Even Ethical Tony’s Chocolonely Got It Wrong This Week!

Jimmy got a Tony’s Chocolonely Count down calendar this year for advent. It was pricey at £14 but you know when buying from Tony’s that the ethics are all good and the price is offset by that fact, plus it’s really good chocolate. However, they made a big mistake in their calendar, one which they admitted themselves in apology which was welcome – it is, after all, not how people make a mistake but how they rectify them – however, after the apology, which came as a result of the masses of complaints on Twitter, they then replied to all the people who Tweeted in their support with a kind of feeling of “yeah, I know right, we said sorry but it was just words to pacify, OBVIOUSLY we don’t REALLY thinking we did anything wrong”, and it really got my goat!

Buying from ethical companies is one way of ensuring equality and inclusion. It’s always good to be mindful of purchases made for just these reasons. To know and understand about child and slave labour and to make choices which aim to eradicate such behaviours in industry. We can’t change things if we don’t put efforts into our own hands like this and this is exactly why I buy certain products, even if they may cost a little more. Tony’s Chocolonely is one such ethical company and though their chocolate is a little higher in price, because they choose to prominently display the inequalities within the profits of the cocoa industry by making their chocolate bars irregular in segments, as well as talking loudly of the problems within their own field, they do a darn good job. Most of the time.

I do think there is a time and a place however and when I bought a rather expensive advent calendar from them, to the tune of £14, I expected to get what was on the box. I value their honesty and delivery of product so I didn’t for a second assume that I would be dealing with an upset child when on day 8 they decided to teach us all a bit more about their mission to drive the message home on the corruption of the chocolate trade, by also delivering an empty box behind the door. The PR stunt was to create a conversation about the trade being unequally divided yet all my child saw was the empty box while his siblings, with different chocolate calendars, snaffled their daily treat of chocolate as their doors did not contain empty packets but, as promised and edxpected (expectation is really big for children), the chocolate.

Now, I’m all for life lessons and learning the truths behind industries but I chose this advent calendar at a higher price than most thinking their pledge to make things better and right had been built into the price. On the fully recyclable packaging complete with a tip to use the tray afterwards to plant seeds, they proudly display their badge stating that together we will make chocolate 100% slave free. They also talk more about their vision on the back of the box and state that they will deliver fun, and not so fun facts about the chocolate industry as you open each door. They didn’t warn that one box would be empty. They didn’t even, behind the door once it was opened, explain the reason why it was empty. Jimmy, who is 9, just burst into tears and I don’t blame him. The message on the box that did come with door 8 was, rather underminingly to the so called message, a 15% discount code to go and buy more of their chocolate if you were missing your daily fix…

That felt a bit sour to me. It was only when I tweeted the company that I discovered they had Tweeted the mjorning of the 8th telling advent calendar owners that they intended it to be a conversation starter and the chocolate would be made up for on another date. Great. Except it doesn’t really sort out today, or the fact my child isn’t on Twitter. I do of course think the message is an important one, but the delivery? Pretty poor marketing, especially when they included that discount code rather than an invitation to talk about why there may be an irregularity today and a promise that it would be made up for tomorrow.

Children don’t understand these sorts of gimmicks and it’s not the way to teach them how to. Jimmy won’t remember that we had an important discussion about why he needs to think about the lack of today’s chocolate – something he might have done given fair warning or even just the information instead of an empty box, he will just remember that he didn’t get a chocolate that day and that’s not what they intended for the stunt, surely?!

He’s not a terrible child with no morals and a lack of education as the Tony’s calendar supporters on social media seemed to say, he’s just a child and his expectations need managing. He’s human, growing and learning and being empathetic to that is important. I had an interesting conversation with a very aggressive woman who claimed, as a dog mum, to know how to bring children up and that I was doing it all wrong by letting him “moan” about not having a chocolate (being sad and moaning are quite different) when I should use the opportunity to educate him. It was lost on her that looking after the needs of a child might be different to the needs of a dog and despite her right on tweets on many subjects and loud shouting about good behaviour, she seemed to want an argument and was not kind in her aggressive language. Very odd, this was about a calendar and a company owned and apologised for mistake. I suspect some people just want a barny. I had expected Tony’s to be less biased towards their supporters, especially after they’d admitted being in the wrong.

None of it from the mistake to the Tweets were in keeping with who Tony’s say they are as a company. I could think of many different ways they could have delivered their message in the first place, perhaps a note to say “why don’t you give this chocolate to someone who works hard so that you can have nice things today?” or “There’s no chocolate today, don’t worry, you will get double tomorrow but for today let’s talk about why2 (which they did on Twitter but as I said, only after the event and my 9 year old doesn’t even have a phone let alone social media!). There could have been many ways of creating that conversation, but to simply be empty, aside from their hard sell discount code, feels like they care very much about getting people talking about Tony’s Chocolonely and not so much about the people who have actually been and bought the chocolate in the first place. People like me.

Naturally I want Jimmy to be mindful of how products he has and later on will buy himself, are made. The clothes he wears, the food he eats, the things that entertain him… I want him to know that there are bad things in the world and people aren’t treated fairly so that he can grow up and know that it’s not ok to accept some people are less fortunate and that we need to strive to ensure everyone is treated equally with fair pay, fair trade and fair lives. I don’t think denying him a chocolate that he was expecting, in a nice advent calendar which is simply meant to be a fun treat, is the way to do it. There’s a time and a place for everything and there’s a time and a place to just enjoy something without having to delve deeply or sacrifice anything too. Tony’s chocolony certainly weren’t about to sacrifice the opportunity to say “hey, if you’re missing your chocolate today, buy some more from us!” Not so selfless sounding are they?!

We have a moral obligation and duty to teach our children about all the good things and the bad things but they are children and we also have a moral obligation and duty to treat them fairly too. It’s bad enough being disappointed as an adult but for a child this sort of disappointment leaves a very bad taste in the mouth, sends all the wrong messages and at the end of the day, doesn’t even remotely deliver happiness to the customer. Sure thing we need to improve and change but we don’t need to rob Peter in order to pay Paul. No one is perfect, Tony’s included, and I do want to accept their apologies but when they were Tweeting back their supporters of the stunt with thanks it felt as sour as their “show with Tony’s” discount code/ethical mission.

Will I buy from them again? Yes. I like the chocolate and what they stand for. Will I expect them to think more deeply about their customers and not just themselves? I will!

It’s great to have good ethics, just like the woman who went to rumble with me on Twitter claims in her bio, but it’s how you behave that really counts and shows you for the person you are. People can get it wrong and when they do should be challenged, that’s a good thing no matter how much you like the person you are setting to task, it’s how the response is made, whole heartedly and acknowledged that really counts nad I’m afraid I expected a bit more from Tony’s than the “we got it wrong and we will do better” mantra alongside their verbal relief that some people agreed with them.

What they should have been saying, if I was their social media manager would be:

Gosh sorry guys, we really did mess up. We didn’t think properly about how best to deliver our important message and we did it all wrong. We hold our hands up and next time, next year, if we want to do anything a little surprising we will forewarn you. Also, *hides face in a bit of shame* as it was such an important message, we shouldn’t have used the opportunity to put on the hard sell, we should have said “instead of giving you a 15% discount on any purchases made today, which is rather beneficial to us, we will GIVE an extra 15% of all sales today, calendar buyers or not, to a fair trade charity. Next year we promise to be more thoughtful.

And when people Tweeted them saying their stunt was great, the Tony’s response should have been:

Yeah guys, we initially thought that too but some of our gang have explained some really valid reasons why this approach wasn’t the best. Glad it didn’t upset you but it did upset lots so we’re holding our hands up and just saying sorry because that’s the right thing to do AND we truly are!

I’ll be really interested in how Tony’s react to this article. I shall update you all and let you know!