Course Title: Business Ethics
Section Number: 11
Title: Semisweet: Life in Chocolate
Group Members:
庄伊纯 1430002165
付 莹 1430002028
林 涵 1430002071
阮婷婷 1430002101
陈伊婷 1430002014
Part 1—Introduction:
Cocoa bean is the raw material of the production of chocolate. However, the
phenomenon of child labor in the West Africa cocoa industry never disappears, especially in
Ferrero’s cocoa plantation in Ivory Coast. The widespread use of children in cocoa
production is not only for the concerns about exploitation, but also slavery and trafficking.
Most of the children come from Ivory Coast’s poorer neighbor country. Traffickers
rely on the economic desperation of their families and entice children and teenagers with the
promise of paid work and education to children, which can be enough to motivate a boy to
sign up for a season of hard work. Parents also have no choice because of poverty. But once
over the border, the children are trafficked to cocoa farmers and forced to labor and undergo
severe abuse.
The children are forced to perform long, hard and dangerous work but provided only
minimal food and shelter. Those who attempted to escape but failed will be beaten and locked
in sheds or huts. Most of them never see their families again. At the end of cocoa season,
some farmers will pay children a small sum or nothing. In this way, some farmers exploit the
children’s vulnerability and control them easily on farms. Most children work up 100 hours
per week which make it difficult to attend school. Most importantly, they are threatened to do
many tasks that could be hazardous when performed by children, including working with
sharp tools, applying agricultural chemicals without protective equipment and carrying heavy
loads (Romano, 2010).
The Ivorian government accused foreigners of the worldwide low price of cocoa, and
cocoa suppliers argued they cannot manage what happens on the farms. Chocolate company,
the Ferrero, stated that the suppliers needed to provide cocoa that was not produced by slaves.
Consumers did not know that their chocolate was produced by child labor.
Is Ferrero right to use child labor in chocolate industry?
Part 2—Theoretical Framework/Discussion
Ferrero hired the child labor and ordered them to work day and night with the poor
survival condition, violating the rights of child labor and endangering their mental and
physical health. The children have no basic freedom, no entertainment and their human rights
and the rights of education have been deprived. The human resources department results in
this phenomenon. Ethics in human resources requires the right contracts and relationships
between the company and the employees. The managers of HR just consider the
maximization of profit but ignore their obligation to the society. Therefore, Ferrero faces the
ethical challenges in this aspect. Before we take the measures that have influence on people,
you should ask yourself: if people treat you the same way, are you willing to accept (Peng,
2015)? According to the Golden Rule, if the children of the managers of the company are
sold to be the labor in the plantations and being abused or worked constantly, it is sure that
the managers will feel angry and sad. So do the child labor’s parents. The Golden Rule
advises the company to reflect on their own behavior. Although hiring the child labor enables
the company to maximize the profit, the company will not only hurt the children, but also
their parents.
Ferrero puts the maximization of the profits in the first place and ignores the influence
of measures they take will have on the child labor around them. Those children that have the
same age as child labor are studying at school and living at home with parents happily and
freely. On the contrary, the child labors that work in the farm are painful and tired every day.
The utilitarianism encourages the company to do the ends justify the means so that they do
whatever they want for the sake of interest regardless of the consequences. It is universal
acknowledged that employing the child labor is unethical and illegal. The international
relevant organization had issued about child labor laws and many countries also issued laws
which are related to child labor. For example, in China, government issues The Prohibition of
Child Labor. According to regulations, the state organs, enterprises, private non-enterprise
units and individual businesses and so on are not allowed to recruit minors less than 16 years
of age. Actually, this unethical behavior brings the company just short-term profit rather than
long-term and once be exposed, the reputation will be damaged.
The obligation of Ferrero is to maximize the profits in providing the goods that meet
the needs of their customers, violating the Social Contract Approach that require a
corporation to have an obligation to society over and above maximizing the profits.
Companies are asked to pursue the ethical responsibilities to do the right things to all their
stakeholders but Ferrero fails to do this because the company hires child labor and abuses
them without paying wages. The effect of being sold into slave labor has the obvious physical
scars from the constant beatings the children receive, their inhumane living conditions, and
the practical starvation that the farmers impose on them (Samlanchith, 2002). Ferrero had
announced that they will cut 70% of child labor in Africa cocoa bean industry before 2020,
which meant the company has had the awareness to pay more attention to its social
responsibility. At a fundamental level, CSR involves going beyond looking solely at how to
make the most money, to include a wider commitment to building a better society (Shanaz,
2012). A company that responsible for its employees, customers and so on will have a big
