Sustainable Chocolate?
Prior to reading into sustainability and following topics that appear on my newsfeed related to the topic, my general understanding of sustainability marketing was limited. Every time the term “sustainability marketing” popped into mind, I would think of greenhouses, or solar panels – at least something innovative and had to do with technology. It was often more related to renewable energy and the firms promoting it now that I think of it. Most likely because of the fact that its what is reported and it’s the kind of news that sells.
So upon further reflection about sustainability marketing, what about sustainability surrounding what’s been available throughout history?
Cocoa
Just as I was thinking about this, I saw the half wrinkled packaging of an “Endangered Species” chocolate bar on my desk. Why do I buy Endangered Species chocolate from whole foods over other big brands such as Hershey’s or Godiva? Mainly because the price is fair, the name of the brand makes me feel great about a cause (although interestingly I didn’t even look into what they do or know much about their sustainable initiatives) but the packaging is plastered with logos such as Fair Trade, Certified Vegan, Non-GMO, Rainforest Trust, and Wildlife Conservation Network. After doing some research online, and visiting the Endangered Species website, I realized that it was actually difficult to find out what made their product “sustainable” as opposed to just marketed as “sustainable” with a variety of icons and logos on their product. However, in general, cocoa as a commodity is massive and 3.5 million tonnes of cocoa are produced each year (http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/fairtrade-partner-zone/chocolate-cocoa-production-risk). Almost all of the information regarding “fair-trade ethical chocolate” has little to do with the actual “sustainability” and impact the product makes.
There’s a difference between sustainability and charity.
By visiting the Endangered Species website, I noticed that the causes and organizations they support have great missions to support the farmers in the regions that are producing the cocoa fruits and making the cocoa powder to enable chocolate/confectionary production. However, I didn’t actually learn much regarding the sustainable practices themselves. Here are some that I viewed:
http://www.chocolatebar.com/docs/doc_ftinfo.pdf
http://www.chocolatebar.com/docs/esc_certs.pdf
What do these certifications actually say about the sustainable practices of creating the product?
In my opinion, there is a distinct difference between supporting those farmers with better working conditions and better pay through donations and education versus actually improving the manufacturing process of cocoa powder by preventing the negative impacts of deforestation and the use of environmentally harmful by-products to do so.
My next goal is to really look into which products are marketed as “sustainable” versus products that actually allow a consumer to know and trace the environmental and social impacts of creating the product.
I agree with you in the sense that “sustainability” can be loosely defined. Companies use this word for many marketing initiatives that may not be directly related to the actual impact they are making with producing their product. I also agree with you that there is a difference between paying the farmers a fair price for a product and actually helping to improve the farmers production processes. I believe this is where
creating shared value steps in. A business must identify all societal needs that are apart of the business process. Although shared value isn’t the same as achieving sustainability it is still a foot in the right direction.
I actually wonder what the chocolate taste like. It could be that the source it come from is indeed more sustainable (however this is not known). I do agree that there needs to be a difference between sustainability and charity, however, the actions may not always be so separated as we wished it to be. The view that sustainable acts may be more expensive, requires more consideration and alteration; thus creating barriers of adoption. Green activist groups do mainly sustain themselves on donations, and I have seen volunteers soliciting chocolate on the street, asking people to donate to a cause. However, the brand itself do create some unconscious associations, which appeal to people’s emotions. We may need to look deeper into the actual value statements and commitments of the company, to make more educated comments on whether the practice is sustainable or whether the company is being ethical with its advertising campaign.
I feel the same way when I purchase goods. I try my best to purchase products of companies that I can relate to or that I want to contribute to. With a more health conscious society and more exposure to sustainability, I feel like the consumers are becoming more sophisticated when making a purchasing decision. When I think of the “evolution” of food products, in terms of nutrition, it started with “0 trans fat”. Now, that seems to be the norm and the corporates are focusing on even healthier and environmentally friendly characteristics. I hope and believe that in five or ten years time, these will be an expected feature on all grocery goods.