"Mmmmhhhhh…chocolate!" America's beloved fatso, Homer J. Simpson, utters this phrase in an episode of The Simpsons as he drifts off into a make believe land where everything is made of chocolate, from lamp posts to a Scottish terrier. As ridiculous as this make believe world may seem to us, a world in which chocolate is everything is not unheard of. The international cocoa bean production industry is a livelihood for many farmers throughout the world, who work extremely hard to make ends meet and for you to get your holiday sweets. The following nine countries account for 91% of all cocoa exported to chocolate manufactures around the world, including big named corporations like Hershey's and Mars: 1) Côte d'Ivoire … 1.3 million tonnes (37.4% of world's total of 3.5 million tonnes) 2) Ghana… 720 thousand tonnes (20.7%) 3) Indonesia … 440 thousand tonnes (12.7%) 4) Cameroon … 175 thousand tonnes (5.0%) 5) Nigeria… 160 thousand tonnes (4.6%) 6) Brazil…155 thousand tonnes (4.5%) 7) Ecuador … 118 thousand tonnes (3.4%) 8) Dominican Republic … 47 thousand tonnes (1.4%) 9) Malaysia … 30 thousand tonnes (0.9%) Note that on the list of nine countries, Africa accounts for about 71.4% of exported cocoa beans. So where and how exactly are the cocoa beans shipped? Once picked and sold, cocoa beans are stored in warehouses where they are graded by their standard or grade. Afterwards, the beans are packed onto cargo ships in Africa, Asia, or South America either in new jute bags or in bulk, and are shipped all across the world, though mainly to countries in Europe and the United States, where chocolate and confectionary plants manufacture the actual chocolate.

Now that the cocoa beans are in the United States, they are used to make chocolate and are then pushed into the American market for sale. As is the case for any product, advertisement is key for good sales turnout. The Hershey Company explains its general advertising campaign on its website writing, "Hershey appointed Arnold Worldwide to create fully integrated advertising and marketing programs for its core chocolate brands, including Hershey's, Reese's, Hershey's Kisses, Take 5, York and Kit Kat. Arnold is a leading agency in building brands through multi-faceted communications programs that touch consumers through broadcast, print, design, interactive, direct, promotions and public relations." Like many multi-million dollar corporations in the United States, Hershey's hires an advertising agency to help advertise Hershey's products to the American market. This includes targeting channels through every media outlet possible from newspapers and magazines to the television, radio, and internet. How many times have you seen a Hershey's commercial on television with a man or woman smiling while eating a Hershey's bar whilst explaining how "Hershey's made my childhood," "there's nothing like a Hershey's bar for smores," "be happy, grab a Hershey's bar." If you remember any of these commercials, chances are you directly were advertised to by the Arnold Worldwide advertising company.

Next comes the packaging of a Hershey's candy bar. Since 1936 the Hershey's company have used tin foil and paper to wrap their candy bars, much like most European companies use. However, in 2003 the company changed their 67 year old design and began wrapping their chocolate in plastic wrappers. In an issue of Packagers Digest in July 2003, the magazine released detailed information on the new Hershey's packaging writing, "The new packaging material is a two-ply lamination of ExxonMobil Chemical's Bicor® 75 CSR-2/ink/adhesive/Metallyte(tm) 50 TSPM/cold seal converted by Curwood. The outside web of Bicor 75 CSR-2 was specifically designed to provide excellent cold-seal release, while the Metallyte 50 TSPM offers a brilliant metal appearance and exceptional cold-seal adhesion to the nonmetallized surface." Reading that description almost makes me want to pick up a Hershey's bar, smell the aromatic scent of chocolate mixed with petroleum by waste chemicals, and eat it. Hershey's argues that the new packaging allows for a longer lasting quality product and a more secure tamper proof candy. Also good to keep in mind is that this petroleum based packaging is usually thrown away in the garbage instead of being recycled, thus adding to landfills across the nation of harmful plastic waste, which sits for almost a century decaying.

North America, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil account for 90% of Hershey's sales. The remaining 10% is divided up between fifty international markets including big name countries such as Japan, China, the Philippines, and Korea. Following the cocoa bean from Africa to America, and then back across the world to Asia or South America, shows how chocolate production is a global industry, and takes advantage of people and the environment. However, to rest our questioning minds the Hershey company lists an ethical code on their website claiming that their number one priority is, "In seeking to balance our desire for profitable growth with the obligations which we have to various other constituencies, we shall strive to: 1) Protect and enhance the corporation's high level of ethics and conduct" In truth the "ethics" of the company are flawed because they do not purchase fair trade cocoa beans from individual farmers or farmer cooperatives.

Chocolate is used in many ways, but in the end it is always consumed as a consumer good. People have craved it since Christopher Columbus was treated to a drink made from cocoa beans by the native people of the Americas. Chocolate sometimes also makes us feel happy, giddy, or elated, and some romantics may even say it is an aphrodisiac. In the end though, we really must look past the gleam of Americana culture that Hershey's presents or the awkward smile of Count Chocula on our favorite General Mills cereal box and see how the world is affected by something as simple and sweet as chocolate.