“Ripped off”: Tony’s Chocolonely leaves one advent calendar door empty to make a point—and some customers are pissed
An advent calendar has some customers riled up after they discovered one day is empty by design.
People opening up Tony’s Chocolonely Countdown Calendar have noticed something a bit unusual: while opening the little doors generally reveals a piece of chocolate, Day 10 only reveals an empty slot and a message.
"No Tiny Here," it reads. "But hey, don't eat the messenger! Wanna know why this one's empty? Find number 10 on the left!"
The left side of the calendar mostly contains assorted facts and comments about the calendar. The corresponding square for Day 10 reads, "Not much to find in there, huh? Bummer! Because the chocolate industry is so unequally divided, so is our calendar" and includes a QR code link to "find out more here."
What's going on with Tony's advent calendar?
As the message suggests, this isn't a scenario in which the company just cheaped out and randomly excluded a day. Instead, they are attempting to draw attention to financial inequalities between farmers and corporations.
"Our calendar is unequally divided to explain how the cocoa industry makes big profits while farmers aren't paid enough for their cocoa," a narrator says in a company TikTok explaining the calendar.
"The result? Many of them live way below the poverty line, and that's completely unacceptable. Tony's exists to change that. But we can't do it alone. Choose change this holiday season by sharing our chocolate and sharing our story."
@tonyschocolonely_us An empty Day 10?! ???? Watch the video - we’ve got a very good reason why ???????? #tonyschocolonely #chocolate #countdowntochristmas #calendar #holiday ♬ Christmas Is Coming - DM Production
Reactions to the calendar
One thing worth noting is that Tony's wasn't trying to trick people here. A listing for the advent calendar still up on World Market clearly states that one of the spaces is empty and why. The company has also offered the same calendar in past years, and repeatedly reaffirms that their entire reason for existence is to draw attention to exploitation in the chocolate industry.
@smella333 25 year old woman has meltdown over advent calendar bruh this after a long day at work I could have burnt the house down #tonyschocolonely #adventcalendar #tonyschocolate ♬ original sound - Ella ABEYARATNE????
Still, some folks were clearly put off by being asked to think about difficult topics when they just wanted chocolate.
"Anyone who is surprised or even disappointed about day 10 on the advent calendar, just tells me that you don't actually eat Tony's Chocolonely," says @kjadeg.
The reason Tony's chocolate bars are divided unequally, she goes on to explain, is because they want to point peoples' attention to the inequality in the cocoa industry.
"Dont give me chocolate and i wont buy it? not looking for a life lesson in my calendar," @broalt1 commented on the TikTok.
Despite some people perhaps not realizing what they were purchasing and being annoyed at what they received, the comments on Tony's TikTok about their calendar are mostly supportive.
"Anyone upset about this is out of touch," wrote @dreanjoy, while @my.bams.been.boozled suggested, "I need everyone to sit and reflect on why they're so upset day 10 doesn't have a chocolate when day 9 had two."
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