Want to buy a day's worth of carbon offsets with your chocolate bar?
How about donating to breast cancer research with your breath mints?
Or saving the animals with a candy dispenser?
PHOTO: AFP
Candy with a conscience is one of the latest trends to come out of the annual confectioners’ convention as manufacturers jostle to grab the attention of consumers on increasingly crowded store shelves.
New Zealand’s Bloomsberry chocolates had been selling trendy, tongue-in-cheek chocolate bars in the US for less than two years when they were approached by Whole Foods to develop Climate Change Chocolate.
Wind turbines and a huge footprint cover the chocolate bar’s boxes and the wrapper is speckled with tips on how to be more green — such as “Let the sun shine in. Opening curtains and blinds to capture the warmth of the sun saves on heating and your cat will love you for it!”
PHOTO: AFP
Marketed as the “first taste of a lower-carbon lifestyle,” Bloomsberry donates US$0.55 from each bar to TerraPass to pay for 133 pounds (60.3kg) of carbon offsets, which is the average American’s daily carbon impact.
“We’ve sold enough in the first quarter that it’s comparable to taking 900 cars off the road for a year,” said Kerry Laramie, vice president sales and marketing for Bloomsberry’s US division. “That’s 9.3 million pounds [4.2 million kilograms] of carbon offsets.”
The bars, which were launched in the US in January and may eventually be sold overseas, come at an opportune time: about 36 percent of US shoppers said in a recent survey that they regularly buy “green” products, up from just 12 percent in 2006.
For California-based Hint Mint, the decision to sell breast cancer awareness containers was more personal: the marketing director’s mother is a breast cancer survivor.
“It’s not about if we sell 5,000 tins: it’s about the ability to give back,” Wendy Sims said.
“When you’re in a group of people and you pull out a mint you’re going to offer it around,” she said.
“If someone pulls out that tin and offers it around it may make me think I’m 35 and haven’t had a mammogram yet,” she said.
Hint Mint, which touts itself as the Gucci of breath mints and only sells in high-end outlets, was surprised by the popularity of the pink tins which are now sold at breast cancer awareness events.
The trend is also sweeping up more traditional candy companies, like Hong Kong-based au’some.
Au’some grabs the attention of kids with “interactive” candy, like a Nintendo Wii controller that shoots out candy, handy candy tools and a candy yo-yo. But it wins over the parents with healthier treats like fat and gluten-free fruit snacks.
It has recently partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society to sell animal-shaped gum drops and candy dispensers topped with pandas, monkeys and penguins which help protect endangered species.
“What we’re really trying to do is send the message that candy companies aren’t just about sugary sweets,” said assistant business manager Evelyn Chan.
“We care as well, and also send the message of eat healthy, be active, be au’some,” she said.
Candy and chocolate are largely recession proof and sales have been climbing steadily for years, hitting US$29.1 billion last year in the US alone.
“Candy and chocolate are small indulgences — they’re what people use to make themselves feel good, which is that wonderful little taste,” said Susan Smith, senior vice president for public affairs at the National Confectioners’ Association.
“So even though people might not be buying a new house or a new car they’re always going to be helping themselves feel a little bit better with a new candy or chocolate product,” she said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique