = Tony) went to the police to turn himself in for knowingly eating chocolate made by slaves.

In the end he wasn’t prosecuted, but he did start Tony Chocolonely to try and create slave free chocolate. First only for the tv show, but eventually it became the large company it is today. However there are some problems with the company since it had investment by a private investment company. On the other hand it also received the price for most sustainable brand in the Netherlands three years in a row.

Their source for cocoa is fully traceable since 2016, however they still can’t 100 percent guarantee it is slave free. Because some of the cacao can still be illegally sourced from sub contractors.

[rosaria]

You should consider doing more of Nestle's atrocities. You did one on baby formula, now chocolate (as part of the bigger slave industry), hopefully you consider this

[evanflynn]

Public awareness is the only thing that could change things. Not buying products from the big brands is very difficult, though. Just look up who owns or is connected to the products you buy from the supermarket and realise that for so many products there's a near monopoly on them, if not an outright monopoly.

[TheForeignGamer]

Not only is Nestlé horrible on the chocolate side of things, they also pay through the nose so they can continue pumping water out of the Great Lakes with near-impunity and selling the water right back to us here in Michigan and abroad.

[rivervan]

As a chocolate lover I’m afraid to watch this one… Thank you for your awesome content Simon!

[theofficialken]

We have been growing cacao on Maui for a while now, for a wine and chocolate bar (burnt down in Lahaina). Small scale, lots of work despite. I can understand how it ends up in cruel plantations in places without oversight

[klaibefhuoaiuwehjklbdfsnxnik]

I live in Hershey (yes, named after the chocolate bar) and we were NEVER taught about this stuff. We were always told he just set up a town in Cuba that benefited everyone. Truly eye opening…

Edit: It turns out the town was good AT FIRST, but then it got taken over by Fidel Castro, and that's when things went south.

[SeanBZA]

Not to mention all the manufacturers reducing the amount of actual cocoa in the product, replacing with either filler or using cheaper substitutes like hydrogenated plant oil, because that cocoa is still too expensive to put in and cuts into the profits. So instead of cocoa you get HFCS, a hint of the poorest quality cocoa, and the rest is dye and plant oil, carefully blended to look like brown instead of the pale colour it is..

Also, talking about cocoa, and showing video of tea being harvested, another tale of exploitation.

[michaelmayhem]

Nestle is horrible. But there are plenty of chocolate companies that take care with the environment and it's employees. For example Kah Kow is an excellent company that makes amazing chocolate.

Edit: wanted to add I'm in the Caribbean not Africa & add that Kah Kow owns the land/farms their chocolate beans are grown on.

[mringasa]

Stopped eating Nestle products years ago when I found out about their horrific practices with baby formula. Now it looks like I am not eating chocolate at all... This is ridiculous that it still continues.

[leannenorman]

You should coverr the dark side of the squid fishing industry it's horrific how people are treated by the big Chinese companies.

[edrozenrozen]

Corporate greed?
Who would have guessed? 😳

[blugaming]

If you want to protest some of the biggest offenders: M&M Mars' plant is in Hackettstown, NJ and Hershey's is (of course) in Hershey, PA. One of the executives of Hershey even had the gall a few years ago to say that the children were being employed by their family members on family plantations.

[yourdawgskip]

So in the beginning of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when they were talking about the Oompa Loompas having an economy and currency of the cocoa bean, they were kinda telling some truth about the culture they overturned

[T-sl]

Thank you for this, please keep making content like this and if possible provide regular updates on the topics you cover.
I hope we all wake up to the fact that when one of our species suffers we all do.

[JFGreen]

I’m showing this to my kids, my hubby and everyone. I will willing switch to Tony’s chocolate. Yes it’s “expensive” (which you could say it’s fair priced) but honestly you shouldn’t eat that much dammed chocolate anyway.
Thank Simon and team for these informative videos.

[dannieandrews]

I've got into Tony's chocolate over the last year. It's lush and I feel way better about buying it than other companies. I've also seen recently that they've been teaming up with Ben and Jerry's who are also all about ensuring decent living wages for people. It is more expensive, but it feels like a small price to pay to ensure you're not propping up child exploitation.

[davideberhartii]

I have had students do high school social studies projects on chocolate and vanilla. It is eye opening how much terror and violence is in the harvesting of the crops just to make these items.

[kayleighgroenendal]

This channel always gets me hook, line, and sinker! Im like "chocolate? Whats so interesting about chocolate" but then the video plays and I cant stop watching 😂

[uningenieromas]

There's a channel called Metropolis that made a video about cocoa farmers knowing and tasting for the first time a chocolate bar and all of you should check it out. It is, as a commenter said, heartbeaking and heartwarming at the same time. The video is called 'First taste of chocolate in Ivory Coast'.