"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

      • pixelscript@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        The “lonely” part of the name comes from how they’re the only player in the industry trying to do what they do.

    • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      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

      • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

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

        Kraft, now called Mondelez

        Also Mars is the largest confectionery brand

        • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          Ok, I was actually pretty sure Mondelez was the name but was too lazy to google it

          And I almost said mars instead of Hershey, then mistakenly thought Hershey’s owns Mars when I know Mondelez owns Hershey and so I basically listed them twice

          Don’t Lemmy right after you wake up, kids, you’ll look silly

      • federal reverse@feddit.org
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        In 2010, Kraft bought Cadbury. Kraft then split up into Kraft (roughly: cheese for the US) and Mondelez (roughly: sweets for RoW), with Mondelez taking along with it Cadbury.

        • arefx@lemmy.ml
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          I’m not sure the last time any of these people have eaten Cadbury but it’s absilute dog shit tier chocolate now in the USA. It’s like buying Hersheys

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      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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    2 months ago

    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's_Chocolonely https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teun_van_de_Keuken

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    1 month ago

    It doesn’t make any sense to do this as a metaphor. Chocolate is typically divided into evenly sized chunks for measurement purposes, regardless of the evil practices of the chocolate industry.

    The metaphor is asinine the explanation is confusing and it’s lost on almost everybody who buys this.

    I have had this brand of chocolate before and it is quite good however.

    • freddydunningkruger@lemmy.world
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      I don’t know, man. Sounds like the guy at least TRIED to do something more than most people. Granted, it doesn’t compare to a life spent delivering clever piss-take commentary to Lemmy, but not everyone can be so blessed.

      Also, speaking of asinine, measurement purposes? If they were selling unsweetened cocao bars for baking, you would have had a point.

      I’d say most people get frustrated and think WTF did they make this chocolate bar a pain in my ass? Then maybe they notice the story on the inside of the wrapper and read it?

    • pixelscript@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      I have never been in or adjacent to a situation where I had to measure chocolate packaged and sold to be eaten as-is in a recipe by squares broken off of a bar, at the demarcations pre-scored into the bar. If I needed that much control I’d grate it or use a chocolate that came pre-granulated, like baking kisses.

      For chocolate bars meant to be eaten, the score lines are very much for sharability first. Any use of them for culinary measurement is at best a peripheral feature.

      This probably doesn’t hold true for baking chocolate. But Tony’s isn’t baking chocolate.

      • mechoman444@lemmy.world
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        I didn’t say it was for cooking. I said measurement. That can be applied to consumption as well as in a cooking capacity.

        • pixelscript@lemm.ee
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          1 month ago

          If you’re not measuring for cooking, why are you measuring? Being that accurate for casual consumption is strange.

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    2 months ago

    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.

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    1 month ago

    Absolutely disgusting chocolate in my opinion. Chalky and bland. It’s nice that they claim to be about equality, but the product itself just isn’t to my taste. And yes, the dumb way they make these bars also really puts me off.

    I just want a normal, boring bar that tastes nice. And this is not the brand for me.

    • JigglySackles@lemmy.world
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      That was my experience with it as well. I’m surprised to see it around still honestly. Worst chocolate I’ve ever had from feel/texture to taste.

          • JigglySackles@lemmy.world
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            Which ones? The Tony’s i had was chalky, mealy, and bland and didn’t even really taste like chocolate, milk or dark. It’s not remotely like anything I’ve had from Europe. I’ve not had everything from every country there but I’ve had stuff from the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium. Not sure I’ve had other countries, maybe spain, but not sure, but I know I’ve had several brands from those ones i listed.

    • Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Treat yourself one time. The quality of the chocolate is so much better than the garbage shoveled out by Hersheys.

      My spouse and I discovered their chocolate by chance. It’s now our go-to because of their business practices and their quality.

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    2 months ago

    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

    • Deceptichum@quokk.au
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      1 month ago

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

    • stebo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      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.

      • RogueBanana@lemmy.zip
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        1 month ago

        And then never buy them again because they are difficult to break evenly. Great idea but poor execution imo.

        • smeg@feddit.uk
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          1 month ago

          Do you buy chocolate based on convenience over taste?

            • MeatsOfRage@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              My internal chocolate bar cost has gone way up. I find the stuff at the bottom (like the stuff at the checkout) doesn’t even taste like chocolate anymore. I usually get something from the specialty section now.

              • AWildMimicAppears@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                1 month ago

                I agree. The budget snack items like chocolate, chips and so on have, in my opinion, lost a lot of quality; they taste a lot greasier, have worse “mouth-feel”, or are just sugar with less aroma depending on the product. I also buy less, but higher quality stuff now in comparison to 20 years ago. (Central Europe here)

            • smeg@feddit.uk
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              1 month ago

              Fair, I do remember eating a lot of Tesco Value chocolate back in the day

        • stebo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 month ago

          lol imagine sharing your chocolate bars with other people, tssk (/hj)

          fr tho if that bothers you, the inequality that comes with other chocolate brands should bother you too

          not saying Tony’s is 100% fair, but at least they put in a lot of effort to make it as fair as possible

          • RogueBanana@lemmy.zip
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            1 month ago

            When did I ever say anything against that or that I am ok with slavery?? I even mentioned it as a good idea but with that execution, you will be cutting your own sales. At the end of the day, it’s a product for consumers and if your idea, no matter how great and noble it is, compromises on the experience then you will lose customers.

            It well be cool to see for the first time but I certainly wouldn’t pick it up again if there are similar products with similar ideology on the shelf which is much easier to consumer. If this worked then good for them but I doubt it well work for long.

            Also who the hell mows down an entire bar in single sitting, is that an American thing? I usually buy a bar of dark chocolate and eat 1 piece after every meal or when I am bored/hungry. I would never pick something like this other than maybe the first time and fiddle with it every time making a mess trying to break a piece.

            • stebo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 month ago

              if there are similar products with similar ideology on the shelf

              that’s the thing: there aren’t

              • RogueBanana@lemmy.zip
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                1 month ago

                There are literally hundreds of them. Maybe the availability is different in your area but I can guarantee you that they are not the only one. But regardless you are missing the point.

                It’s good for a company to be ethical but if you can’t sustain a business enough to make a difference then it’s pointless. At the end of the day, a business is there to make a profit. If you ignore majority of the customers and focus on the small fraction who cares about ethical products enough to make compromise then you can’t stay float for long.

                It’s a good novel approach to raise awareness but the cost for it is too big, that was my point.

                • stebo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  1 month ago

                  Bro it’s just uneven pieces of chocolate it’s not that of a big deal. Clearly they can sustain a business because I’m encountering their products more and more often. Apparently they don’t need the support of people like you who nitpick about every little thing so go ahead and buy other brands if that’s what makes you happy.

    • Maalus@lemmy.world
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      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

        • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Do you also find it hilarious to use the word techno whenever somebody mentions EDM?

          One time this dude who is maybe a little autistic, possibly very autistic, made this super detailed post about all the different genres of electronic dance music. If you know anything about it, you know there’s some hyper-specific sub genres out there, and this dude took the time to not only list them all out, but verbally describe what made a piece of music fit into one genre versus all the others.

          Obviously I replied with something like “Man, I love techno.”