Hershey’s Not-So-Sweet PR Confection

The New York Times reports that a walkout by hundreds of foreign exchange students protesting “low pay and physically draining work” has executives at the Hershey Company and three others related firms scrambling “to sort out which one was responsible for the conditions that prompted the students’ complaints.”

Sound familiar? We’ll get back to that after we look more closely at the Hershey situation.

In a (Zag)nutshell, foreign exchange students, came to the U.S. to participate in a summer visa arrangement as part of a longtime State Department program that allows the students to work for two months, then get some travel and cultural enrichment in the U.S.:

In a way, they did. About 400 foreign students were put to work lifting heavy boxes and packing Reese’s candies, Kit-Kats and Almond Joys on a fast-moving production line, many of them on a night shift. After paycheck deductions for fees associated with the program and for their rent, students said at a rally in front of the huge packing plant that many of them were not earning nearly enough to recover what they had spent in their home countries to obtain their visas.

They said they were expecting to practice their English, make some money and learn what life is like in the United States [...] “There is no cultural exchange, none, none,” said Zhao Huijiao, a 20-year-old undergraduate in international relations from Dalian, China. “It is just work, work faster, work.”

And so begins the finger pointing. Hershey is pointing at the subcontractors. The subcontractors are pointing back at Hershey–we think. Basically what we have here is a bit of a PR cluster–and we don’t mean Goo Goo.

If you’re thinking back to the ugly moments after the tragic Deepwater Horizon disaster, where BP tried placing blame on anyone but BP, then you win a Hershey bar. Or something. Essentially, Hershey is trying to deflect blame from itself to subcontractors, a strategy that failed miserably in BP’s case. We don’t wish to imply that loss of life and massive ecological damage is equitable to what’s happening at a plant that packages chocolate, but it does call Hershey’s labor practices into question–and that’s not a far cry from questioning their commitment to human rights. Bad PR any way you slice it.

Perhaps in this case Hershey should take a page from the kids who love their chocolate:

If a nine-year-old kid gets caught intentionally breaking a neighbor’s windows, the parent can’t just say “It’s his fault. Don’t look at me. I’m just his Dad.” There is a reasonable expectation that the grownup charged with the kid’s upbringing will discipline the nine-year-old and help make restitution. Can’t the same be argued for large companies in relation to the actions of the downline companies they hire?

Hershey has stated that they are “actively working with the parties involved to come to a solution that would address the students’ concerns.” We think Hershey would do well to actively take control of this situation–and can do so without accepting blame. How? Issue a statement that denies direct responsibility for the situation, yet make it clear that Hershey recognizes that rightly or wrongly,  the “buck stops with them” and they want to help make it right.

How? First commit to a top-to-bottom examination of the way Hershey participates in the work program. Pledge to work with the State Department and subcontractors to ensure that the student workers are treated fairly and the program is conducted “as advertised.”

Hershey could also make a grand gesture: perhaps reimburse a portion of the students travel visa costs. Sure, that could leave a bad taste in some people’s mouth–smacking of “buying” the students off; but the PR value of such a gesture coupled with a serious commitment to fixing the program would be pretty sweet.

Whatever solution they conceive, the folks at Hershey’s are apparently hoping that aside from the New York Times (and a few foreign papers) this one stays under the national American media radar. That seems to be working, if Google’s news search is correct.

What do you think? The comments section is open for your thoughts.