Carragee Consulting

John Oliver is trying to ruin my life

I love John Oliver, but this episode is deeply saddening.

In honor of Halloween he did an expose on the global Cocoa supply chain showing that it’s mostly grown on family farms in Ivory Coast and Ghana, often using child labor and paying poverty wages.

Since such a huge portion of the global supply is bought by only a few companies, those buyers have monopsony-like power to keep prices low.

In my house I’m barely allowed to go grocery shopping unsupervised because everything I put in the cart contains chocolate.

It’s easy for me to avoid buying diamonds, but I don’t think I could quit eating chocolate to try to eliminate the moral dilemma around being part of the market which enslaves kids.

I also haven’t successfully curbed my intake with the self-serving logic that replacing chocolate as a staple in my diet by eating more nutritious foods would improve my health and well-being.

My sugar and chocolate addictions are real.

I like the idea of being obligated to pay a higher price, induced by minimum payments to the growers, helping me to curb my intake and increase grower wages.

“Sin taxes” have been somewhat effective in reducing smoking.

Chocolate feels like a necessity to me, but I understand logically that it is a luxury and not a justification for exploitation.

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