Have you ever wondered how your favorite chocolate comes to be, or who are the people behind making it possible for you to indulge? As I sat in class two weeks ago, I learned a lot about this. I can honestly say that I feel terrible for ever purchasing and eating certain chocolate brands, one of them being Hershey. As I put more thought into this, I realized that it really disgusts and pains me for consuming their products.

Hershey and Ghirardelli, among other brand companies, are the most unethical producers of everyone's favorite candy. What's so shocking about this is that people still buy their products, not knowing that people are suffering in order to produce their favorite candy bars.

I have put so much time into this and it saddens me to think that Hershey and other companies profit from forced child labor in West Africa. It's so ironic to think that those ads you see on TV are always encouraging you to purchase them for your loved ones during special occasions. What is even more ironic is that a Hershey kiss is supposed to represent an extra kiss for your loved ones. This is truly appalling to me, considering that Hershey is one of the biggest companies to violate human rights. Children are forced to work in order to help support their families. Knowing this, I vow to never eat any Hershey products again until Hershey agrees to join Fair Trade.

As the holiday is upon us, I ask for you to do the same. I do not stand with supporting child labor. I think that the worst part about buying products from these companies is that many consumers are unaware that they are supporting an endless cycle of abuse. If more people knew that every piece of delicious chocolate that you consume has the blood of innocent children within it, would that change anything? Children are being torn apart from their families and forced to work long hours just to make a profit for these companies. The brutality that children go through needs to come to an end, and you can help this happen by consuming Fair Trade products. Next time you think of purchasing Hershey products, please keep in mind that children as young as six are being forced to work extremely long hours for very low amounts of pay, sometimes less than $2 a day.