Nov. 23rd, 2011:
We have now sent Barry Meyer, the CEO of Warner Brothers, a letter
telling him of our disappointment with the company’s treatment of this issue and the voices of Harry Potter fans. We also let him know that we are now giving Warner Brothers a deadline of the New Year’s 2012 to address our concerns.
Throughout 2011:
We’ve had several more back and forths with Warner Brothers, culminating in our final response from the company. They say they’re satisfied with the practices of the company providing the chocolate they sell. A company who received a Failing Grade from Free2Work based on their efforts to prevent and to address forced and child labor. In spite of their own ethical sourcing guidelines and the commitment to Fair Trade which they have verbalized again and again, WB has yet to put any of this commitment to action. Their neglect is demonstrated by this letter which brushes aside our concerns.
To the right you can see both the letter from Ana deCastro as well as our response.
Dec. 21st, 2010:
We received the following response. Download the full letter in pdf format It gave us cause to hope, as WB’s CEO Mr. Barry Meyer clearly expresses their commitment to ethical sourcing for their products. Although the letter did not provide any proof of their ethical sourcing, it did indicated that we would be able to have an fruitful, positive conversation with WB that would produce Fair Trade results. Unfortunately, as you can see with the letter above, this has not been the case. They have yet to demonstrate any intent to follow through with the commitment demonstrated in this letter.
Nov. 1st, 2010:
We sent Warner Brothers a letter explaining our concerns about the chocolate being sold in Harry Potter’s Name. Download a Printable Version here. Using parallels between the child labor on cocoa farms and the plight houselves face in the wizarding world, we reminded WB that they have a responsibility to ensure that the chocolate they use for Harry Potter merchandise has been made under fair business practices that allow no child to be enslaved to produce this chocolate.
