Cadbury's And Divine: A Tale Of Two Sweeties

Our new release Fair Trade And Chocolate: The Divine Story also puts the spotlight on ethics.

Divine claims to be unique among fair trade companies in that it’s partly owned by the farmers who harvest the cocoa beans. This means, not only do they get the fair trade price and premium, they share in the profits. Divine calls itself a social enterprise, created to improve the lives of Ghanaian cocoa farmers and to protect them from exploitation endemic among workers in the developing world.

It also gives them a marketing usp, they claim. Divine MD Sophi Tranchell says: "Other companies spend millions trying to invent that sort of story, whereas we don't have to, because it's true."

Meanwhile its massive competitor, Cadbury’s, is not doing so well in the ethical stakes. Once famous for looking after its workers, the takeover by Kraft and the closing of the Somerdale plant and moving production there to Poland is just the latest in a series of bad press days over recent years.

We compare and contrast Divine’s rise with Cadbury’s fall from grace in the section “A Tale Of Two Chocolates” in our new release The Power Of The Brand.