Search This Blog

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Colonization of the Sources




Nick:

Mars is considered to be the largest chocolate company in the world. They have some sort of store or factory in 73 different countries around the world! But out of all these countries, Cote d’Ivoire, or the Ivory Coast, is where they make the most of there chocolate. So let’s dive a little deeper into the history of this country. France colonized the Ivory Coast on March 10th, 1893. They were actually not their own nation at the time, but in French West Africa. The relationship between the two had a bit of a rocky start. France tried to impose taxes and public works projects on them, but the people didn’t like it. After a short war, in which the French won, France controlled the government, with almost no conflicts. The French were nicer to the people of the Ivory Coast, however, because of their rich soil for farming resources. Instead of using them for slave trade, the French used them for farmers. And even today, they are still used for their farming and rich soil. That is why Mars gets a lot of their chocolate from the Ivory Coast. 


  http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/art/hg/detail/hg_11afo_2.jpg

Deanna:

One of Hershey’s farms is located in Indonesia. The Dutch colonized this country from 1908-1942. When the Dutch first colonized Indonesia, the Indonesians didn’t really realize their ability to resist, until the Japanese came along and taught them otherwise. They took over Indonesia, then declared them independent. The Dutch tried to regain power, but the Indonesians resisted. The Dutch seem to respect the Indonesians’ freedom now. The Dutch have left their footprint on Indonesia, though. For example, Christianity is still present in Indonesia which is a result of Dutch missionaries.

Adam:

Nestle has many different companies around the world, for example Venezuela. Venezuela and Ecuador produces about 70% of the worlds fine cocoa. Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522. Venezuela and the Spanish had a very violent relationship. Venezuelan citizens tried resisting the Spanish, and were put to death by the them after. After a while of Spain being in control of the country, the economy was mostly agricultural and the extremely wealthy countries had complete control over the country. The creoles (those born in Venezuela of European descent) were starting to resent Spain because of the high taxes, limited opportunities and mismanagement of the colony, which started to begin the talks of independence. There’s Spanish people still living in Venezuela, but they’re not in control of the government anymore.
Brendon Meek:

Divine chocolate farms are located in the southern regions of Ghana. In 1482  Portuguese colonized in Ghana. Great Britain, The Netherlands, and Denmark all had influence and colonized in Ghana in later years. State tribes in Ghana didn’t like a lot of people colonizing so there was some violence.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Mode of Production

      And... we are back with a presentation (by prezi) that's packed full of information on each company. This blog entry is about different fair-trade countries each one of us researched about. Each person; Adam, Deanna, Nick, and Brendon) got a country, and researched about the colonization of the country.
      For the prezi (linked below), click the box where you would like to go (the start would be recommended). Then click the home button on the side, to take you back to the start to go back to the next country.

 [gigya src="http://prezi.com/embed/t2lxf0yoe1ud/?bgcolor=ffffff&lock_to_path=0&autoplay=no&autohide_ctrls=0&features=undefined&disabled_features=undefined" width="550" height="400" frameBorder="0"]

Monday, March 4, 2013

These Companies are Targeting Who?

Welcome back, readers! Lately Nick, Adam, Brendon, and I have been researching the companies' target market groups. Through observing some ads and average price ranges, we have put together some quite educated guesses...

Mars' Target (brought to you by Nicholas)

M&M's Print Ad:

Twix Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh1nZ5lfcco

Average price range: Fairly inexpensive. Their products are candy that you would find in your local grocery store, so just a few dollars.

Target audience:
  • Age: Everyone. Kids make their parents buy them chocolate, and adults could like the chocolate brand and want to buy it themselves.
  • Gender: Both genders. Chocolate isn’t specific on male or female gender.
  • Income and Status: In a developed country where people have money to afford luxuries such as chocolate. Normally middle class and rich people will buy this chocolate.
  • Any ethnicity. Mars will target anyone who can buy their chocolate, whether that person is black, white, etc.
  • Lifestyle: Most people that don’t really care about their health. Health freaks may not want chocolate but most people who don’t strictly monitor what they eat will most likely be targeted.


Hershey's Target (Sincerely, Deanna)

Hershey's Print Ad:

Hershey's Commercial: http://www.hersheys.com/ads-and-videos/commercials.aspx

Average Price Range: Most of Hershey’s products are also the average cost for candy. They’re prices don’t differ so much from others’ that it’s noticeable.

Hershey’s tries to reach everyone. This really comes through in their commercial where people of all ages and genders are shown striving to get just one bite of that delicious Hershey’s milk chocolate. Also, their Easter print ad says “Treats Every Bunny Will Love” (Emphasis on Every Bunny). The commercial also shows people of different ethnicity and different lifestyles. Their Easter ad, however, obviously targets those who celebrate the holiday in at least some fashion.


A common pattern we see here, is that companies will often adjust their ads to reach many different people, depending on any specific events or holidays that are on the horizon (Easter, Valentines' Day, and such). We shall soon hear from our other two authors and see if this pattern of reaching everyone, continues.

March 13th, 2013
We're back with Mr. Adam Langmeyer's insights on Nestle's Target Market Group

Nestle Comercial #1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfnt0l6WvcU 

Nestle Commercial #2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o2qeU4RSuA


Average Price Range: The average price range is just like other candy’s, only a dollar or two.

  • Age
    • Nestle will sell to any age of customer. Children, teenagers, and adults it doesn’t matter as long as they like and will buy the chocolate.
  • Gender
    • Nestle will sell to either gender male or female. Both genders eat lots of chocolate depending on the person.
  • Income/Status
    • Nestle can sell to anyone it doesn’t really matter what their income is, anyone who would like to buy the chocolate can buy it.
  • Ethnicity
    • Any ethnicity will buy their products. As long as people (white, african american, etc.) will buy it, it doesn’t matter who.
  • Lifestyle
    • The customers probably don’t live a very healthy lifestyle from buying the chocolate, not a lot of chocolate bars isn’t really bad for you, but if you eat many of them it could be very unhealthy.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Introducing Our Project


    Hey guys! What’s going on? Welcome to our first post here at Chocolate Traders! The team and I are really happy to be starting this thing up. Before we get started we should formally introduce everyone here at Chocolate Traders. First, there is yours truly, Nick Suckle. I am currently researching about Mars Candy. Now the thing that intrigued me about Mars was that they are the biggest chocolate producing company in the world and I wanted to see how they made their products, if they promote fair trade products, and just start to understand what goes on behind some of my favorite chocolate products that are out there.

    Our second writer is Adam Langmeyer. He is currently researching Nestle. Adam was initially intrigued with Nestle due to his favorite chocolate bar being Butterfingers. He decided to further research the company when he learned that there is more to the company than chocolate. He not only wants to learn about chocolate but also how some of their other products are traded.


    Our third writer is Brendon Meek. He is currently researching Divine Chocolate. Brendon heard about Divine chocolate and realized that he had never seen one of their products. He decided to look a little into this mysterious company and found out some pretty interesting details. One of these details being that they not only promote Fair Trade products, but 45% of the company is owned by their farmers. He wants to look in and see how this affects the company, where the company was originated, and how and where it is spreading.

    Our fourth writer is Deanna Martin. She is currently researching The Hershey Chocolate Company. Deanna actually has a little history with Hershey. Her mom was born and grew up in Hershey, PA and actually had a job shoveling coco for the company. She has decided to continue her research into the company to better understand what they do and what they are about.