AIDS advocates sounded a call to boycott one of Pennsylvania's best-known companies. Members of the California-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation asked individuals to buy Valentine's Day and Easter chocolates from anyone but the Hershey Company.
The campaign is a response to the Milton Hershey School's decision to deny admission to a teenage boy who is HIV positive.
The board of the school for underprivileged children overlaps with the board of the Hershey Company. The official line from the board is that the move was meant to protect the health and safety of the other live-in students.
But the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Ged Kenslea called the decision "alarmist" and unacceptable.
"To see that it is coming from a brand that is American as can be, or a school affiliated with something as American as apple pie and baseball, is really an incredibly bad reflection on this company," said Kenslea.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation plans to keep up the Valentine's Day boycott through Easter.
"We want people to use the power of the pocketbook to opt for other chocolate selections when they're shopping," said Kensla.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has donated money to the Philadelphia law center, which is suing the Milton Hershey School on behalf of the denied teenager.
