Julianna W.

Hershey and Mars Need Changes

On Hershey’s website it says that in one Hershey’s milk chocolate bar there are 24 grams of sugar. There is 0% vitamin A and 0% vitamin C; the only good thing you get out of it is the taste. Some critics say that it’s not a lot of sugar, but it is because 24 grams equals 7 teaspoons of sugar. And, according to the American Heart Association, women are supposed to have only 6 teaspoons of sugar a day and men are only supposed to have 9 teaspoons. That’s already over the limit for women and close to the limit for men. The problem with Hershey's and Mars is that their prices can be too high for some, their candy has too much sugar, and they are not doing enough to stop the abusive cocoa farms. The U.S. Department Of Health and Human Services says that 2 in 3 adults are considered to be overweight or obese. Anyone with a conscience should care about the topic; Hershey’s and Mars should make some changes. Hershey, with their 50 million dollar annual profit, can spend some money on fixing these problems and adding less sugar to their chocolate.

One reason these big candy companies should change their products is because they are high in sugar. In other words, they need to  work to add the number of added sugars to the ingredient list on the back. There is 24g of sugar in one Hershey bar and that’s a lot! Renee Harp from the Environmental Working Group says, “Food makers know this will change how people choose their products, and it terrifies them. It terrifies them but it doesn’t make them want to stop.” Can you believe that the average human consumes three pounds of sugar each week? That is a lot! Some experts even call candy “The New Tobacco”. Lastly, a leading researcher claimed sugar is the biggest public health crisis in the history of the world. That must mean that sugar is just adding up, because why else would a leading expert claim it is a public health crisis! They shouldn’t take all of the sugar out because a small amount of sugar is part of a good diet. Instead of adding sugar, candy companies can add some fruit to their candies because fruit has sugar in it, has health benefits, and many people enjoy how it tastes.

Another reason that Hershey and Mars should change their candy is because 1.8 million children work on cocoa farms. In an article called “It’s a hard to fight to end child labor abuse on West Africa’s cocoa farms” the author says that if the problem was fixed kids would be able to eat their chocolate bar without knowing another child had to work for it.  For example, children are kidnapped and forced to work on cocoa farms without pay. Also, cocoa companies offered 10 million dollars to fix the child abuse problems but it’s not enough money. 70% of cocoa comes from West Africa where about 1.8 million kids work on cocoa farms. In addition to these horrible things, the children have to spray harsh chemicals and use sharp machetes. Eliot Engel , a member of the democratic party,  said, “How many people in America know that all this chocolate they are eating candies and all those wonderful chocolates are being produced by terrible child labor?” Most people don’t think about this crisis, but it is a big one that candy companies like Hershey and Mars should try to think about and fix.

Hershey and Mars should lower the prices of their products. A couple cents off wouldn’t hurt! People spend too much money on candy. For example, last year 12.6 billion dollars was spent on chocolate. That money could have gone to a good cause, but instead it was wasted on unhealthy food. Lots of money was also spent on holidays. 7.4 billion dollars was spent on Halloween candy and 90 million chocolate bunnies were sold for Easter. This proves that these companies should lower the prices because in total 29 billion was spent on candy itself. People surely have better things to spend their hard-earned money on than candy! Hershey’s announced an 8% price raise back in July. Mars also made a 7% price raise on its products, which include M&Ms and Snickers bars. Both candy creators blamed the increases on the cost of doing business. This is evidence from Kara Brandeisky’s article “4 Reasons Your Halloween Candy Just Got More Expensive”.  These candy companies are too expensive, and Kara Brandeisky clearly wanted us to know that it was getting more expensive. The higher prices are not helping the people who don’t have much money to spare.

Hershey claimed that their chocolate was more nutritious than fruits. This may be true, but fruits aren’t unhealthy like their chocolate. It has natural sugar and it doesn’t have a lot of it. This fifth grade researcher can’t eat too much chocolate unless she wants a stomach ache. You can eat a lot of fruit or vegetables, get a good taste, and not have as much sugar. Hershey’s and Mars should not keep these candies as is. If you added more health benefits it would give more reasons to buy your products while doing good for your customers.