Oxfam is now focusing its campaign on Mondel?z. Advocates from Oxfam will deliver Easter eggs filled with signatures from more than 67,000 petitions to Mondel?z International headquarters in Illinois, USA. Oxfam has also placed a full-page advertisement in US print publications and will run online ads on Twitter, Facebook and via Google highlighting the company's failure to address inequality for women in their supply chain.
"Easter is an enormously important holiday for sweet sales and Mondel?z stands to profit immensely, yet many women cocoa farmers are earning just $2 a day," said Alison Woodhead, campaign manager for Oxfam's Behind the Brands Campaign. "Mondel?z needs to step up and show that it takes equality for women seriously. Tens of thousands of people have already joined together to call on the company to do their part. Their competitors have already pledged to meet this challenge, but Mondel?z remains on the sidelines."
Chocolate companies produce ninety million chocolate Easter bunnies every year. Mondel?z is the biggest global buyer of cocoa and wields immense influence over the chocolate industry and the lives of people who grow cocoa.
A recent investigation by Oxfam showed that some women in cocoa supply chains are paid less than half as much as their male counterparts, earning just 2-3 dollars a day for their labor. In one cocoa processing plant in Indonesia a worker told investigators that all of the women employees were fired after they demanded basic rights.
"The longer it takes for Mondel?z to address the inequality women face in their supply chain, the more consumers will question how serious they are about their commitments to sustainability," said Woodhead. "The company has made investments in sustainable cocoa that deserve credit. But given the level of poverty, hunger and inequality in their supply chains surely more must be done."