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Ethan Swift

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Writer's pictureEthan Swift

Last Week Tonight Sugar-Coated & Cherry-Picked Oliver's Quotes Askewing Tony's Phoney-Choco-Baloney

Updated: Feb 20

"Hold onto your cocoa beans and brace yourselves for an epic journey into the twisted world slave-to-bar chocolate. Where European CEO's take all the farmer's money. Chocolate robs trafficked black boys and girls of their wages from forced labor. Strap in, folks, as we embark on a tantalizingly disturbing adventure filled with questionable industry practices, the bitter truth behind your favorite sweet treat, and, of course, a touch of the Last Week Tonight award-winning spirit. Get ready for a rollercoaster of revelations, from failed politicians, chocolate activism and the just $400 extra a year Tony's pays extra to its so called, "Open-Chain", farmers.



John is known for going in depth on unusual subjects, and I, the author, have watched literally every single episode multiple times for half a decade, religiously. So, I won't wait for Reddit , or other social media commenters, to ask me for my opinion -- here it is. Its not sourced from anywhere else but logic theory. Also highly, logical, John speaks with expert critique on subjects he knows very little about, and is always correct, from a fellow leftists point of view. As a progressive, his political commentary, social consciousness and jpm (jokes per minute) has been beyond satisfactory. I have never had to share my alternate opinion after any other episode because he always knows more on every subject. Surprisingly, and for the first time ever, I felt more knowledgeable than John (and his staff of 25 writers) on something and I instantly wished it was some other subject. I never wanted to be depressed and underwhelmed by his coverage of anything let alone something I cared so deeply and passionately about. The episode was very upsetting, from the perspective of a chocolate professional.

Sweet Illusions John Oliver often begins with a humorous take on our perceptions, and in this episode, he masterfully dismantles the sweet illusion we associate with chocolate. How did its portrayal in media to our childhood cocoa-induced highs, ever come to be farmed by child-slaves. Well, in Africa it kind of always, was. There is less now, across Africa, but growing slavery numbers to feed chocolate to innocent children across the globe are close to 2 million -- all of which are black-child farmers who never even get to try chocolate as your favorite host goes on to explain.




It becomes evident that our romanticized notions of chocolate, nurtured by advertisements and popular culture, (green-washed corporate media) stand in stark contrast to the harsh realities faced by those involved in its production. Oliver humorously navigates through these contradictions, highlighting the vast gap between the glossy image of chocolate and the complex web of issues surrounding its creation. He uses common industry examples but should have led with the missing and numerous journalists researching the subject. The most recent of which was Guy-André. Oliver failed to document his actual disappearance and bring it to your attention. He was believed to be kidnapped in a dark parking lot at night after being identified by local traffickers as a journalist -- documenting child-slavery in cocoa. Am I risking lives, bringing you the same widely available information? Would John be willing to risk his life to cover this story?

Cocoa Cultivation: More Than Meets the Eye

Delving into the heart of the matter, Oliver explores the realities of cocoa cultivation. From the labor-intensive process of harvesting cocoa pods to the surprising flavor of its raw form, Oliver sheds light on the not-so-appetizing origins of our beloved chocolate. This most loved food, is the one with the most allowed contaminants out of all food -- all though they fail to include slavery as one of those ingredients. Learn more about additives in cocoa in this blog!

The short and superficial takes us on a surface deep journey through the intricate steps involved in cocoa cultivation, challenging our preconceived notions and inviting us to reconsider the origins of the chocolate bars we so casually enjoy. It is complex. Its impossible to cover the 8 generations old subject in 1 episode and so hopefully this blog will serve as a companion piece to go deeper into the realities of the issues from which our children suffer. Why suffer you ask? Maybe $400 is a lot in Africa, you don't know? And thats the point. No one tells you, on mainstream media or elsewhere, how much foreign currencies are worth... wait for it. Suprise! $400 creates the poverty conditions for child slave-labor and trafficking to thrive and Americans at-large have absolutely no consciousness of Africa's economy... They want it that way. To say the least, where child-slavery is normal, traffickers and farmers earn about $200 a year. Green-washing European companies report on this information on their own, and its terrible. They admit to deep, deep moral corruption and social irresponsibility. They are doing the exact same as Rainforest Alliance and FairTrade -- Tony's is trying to profit off the perception, of being child-slave free, or adjacent to it. Child-slavery's actual proximity within Tony's supply chain is reported on their site. Don't shoot the messenger. Tony's profits off illegal child-labor. They show you how.

Sad traceable facts from Big Chocolate
Being Slave-Free is NOT 1 of Tony's 5 Sourcing Principles. Ha!

Someone tell Tony's that calling chocolate"fair"does not make it slave-free either. Saying that you are "making and impact", is a crazy way to say you have illegal-child labor in your supply chain. The word "Equality", used by Tony's, does not mean the product is free of child-slavery. The intellectual's privilege is to ruminate on these matter casually but not at leisure. Doing so actually then, perpetuates the problem. So, lets not indulge in ponderances and forbearance and study, but rather, act to end the problem all together. Let's stop "thinking about it". Its time to act now because we already know, slavery of minors violates, human rights. There is nothing more to think about. And if you think there is, some acceptable way to even invite some more mental calculations , remember, while you do that, children are being abused. Lets act. We need more than marketing reports to serve as a labor almanac..

If you look beyond the marketing reports, past Tony's "talking points" you will see what the world regards as an excellent marketing team. Are they good enough at brand-washing to sell you child-slave chocolate and call it social activism? Is that all they are trying to really do? Tony's releases marketing reports every year and it's important to read them as evidence of what's happening in their supply chain. This is where every opinion John shared about Tony's came from. They cannot control everything in their supply chain and they admit it and so the problems on their supply chain do show up on the marketing reports. But, they use their marketing to hide their real profit drivers, cheap cocoa. Why would they want to market the cheapest beans in the world and be so bold as to throw all their flaws, 2,600 cases of illegal labor, in the face of the jeering, discriminating and ridiculing public. We will never know why. But we can now hold them accountable to the information that them themselves have published. We can hold them to the account of the only 734 cases they have been remediated. Remediation, is intimate with illegal-labor. This wasn't covered on Last Week Tonight. The conceptualization of this corporation was done by DISCO, a dutch government initiative. They are willing to put children in danger of violating their human-rights because they are seen as others. And they need to make a profit. As its only black (or is it blue?) children being exploited, isn't it a bit edging on racism to profit at all? Shouldn't the Dutch avoid profits from putting exclusively blue (black) children (although, as you'll fortunately see, Chocolonely paints them blue and offensive mis-represents black people as blue cartoons, as a BIPOC author, I hate this European blue flagrantly racist and faslse-representation of black skin, black identity.)., generation after generation, in dangerous and hazardous situations? Every case that goes unremediated creates suffering in the black community. It creates black history, and chocolate history where it is acceptable to violate the human rights of black youths. Every bar they make edges on acceptable human-rights. Not flavor. Definitely not taste. In their board room dream-storming session they were allowing for violations of human-rights in their supply chain. Tony's is based on child-slavery existing. Not ending it.

Tonys Chocolonely defines cocoa slavery vs child labor
They Indiscriminently Keep Profits Regardless Where it Falls On This Map

Tony's uses the ILO's or International Labor Organization's version and definitions of illegal-labor and slave labor to skirt around the laws, as well as dressing them up with fallacies and incorrect quantum parsing syntax grammar to keep folks from actually understanding the following -- as per the ILO and Tony's:

Tony's describes, child work versus child labor.
Child WORK versus Child Labor, Really Tony's? The Fact You Have To Even Say That...

Essentially to legally work for Tony's as a minor of 14 years, it can't be regularly occurring or hazardous, otherwise its illegal. Bottom Line. If you are a bit older, say 15 or 16, regular work is allowed but it can't be hazardous. Most children trafficked into cocoa slavery are 6 or 7 years old. It seems, using deduction, Tony's farms may not be in area's where child-slavery is normal. How do we know where they are? Here are 7 of there sources:


Tony's sources from 7 coops in Africa which seems questionable as it all goes through the bottleneck.
These Abbreviations are Cocoa Farms. None Claim To Be Slave-Free

A. 15 + years old or Illegal Child Labor - work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that:

  • is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and/or

  • interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

B. Slave Labor - all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;

  • the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;

  • the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;

  • work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children ("hazardous child labour", see below)

C. 18 Years + Hazardous Labor - work which exposes children to physical, psychological or sexual abuse;

  • work underground, under water, at dangerous heights or in confined spaces;

  • work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools, or which involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads;

  • work in an unhealthy environment which may, for example, expose children to hazardous substances, agents or processes, or to temperatures, noise levels, or vibrations damaging to their health;

  • work under particularly difficult conditions such as work for long hours or during the night or work where the child is unreasonably confined to the premises of the employer.


If Tonys, pays off the 734 cases of illegal-child labor in their supply chain, but keeps all the wages from approximately 1900 other instances of illegal-labor, will wage theft be the crime Tony's is guilty of. Will they be prosecuted? Or is it their CEO's that are keeping the the stolen wages of 1900 unpaid children. Tony's does this while keeping them from school, and the happiness of pursuing their own purpose in life. That's robbery. Not just wage theft. . A mugging and fleecing of youth victims of trafficking and enslavement by multiple CEOs. Would they do this if the children were white or lighter skin like they are? You have to ask yourself at some point. Who are the real criminals...? Isn't colonialism, based on white supremacy, responsible for some the cacao plantations in the first place?


653 cases of remediated child-labor
Less the 75% of Child-Labor Cases Remediated. What?!

Should anyone point out these are grown white men and women committing wage theft from black minors by the thousands, would paint Tony's is its true colors. This is of course, how all colonization went.


Tony's claims no forced labor but have 2,675 cases of child-labor?
No Definition of "Forced"Labor But We Know the Corrupt ICI and Ghanian Government are Complicit

Whats the definition of "forced" labor mean compared to illegal child-labor? Tony's would never tell you. Is "forced" labor paid or unpaid? Are the minors? Is it slave-labor? The question is necessary because Tony's does not differentiate between "forced labor"and child-labor. And this lack of clarity is exactly what is driving their narrative askew. In doing, due diligence, this journal go no reply from Tony's when asking online for months. Even from different platforms.They just stopped responding to me.


Child-slavery in cocoa is a remnant of historical slavery, not modern-slavery and therefore is not eligible for a rebrand to illegal-child labor. Its not "forced" labor either. Thats not a thing in this equation. Modern-slavery vs. illegal labor? I wrote about that, here.


a map of modern slavery and child labor
They Claim Forced-Cocoa Labor is Modern Slavery, But Its Historical Slavery.

On second thought, maybe the companies committing robbery or theft of the wages from illegal (forced) child-labor wanted some good, positive attention (Tony's)? So let's let's shine some light on the good things that Tony's has done. Ultimately they do want to end child-slavery in cocoa. That would of course, require them to do a complete 180 degree turn on their branding and rewrite everything. No brand has ever done this and its doubtful Tony's model exists to put itself out of business. So as long as Tony's premiums are low enough, and the scale isn't too big... guess they can monitor some of the child labor, but not all of it. So, they need child-slavery to exist to do business? How is this better? Thats not better. Slave free chocolate exists now, I was forced to start making it myself! Here buy some!


Ethan Swift and Erin Sharkey holding up the slave-free Hawaii Chocolate they make.
The Author's (right) and EX Biz Partner's Slave-Free Hawaii Chocolate

Cocoa farming is an extremely hard job. It's extremely dangerous and fucking laborious, and it only happens in really hot places where there are lots of pests, mosquitoes, biting, flies, scorpions, snakes, and other dangerous animals. Children for one should never be left alone on cocoa farms and especially w/o super vision (for example) while using toxic pesticides... Even in Hawaii there is a painful almost invisible, highly-electrified pig fence everywhere on cocoa farms which could do permanent damage to any child. You will cut yourself on the machetes. The question is just when, you will bleed from brushing against the trees and just as easily, get bruised and there is much worse. In Africa, when the victims get caught fleeing, there feet get sliced and the traffickers apply coarse salt and spicy pepper directly on the wounds. Stories of abuse and torture are well documented.

Cocoa pod shucking with child-slaves
Well Documented Child-Slavery in West Africa

Already have the list of slave free-cocoa? And Tony's is not on it? There are 175+ brands on it and they are all CERTIFIED child-slave free, this writer dedicates lots of time to keep this the most up-to-date slave-free cocoa list on the internet. None of this wishy-washy questionable corporate narrative made on Last Week Tonight is good. The narrative was literally right out of Tony's mouth. Everything John said about Tony's were Tonys words and he made no actual criticisms of his own. Every time he opened his mouth about Tony's it was from Tony's Chocolonely's marketing team. Seemed almost like it was an ad.



Now, there is a third-party charity non-for-profit that certifies chocolate companies as slave free or not, for consumers. Its a food label. Its called Pono Cocoa. It was developed, so you no longer have to struggle to identify it slave-free chocolate, or have to make excuses as to why you are supporting slavery chocolate, or so you no longer have to listen to John Oliver's corporate promotion of $100 million company. Gross. Instead of giving you the child-slave free chocolate label in 2001, you've been given Tony's Choco-Baloney. Do you even know if Tony's is slave-free? Oliver never lets those words leave his mouth. It's deliberate, he cant', they aren't... It's how they sell, "you" the uniformed, chocolate. You remain uninformed after the show too which sucks.

Certified Slave-Free Chocolate Food Label. Its a P with a C inside a Hawaiian Cocoa Bean
Certified Slave-Free Chocolate Food Label

Oliver uses his comedic prowess to make this educational segment both engaging and thought-provoking, not even suggesting viewers to question the ethics behind their favorite indulgence. He makes audiences laugh so its easier to slug back the horrors his award-winning show covers. He even mentions that. He said he was going to "make it wierd" [sic]. Chocolate is ruined. Tony's ruined it. "Are you gonna make it wierd?", John Oliver's audience ask him in theory while giving out slave chocolate to kids for Halloween. The episode was timely but not poignatn. Slavery isn't wierd, it's traumatizing. Try relating to your fellow black child for second and imagine being imprisoned on cocoa farms (maybe forever in your mind)and think, the people who eat my trafficked unpaid labor are basically "eating my flesh". Again, not "wierd"; human-rights violations...You are beginning to tell the difference! "People could help rescue me bu,t they think the what I'm doing is weird", said no victim of "Big Chocolate", ever. White America, black people (children), are not "weird". Child-slavery is very serious to the victims who experience it, as their whole childhood.

Big Three and the Narrow Bottleneck

Tony Chocolonely's supply chain
Tony's Illustrations Generalize the Complexity of Historical Slavery

In this section, we uncover the dominance of the chocolate industry's big players — Cargill, Barry Callebaut, and others. This is just like on Last Week Tonight. Oliver exposes the power dynamics and the concentrated control these companies exert, drawing parallels to an hourglass where millions of African farmers feed into a narrow bottleneck of just a handful of extremely powerful corporations. He was vague though. Does he know what he was talking about or did he get this from Tony's website too.


4.4% child-labor at long term partners and 52% at new farms.
From Tony's Chocolonely's Report, Child-Labor is Increasing. How much is forced?

The "bottleneck" occurs at the distributors, aka bean consolidators. They systematically mix and combine beans from different sources, and even pre-grind cocoa. mass and mix it with other cocoas from Africa to disguise it's farming methodology. This makes the beans impossible to trace. Its clever. Even from with-in Africa, it's nearly impossible to trace them,. Traceable beans are not slave-free and never have or will be. That's Pono Cocoa certified products that are guaranteed to be exempt from all exploitation.


rate of child labor is 4.4% on Tony's partner coops.
Tony's Won't Say if it was "forced", or not, but its Increased.

The consolidation of power within a select few corporations becomes a focal point, as Oliver dissects how this dynamic negatively impacts cocoa farmers worldwide. His satirical analysis not only entertains but also prompts viewers to reflect on the systemic issues within the chocolate industry and consider the broader implications of corporate control on global supply chains. What he misses, is again, is that this bottleneck is deliberate. He doesn't insinuate it, or imply it, however, he leaves out the 5000 years of slave free cocoa from South America, the continent cocoa originates from too. The consolidation of power in this sector (since the missionaries planted African cocoa) has always been, over black-children. Their own governments know and profit from all the human-rights violations. But sadly its the corporate colonialist companies like Tony's still trying to make colonialsm work.

A rich guy that works at Tonys Chocolonely
Make Colonialism Great Again is His Whole Energy.

You see, we are talking about Africa, where trafficking kids into forced unpaid farming is normal, not South America where cacao is a sacred and revered ceremonial medicine. You can learn about that here and even taste some, here. You see, African cocoa is historical slavery, it's indisputably based on white supremacy -- inherent in colonialism. When South America was colonized, they brought the cocoa to Africa for a reason, Portuguese colonial profits. Slavery was heavily used and documented in São Tomé (first) and equatorial regions of Africa by Portuguese 120 years ago. It stopped recently, but missionaries' colonies started for cocoa exportation are still . Yes John left this out. How else do you get slavery by the millions padding the pockets of wealthy Europeans? Tony's knows, this is how to make money. They could source cocoa from anywhere in the world. But they choose, and fail, the most problematic area. Yes, by all means, boycott their baloney. Its cheap garbage chocolate made by Barry Callebaut (well-known for decades of profiting from human trafficking), not them. They don't make their own chocolate.


It's Barry Callebaut chocolate rebranded.

Tony's Chocophoney, lost Tony. or Tuen (in Dutch). He is gone. Its because he can longer guarantee the supply chain is slave-free. They got too big.You see, Tony's board decided to hire Barry Callebaut to make all their chocolate. Tony is no longer a part of Tony's. Barry Callebaut chocolate is known for child-slavery and tastes bad. Tony's hired them to save money and was taken off the slavefreechocolate.org list immediately as they can no longer guarantee control of their own production. Barry Callebaut is in charge of their production and receives Tony's cocoa that Tony's has been monitored. And at no point do the wages from the 2,600 cases of illegal-labor return to the children it robbed. Another reason they were taken off the list is because they pay Barry Callebaut. Their finances are engorged and engaged to a point where customers are basically just paying major-offender of child-slavery, Barry Callebaut.


Tony's got a $30 million dollar investment or profit this year. Look it up. The CEO's are sitting like fat cats as they are about to bring about Ben and Jerry's chocolate bars into the world... which will not be slave-free chocolate..in January 2024. Ben and Jerry's was never slave-free, but now there will be even more non slave-free chocolate, coming to the market...Tonys's Chocolonely will make more money off unremediated child-labor cases. Their monitoring system, is not perfect. And, it doesn't have to be. Profit is the point and they can't do that with appearing righteous and to have a savoir-complex. If they end child-labor, they have to change their public image to a company that has succeed, from what they are now, a company that has failed, upwards. Seems like ordinary white privilege

It says, "Have a break? Not if you're a childslave"
The Public Images of These Brands Have Been Ruined.

Ben and Jerry's just sold out this year to Unilever anyway. A mega corporation owned by Vanguard and Blackrock.. As you can see, nothing Tony's makes is ever going to be slave-free. With all that extra money you think they would kick each farmer more than just $400 a year, but instead, they create the conditions for poverty and therein child-slavery to exist. When the tide rises it should lift all the boats, not just the mega yachts ya corporate boondoggles. What a shame. Looking forward to see if the cases of illegal labor in their supply-chain increase in 2023 or not.


This Contradicts Their Claim That 3 of Their Co-ops Have 37.6% Earning a Living Income.
This Contradicts Their Claim That 3 of Their Co-ops Have 37.6% Earning a Living Income.

"35% to 40% of Cocoa Farmers Earn a Living Wage", also says Tony's.
"35% to 40% of Cocoa Farmers Earn a Living Wage", also says Tony's.

The Harkin-Engle Protocol: A Broken Promise Remember that voluntary agreement to eliminate the "worst forms" of child labor by 2005? Then by 2014, and now by 2030? Oliver humorously dissects the Harkin-Engle Protocol, highlighting how chocolate companies skillfully navigated its requirements while continuing to turn a blind eye to the harsh realities faced by child-laborers in cocoa farms. What he deliberately leaves out, as we are run by a corporate technocracy, is that the other eye was not blind -- and Bob Dole is well regarded for shutting down the original slave-free chocolate food label in the senate. Also, hundreds of thousands of dollars from The Chocolate Industry, helped. You see these failed politicians Senator Harkin and Engle took the money. There was lots of lobby money that rolled in to them for over a decade (from the "Big Chocolate Companies") before their decision to finally let offenders self-regulate. If only black lives mattered in cocoa...Is this how we treat black lives of children


The Harkin-Engle Protocol is a joke. It has done nothing and has created ZERO

successful projects in over 20 years. The politicians that created this are the worst kind of corrupt sleaze-balls that have ever been greased up by lobbing groups. They allow for millions of black minors to get trafficked into slavery everyday. Failed. Politician.

The Failed Attempts What about Rainforest Alliance you ask? What about the defunct UTZ fair-trade certified (it doesn't exist anymore as they have merged with Rainforest Alliance)? What about Fair Trade itself? Certainly these projects have been successful over the past 20 years or they wouldn't be in business anymore, right? No, none of these organizations have ever audited for child slavery in cocoa. Even John Oliver, had old out of date news on the subject, about Utz Certified. You have been misinformed, by world favorite, Last Week Tonight.None of the attempts mentioned to regulate against trafficking and forcing children into farming cocoa are successful. Utz is a potato chip company from Pennsylvania, this author's home state. I grew up eating Utz Potato Chips in elemntary and highschool. These organizations were completely unsuccessful. Unless, of course you accept tricking the public. How many people thought at least one of these was child slave-free? Write in the comments. There are many many folks that even this author knows who thought these were slave-free. Trick accomplished. No change in supply-chain. Oliver missed this like a complete intellectual klutz, which he is very much not known to execute as. This was a genuinely strange episode that was short, much less in-depth than his usual content and can be seen right here. I would not recommend watching it but rather watch some documentaries he uncharacteristically failed to rise to the opportunity to mention: "The Dark Side of Chocolate"



"The Chocolate War" There are others but the man behind this award-winning content managed NOT to go missing in African parking lots and instead blasted his films on the outside of the headquarters building of Nestle with a 30 foot projector -- of his documentary. He is more upset than this author and his work is a travesty to be left out of John's crooked opus. Was it left out on purpose? Copyright Issues? International Laws? I would love to find out what the film maker himself thinks. Oliver's incisive yet incomplete commentary peels back the layers of corporate promises, revealing a stark harang between commitments on paper and the ground realities faced by vulnerable communities. His commentary however was again all written by Tony's. None of his thoughts about Tony's are John Oliver's thoughts alone. A corporate agenda was accomplished with his perfect combination of humor and investigative journalism. He seemed to dismantle the rhetoric surrounding industry pledges, leaving viewers with a critical perspective on corporate responsibility. However, he ended it with a corporation profiting off of irresponsibility. That business is Tony's Chocolonely. No link because that would help thier SEO. You know their marketing planto end child-slavery, but dear reader, you haven't done all the research. So Hopefully this article is informative to everyone. Whether you like John Oliver or not!

Chocolate Companies: Sweet Talk, Sour Reality With an adept mix of British sarcasm and satire, Oliver scrutinizes the responses of major chocolate companies to allegations of child labor in their supply chains. Nestlé, Mondelez, Ferrero, Hershey — no one escapes Oliver's razor-sharp commentary as he scalples their public statements and actions. Except for Tony's. Tony's escaped.


Tony's is included in the 70% of all chocolate that comes from areas where child-slavery is normal.

70% of All Chocolate Comes From Areas Where Child-Slavery is the Norm'.
70% of All Chocolate Comes From Areas Where Child-Slavery is the 'Norm'.

This part of the episode serves as a scathing critique of corporate accountability, challenging viewers to question the sincerity of companies' public relations maneuvers. Though, there isn't any sincerity at all. Why bother then John? I'm asking! Their own reports they put out account for child-slavery in their supply chain. Also, they never, once claimed to be child-slave free. Stop projecting and just go visit the Pono Cocoa website.


Oliver's comedic prowess does expose the dissonance between lofty statements and concrete actions, fostering a sense of healthy skepticism regarding the chocolate industry's commitment to eradicating child labor (again, except for Tony's who got nothing said about them accept for what Tony's wanted them o say.) Surprisingly the responsibility never went back to actual consumer. Fortunately there is that charity a non-for-profit for that has created a food label that regulates for child-slavery. You wont have to boycott eating chocolate! You can just boycott some brands. And that, is an actual start. If you, or someone you know wants to to start the obvious way by boycotting. Go for it! Although there are many thoughts on this, such as it hurting what normal labor conditions may remain, which could mean, driving more folks into poverty. Normally, that would increase the need for child-slaves in cocoa, however, if there is no demand, farmers will continue to go in new directions such as rubber farming or even chocolate-making. But as these are the worst conditions of child-slavery out of any industry, boycotting IS timely and necessary. No mention of boycotting from John, so can't you think that thats exactly what Tony's wanted?


A list of 50 brands to boycott because they use child-slavery
Official List of Brands to BoyCott of Black Lives Matter in Cocoa To You.

Tony's is not ceremonial cacao.
Tony's Oompa Loompa's are Black, not blue. An example of Tony's "Brand-Washing".

The number of farmers that have received $400 a year from Tony's is less than 15,000. There are over 1.5 million child-slaves and 2.5 million cocoa workers total.. You do the math. Tony's only helps a few farmers' coops (7) out of millions. Thats only 14,000 out of 2.5 Million. 40 to 50 million people in the world farm cocoa million people farm cocoa all over the world.


Blue cacao workers are illustrated. Although they are black.
Tony's Farmer's Are BLACK PEOPLE. Not Blue! This Is Xeno-Phobic.

Oliver's portrayal of Tony's Chocolonely serves as a beacon... wait ,what did ChatGPT just say to you? No, bad chatGPT, these articles still need excellent live This article was not written by AI. AI does not understand the sophistications of this issuehors. Only we (creators) can truly live in the midst of the industry's ethical challenge while highlighting the potential for positive change. By showcasing this episode this author hopes to encourage viewers to consider alternatives to Tonys and to support CERTIFIED slave-free businesses, striving to make a meaningful impact.

Oliver, through witty commentary, does , as always advocate for a fundamental shift in industry practices, a little. Bit.

A Call to Action: Beyond Chocolate Bar

In a passionate plea, Oliver calls on consumers to go beyond merely savoring their chocolate bars. He encourages viewers to demand change, support ethical brands, and be aware of the impact their choices have on the lives of cocoa farmers. Just use Pono Cocoa. For all of that. All John Oliver did was make you aware of a long-standing problem that has never been fixed and that you as an individual have no power or control of. He has included in his narrative to help us to find a solution. The solution is Pono Cocoa, the food l. bel and its lists. The non-for-profit does do more too like direct relief and adding value to their supply chain.

Oliver's call to action serves as a rallying cry for viewers to become active participants in reshaping the chocolate industry. By infusing laughter-causing-words into this serious appeal, he inspires a sense of responsibility and agency, motivating individuals to use their purchasing power to influence positive change.

"A Bittersweet Future for Chocolate" Oliver's concluding remarks leave viewers with a sense of introspection, compelling them to reevaluate their relationship with chocolate and consider the broader impact of their choices. Through humor and sincerity, he fosters a collective vision for a more equitable and sustainable future in the world of chocolate. Equality however, in chocolate, is not child-slavery free.

Now, grab your favorite chocolate bar (ethically sourced, if possible), settle in, and let's navigate the complex, sometimes bitter, but undeniably fascinating world of chocolate. But first remember, in chocolate, ethical is not always slave-free. Because, as John Oliver would say, 'Let's not sugarcoat it; this is Last Week Tonight, and we're about to peel back the wrapper on the truth!"

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Ethan Swift
Ethan Swift
Dec 03, 2023
Rated 5 out of 5 stars.

If you haven't read this, its pretty good...If you have, what do you think? Is allowing Tony's to profit off unremediated cases of illegal-child labor so they can have a low price, hurting Island Sharks' pricing? That, is the question.

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Jennifer Jones
Nov 20, 2023

Wow! Amazing article here! This is the truth 🙏🏼 thank you 🙏🏼 for shining a light on the marketing behind Tonys. you have done your work here. I am so impressed. Thank you. Going to use as a reference for my own work. 🙌🏼

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Ethan Swift
Ethan Swift
Dec 03, 2023
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It means a LOT, to me, that you took the time to write me your feedback. Thanks for giving it a 5 star rating and let me know if you have any other questions! There are lots of blog posts here to read from. Please do use this as a reference, thank you. I appreciate you.

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