The Frightening Social Cost of Halloween

Halloween can get expensive – the costumes, ghoulish decorations and mountains of little candy bars. But there’s an even steeper price that most Halloween revellers know nothing about.  

This year, the Canadian Fair Trade Network is shedding light on the scary social costs that lurk behind this haunted holiday’s favourite treat. The unethical goblin they point to is in so many of those mini-treats that trick-or-treaters scream for.

Much of the candy we give away is made with sugar and cocoa procured from farmers at less than favourable rates. Or, as the CFTN put it in a press release, we “unwillingly exacerbate a cycle of poverty for the farmers who grow the cocoa and the sugar.” Plus, 67 percent of cocoa comes from Western Africa where forced child labour is commonly used to pick the cocoa pods and process them. Labour issues aren’t just in far off lands when it comes to chocolate. Last year, Hershey’s was brought under fire for their labour practices in their Pennsylvania factory.

Halloween’s darker side isn’t all candy. Check the label on that store bought costume and you may find it was made in a country notorious for their human rights violations. It’s not just your social conscience that’s at risk, your health is too. Last week, American port authorities managed to randomly inspect a shipment of children’s costumes with 11 times the allowable level of lead.

So, what can you do besides lock the door, turn out the lights and wait for your house to be hit with an egg facial? Scare away the ghouls of an unethical Halloween by making your own costumes or buying from a reputable costumer maker.

When it comes to candy, there’s no trick to it, just look for treats with the Fair Trade symbol like Camino Minis or Cadbury’s Dairy Milk.

What are you doing to make this Halloween a little less ethically eerie?