MrBeast made a lengthy post this week about his ambitions to end a serious problem affecting millions of children.
The so-called 'king' of YouTube plans to make a stand, with Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson hoping to solve a problem that's reportedly affecting 1.5 million children around the globe.
It's been a rough couple of months for Donaldson, starting with the Lunchly 'mold' controversy, before being pulled into the Ava Kris Tyson scandal and then facing backlash from his Beast Games series.
Hoping to fly under the radar while still doing some good, Donaldson has claimed that his Feastables chocolate brand can help solve child labor issues around the globe.
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MrBeast is no stranger to being his own YouTube Willy Wonka, even building and giving away his own chocolate factory in one viral video.
Originally launched in January 2022, Feastables is harvested and manufactured in Peru. During this time when we seemingly can't move for YouTubers turning their hand to food and drink launches, Feastables is one of the best-known alongside Ryan Trahan's Joyride, and Logan Paul and KSI's Prime.
Posting on X, Donaldson has reiterated his commitment to paying his cocoa farmers a living income reference price, only using Fair Trade-certified beans, and working with Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation Systems. He goes on to write: "For context over 1,500,000 kids work in child labor on cocoa farms in West Africa."
Donaldson added: "When I first started a chocolate company I had no idea how much unethical sh*t happens in this industry and every other chocolate company just told me 'This is just the way it is'."
Saying he's spent the past 15 months with his 'head down’ while trying to figure out how he can ethically source his cocoa, he promises things are in a 'good place' where he’ll reveal what he's been doing.
Hyping Feastables' supposedly ethical connections, Donaldson said: "As far as I’m aware we are the only big American chocolate company that does any of the above three things to ethically source our cocoa."
Referring to chocolate sourcing in America as 'unacceptable', MrBeast said he'll reveal more in videos later in 2025.
Feastables' ethical stance comes in the aftermath of YouTuber Dan "Ahnestly" Ahn publishing an August 2024 video that accused Donaldson of using child labor since late 2023. Ahnestly also made a second damning allegation, claiming that Feastables always aimed to use child labor as part of its plan.
This isn't the only time he's been accused of exploitation, coming under fire in March 2023 for offering entry into a $5,000 raffle if shoppers could prove they had 'tidied' up store presentations of Feastables - this led to unfortunately allegations of exploiting fans for 'unpaid labor'.
Still, Feastables has since joined the likes of Ben & Jerry's by becoming a partner in Tony's Open Chain. You might've seen the Tony's Chocolonely brand, with the Open Chain mission boasting a commitment to ethical sourcing and addressing issues like child labor.
When one follower thanked MrBeast for making sure that Feastables' history won't be written by child labor, the most-subbed YouTuber concluded: "When I first saw 1,500,000 kids worked in child labor on cocoa farms I thought it was a typo.
“How the f**k do chocolate companies making billions a year in profit on their backs not see an issue with this? Hopefully I can make change with my channel over the next few years."