M&M/Mars is the largest chocolate and candy company in the world, with annual sales of more than $20 billion. M&M/Mars is the third largest private company in the USA and its three owners are each worth $10.4 billion. M&M's are the world's top-selling candy. Given these facts, M&M/Mars has the highest responsibility and the most resources to offer Fair Trade Certified chocolate. In June 2002, more than 200 faith-based, labor, environmental, child labor, and student groups signed a letter supporting Global Exchange's campaign demands - asking M&M/Mars to offer Fair Trade Certified chocolate. Through Global Exchange's subsequent national consumer advocacy campaign, M&M/Mars has received an outpouring of requests for Fair Trade-- including more than 1,000 letters from schoolchildren, and over than 5,000 faxes and countless e-mails and phone calls from adults. In February of 2004, two coalitions of highly respected national organizations requested meetings with M&M/Mars to discuss Fair Trade purchasing, meetings which M&M/Mars unfortunately refused to hold.
Despite such overwhelming appeals for Fair Trade, M&M/Mars continues to refuse to offer Fair Trade Certified chocolate, and reiterates total faith in the industry Protocol and other development projects. Despite the good intentions behind these efforts, none ensures the minimum price producers need, and the independent certification that consumers want. Fair Trade incorporates all these components, offering the best solution for M&M/Mars, producers, and chocolate lovers. Given M&M/Mars' continued lack of interest in selling Fair Trade chocolate and ensuring a decent life for farmers and their families, it is clear that we need to keep pushing for Fair Trade chocolate in growing numbers! Join us to request Fair Trade Certified chocolate from M&M/Mars today!
- SEND a FREE FAX
- WRITE a letter or e-mail. Use our FAX as a sample.
Paul Michaels, President, M&M/Mars Inc.
6885 Elm St., McLean, VA 22101
consumer.affairs@mmmars.com and askmms@mmmars.com.
NOTE: If you fax, write, or e-mail, the company will send you a form letter. Check out our tips for writing back to M&M/Mars to make your case, send a second letter, and call the company to follow up.If you are from a school or organization, ask the company for a meeting or conference call to make your case in person.
- CALL 800-627-7852. Click here for brief background information you can use for a call requesting Fair Trade. for follow up calls, see the response tips linked above. To request a meeting or conference call, call and ask for Liliana Esposito or Colleen Karen (External Affairs), or Nancy, Paul Michael's Executive Assistant.
- EDUCATE others with this flyer about Global Exchange's M&M/Mars campagn.
More Information on M&M/Mars and Fair Trade chocolate/cocoa
Frequently Asked Questions
More Info on Global Exchange's M&M/MarsCampaign
Background information on abusive child labor, cocoa farming, the chocolate industry, Fair Trade, and consumer action.
