Blog Entry 1 – TRICK or Treat?
Sep 16th, 2010 by Andy Mao
The first thing that came up to my mind from “business ethical issues” is child labour. Most consumers including ourselves don’t realize we are constantly purchasing goods, such as chocolate were made from child labour.
Believe it or not, half of the world’s chocolate production is produced in Ivory Coast of Africa by child labour. Brands such as Mars, Hershey’s and Nestle are no exception. Most family members make only $30 – $108 annually. In order to survive, 286,000 children between the ages of nine and twelve have no choice but to give up their education to work for those unethical companies and do dangerous labour. From what I learned in economics, as the cost of a product goes down, the seller would want to sell more. According to the consumers’ incentives we would want to buy more as things are cheaper. Thus, as a result to fulfill our own personal satification, we have created a world of child labour.
It is ironic how we purchase chocolate to please our children in our community, while at the same time making children at different parts the world suffer. Next time when we go trick or treating, take some time to think if the chocolate is a TRICK or a “treat.”
190 words
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12754
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dentalcarenetwork.com.au/assets/images/Chocolate.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dentalcarenetwork.com.au/news/2008/09/20/does-chocolate-make-you-smile/&usg=__zkqFZIW1BTuWlsKM5rvmjyxqHB8=&h=335&w=419&sz=68&hl=en&start=15&zoom=1&tbnid=kDzUgHvyEl4sEM:&tbnh=149&tbnw=177&prev=/images%3Fq%3Divory%2Bcoast%2Bcocoa%2Bchild%2Blabour%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1276%26bih%3D645%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=94&ei=rmKSTMqvCYLEsAPLkNi_Cg&oei=Q2KSTJmfDIm8sAPBwIjACg&esq=4&page=2&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:15&tx=123&ty=44
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.timesunion.com/schenectady/files/2009/10/trickortreat.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.timesunion.com/schenectady/date/2009/10/&usg=__eHCV6d2rw9a0s1WePoKm2tgL1d0=&h=400&w=300&sz=13&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=ggKdqFaVC69DkM:&tbnh=158&tbnw=117&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtrick%2Bor%2Btreat%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1276%26bih%3D645%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1039&vpy=91&dur=219&hovh=259&hovw=194&tx=154&ty=104&ei=1WKSTPi6HoucsQOywdTkCQ&oei=1WKSTPi6HoucsQOywdTkCQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0