In the latest example of American culture’s descent into late capitalism, people on the internet are upset about the so-called “morality” of another giant corporation’s ad campaign and we actually should probably pay attention. Yes, hello, Hershey’s my old friend, the conservatives are freaking out about your marketing again.
People who hate transgender people are gathering on social media—much like the solid matter gathers at the bottom of a septic tank to form sludge—in order to bash Hershey’s decision to include a trans woman in the company’s Canadian International Women’s Day campaign. Check the trending #BoycottHersheys hashtag on Twitter, if you dare. Anti-trans “activists” are using the hashtag to spew hate about Fae Johnstone, a trans woman, being included in the campaign.
“Weird how @Hersheys couldn’t find real women to sell their herSHE product on #InternationalWomensDay. #whatisawoman #BoycottHersheys,” wrote one verified blue check user who calls herself an anti-leftist in her bio, and proudly flies her TERF-ness in a pinned tweet which reads, “I didn’t bleed monthly for decades, birth 4 babies without drugs, and lactate for fucking 13 years to be called anything less than WOMAN.” Psst, in case you didn’t know, TERFs are trans-exclusionary radical feminists.
Lindsey Graham, a far-right podcaster who goes by Patriot Barbie on social media (no not that Lindsey Graham) also posted using #BoycottHersheys, saying, ”If you have any respect for women whatsoever you will share this and tag Hershey’s and never buy their products again. Help us win the war on women.”
You’d think that some of these women, who seem so intent on protecting “womanhood” and are up in arms about the supposed “great harm” Hershey’s is doing to womankind by trying to be more inclusive, would’ve brought some of that BBE (Big Boycott Energy) before now to address the fact that this chocolate company whole-ass uses child slave labor.
In 2019, an unnamed executive from one of the American giant chocolate companies said he could not guarantee their chocolate wasn’t made using child slave labor. “I’m not going to make those claims,” the executive said, according to reporting from the Washington Post.
In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit against Hershey, as well as its competitors Nestle and Mars, that was filed by former child laborers on West African cocoa farms who said they were never paid for their work and filed claims under anti-trafficking laws. NOW HEAR THIS: The lawsuit wasn’t blocked because the child trafficking claims were found to be untrue. No. It was dismissed because it was found that the actual child trafficking and labor didn’t happen on American soil.
So if you want to boycott, please boycott! But let’s get our priorities under control. What do you think, ladies? Which part of the “war on women” would you like to tackle: child slavery or keeping trans women away from your chocolate stash? Up to you.
(featured image: Hershey)
