this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2024
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Mildly Interesting

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"It doesn’t make sense for chocolate bars to be divided into equal-sized chunks when there is so much inequality in the chocolate industry! The unequally-sized chunks of our 6.35 oz bars are a palatable way of reminding Choco Fans and Serious Friends that the profits in the chocolate industry are unequally divided.

And in case you haven’t noticed, the bottom of our bars depicts the West African coastline. The chunks just above it represent the Gulf of Guinea. From left to right, you have Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin (terribly politically incorrect, we know, but we had to combine them to create enough space for a hazelnut), Nigeria and part of Cameroon."

From https://us.tonyschocolonely.com/pages/faqs

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[–] [email protected] 185 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I love it, but I feel obligated to say

"It doesn’t make sense for chocolate bars to be divided into equal-sized chunks when there is so much inequality in the chocolate industry!

No, it makes sense. I understand, but it makes a lot more sense

[–] [email protected] 110 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It doesn’t make sense for cars to have 4 equal sized wheels when there is so much inequality in the auto industry.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago (12 children)

Ok but this is a good way to raise awareness about the issue. Many people will pick these bars in the store without knowing much about the brand. Then when they eat it, they will probably wonder why it's divided like that and the explanation is right there on the inside of the wrapper.

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[–] [email protected] 116 points 2 months ago (6 children)

I do like these bars but breaking it into pieces without a mess is difficult. I've had to resort to putting the entire thing in my mouth and waiting for it to melt down my throat.

[–] [email protected] 69 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I guess we'll just have to deal with slavery then

[–] [email protected] 53 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If only there was some middle ground between hard to eat chocolate and modern day slavery.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

But the slavery is where the flavour comes from!

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You break it while the packaging is intact

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago

The geopolitical meta is strong here

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 101 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (10 children)

Too bad about all the lead in them. They're not as bad as some brands, though.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (10 children)

An ounce of their Dark Chocolate has 134% of the California MADL dose of 0.5 micrograms of lead, for those wondering about details.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago (2 children)

An ounce is about 29 grams in non-freedom units, for those wondering

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

micrograms, which is 1/1000 of a milligram. No amount of lead is considered safe, but you would need to eat allllottttttt of this chocolate before it would get to a level that, for example, a doctor would be concerned about. Ars Technica has a good write up about the CR report

Not that I’m trying to shill for Big Chocolate. When I saw the report, I definitely made a conscious effort to cut back to once a month or less.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (11 children)

if I die by eating dark chocolate, at least I'll die happy

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Otoh, it makes them sweeter

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

I know, right? It really sucks. They're honestly one of the tastier bars I'd had. I've taken a bit of a step back from chocolate in general, these days. I probably got enough lead exposure as a kid... no need to add any more than is absolutely unavoidable.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Maybe they should spend less money on a fancy mold for their chocolate and more on better sourced cocoa beans with less lead in them: https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/

[–] [email protected] 55 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There is absolutely no difference in price between the two - i.e. a "fancy" one like this and a regular one. Both will most likely be made by machining a block of graphite and using EDM to make the actual mold. The difference in machining time wouldn't cost more than $200 or so

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Wow, techno music is so versatile.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

Sure, gram for gram, Tony's has 34% more lead than California would like, but their chocolate is still sold in the state.

To add to what @[email protected] pointed out, the Mast bar is 70g for $8, while Tony's bar is 180g for $6.

Gram for gram, Mast is more than triple the price.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Quite succesful in the Netherlands.

In 2003, after discovering that the majority of chocolate produced at the time had links to human exploitation, Dutch television producer and journalist Teun van de Keuken began producing programs about the horrors of the commercial cocoa industry on his show Keuringsdienst van Waarde. Furthermore, he submitted a request to be prosecuted for knowingly purchasing an illegally manufactured product, which prosecutors declined to do.

After three years of unsuccessful attempts to change the industry through investigative efforts, Van de Keuken decided to start producing chocolate bars himself. The brand was called "Tony's Chocolonely" with "Tony" (= Teun) and "Chocolonely" in reference to Teun van de Keuken feeling as if he was the only person in the industry who was interested in eradicating slavery. Van de Keuken sold 20,000 bars in two days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony%27s_Chocolonely https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teun_van_de_Keuken

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 2 months ago

Thanks for the advertisement?

[–] [email protected] 48 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Funny that they made their brand the biggest piece of all in the representation.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm reading it like they colonize Africa directly

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

"It's UNFAIR that all of these countries exist! All must bow before Tony's West African Company."

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Some info, that's interesting and helps balance this blatant advertisement. Tony's was started by Dutch television maker Teun van der Keuken. He worked on a program that exposes products for their production methods and false marketing and so on. They stumbled onto the slavery that's part of the cacao industry. He asked to be arrested for eating chocolate, and in doing so enabling slave labor, but he wasn't. He started out Tony's Chocolonely to attempt to change the chocolate industry. He's not part of the company anymore. He has concluded the mission has failed, and is very critical of his former company, saying they've lost sight of the aim: slave-free chocolate.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Around $5 and good chocolate

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 months ago (5 children)

If they paid the farmers more they could just make regular shaped chocolate

[–] [email protected] 66 points 2 months ago (5 children)

They literally do, and their chocolate is a little more expensive because of it

But they're not Hershey or Cadbury (whoever owns them, forget the name rn), or even close to them in size, so they can't just fix the industry all on their own

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Cadbury (whoever owns them, forget the name rn),

Kraft, now called Mondelez

Also Mars is the largest confectionery brand

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I think that is exactly why this company was founded.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

Fait point, but it's a statement about the industry as a whole, not their own production. Even if they were to distribute profits evenly over the entire production chain of their products (which I agree they probably don't), the industry as a whole would still have this problem.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago

Damn that's just an ad. There is no escape

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago (9 children)

This is my favorite brand of chocolate rn

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The irregular pieces make it much easier to eat. You make a conscious decision how much you break off, instead of just getting another 4 squares.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

Yes... haha.... conscious eating... haha...

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago (6 children)

First not sure why everyone is so sure this is an ad and not just OP likes this and the message.

I’ve contemplated posting about this chocolate, I guess we can’t call out companies we like and we just all shit on everything all the time.

Second, my friend called me out for paying £3.50 for a bar of this whenever we have a chocolate and film night when Cadbury is like £1.50. When I said it’s more ethically sourced he said I don’t care about that. 😞

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

Neato advertisement!

Products looks like shit.

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