Conscience Consumption - How Much is it Worth?

As I waited in the checkout line at the grocery store a chocolate bar on the rack caught my eye. It was tagged at $3.59 and for such a small amount of chocolate, I thought it was a ridiculous price. My curiosity was sparked and I had to find out what made a little piece of chocolate worth that much money.

So I picked it up and read the packaging. The brand was Equal Exchange Cocoa, and on the back it explained that the chocolate reached the shelves through partnerships that ensure a minimum price to the farmers who harvested the cocoa, and that no child labor laws were broken during production.

I wondered, is this the real price of chocolate (when you forget about the big corporate/political dealings that supposedly keep costs to consumers down)? I also wondered if Equal Exchange Cocoa had a chance in a market that is dominated by Hershey bars that can be bought for less that half the cost. It crossed my mind that it could be a marketing scam that targets conscience consumers, and that the CEO of EEC could be just like all the other CEOs who are grossly overpaid.

Would you be willing to pay more for a product that was made with a conscience? For more information, checkout this website.