I had heard about forced child labor in Africa and parts of Asia in the textiles and food products, and after some research through Stop The Traffik, I found out about the worlds chocolates origins. Chiefly, the worlds chocolate comes from West Africa, 80 % from the area, and 46% from the Ivory Coast alone. West Africa has a history of forced child labor, especially when cocoa prices drop and manufactures try to cut costs.
I wanted to specifically highlight this fact and cause people to question, and actually think, about where their chocolate comes from.
I used the iconic Dove Chocolate foil wrappers, the ones with messages on them like "Treat Yourself Today" or something pseudo-philosophical. My messages read "80% of the worlds chocolate comes from West Africa." "A region with a history of forced child labor." "Who made your chocolate?"I used photoshop and simply reworked images of the wrappers I had taken. Pretty easy really, clone stamp tool to clear up the wrappers initial messages, and simple matching of font and color to insert my own images.
I'm really quite happy with the finished piece.
Thanks for reading!
