Hershey's paid influencers to give chocolate to the poor — Mexico called it exploitation

In August 2018, Hershey's Mexico ran 'Hacer el bien sabe bien' (doing good feels good): influencers were paid to post photos and videos of themselves handing Hershey's chocolate to people in need or doing small good deeds like picking up trash, all tagged with the campaign hashtag. One now-deleted post described meeting a person on the train tracks and offering them something to eat, with the chocolate credited for the reminder that doing good feels good.

Mexican users reacted with anger and mockery: the images showed polished influencers staging charity with low-income people as scenery and a chocolate bar as the hero. Critics called the campaign racist and classist, and the hashtag was turned into a mock format — 'Hoy le cambié la vida a alguien necesitado... *Nadie nunca' (Today I changed a needy person's life... *Nobody ever).

On 13 August 2018 Hershey's withdrew the campaign and apologised: 'Reconocemos que la ejecución de la campaña fue inadecuada y ofrecemos una disculpa a todos aquellos que pudimos haber ofendido'. The case became Latin America's reference example of poverty-washing — cause marketing in which the helped are set dressing.