Cost of coffee.indd - RISC

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aim fair marketing ◆ To analyse the strategies, designs and images used in promoting and marketing Fair Trade products. outcome ◆ A greater understanding of marketing strategies and the influence of media stereotypes. what you need Participants should be familiar with the principles of fair trade; examples of fair trade packaging and promotional materials (see Useful contacts, p77 and Weblinks, p78 for contact details of fair trade organisations); include Partners’ Blend, Nestlé’s Fairtrade coffee, and download an advert, Bridging the generations, from www.risc.org.uk/readingroom/ coffee.html; Actionpages: Logo, Fair marketing and Press release; flip chart paper; glue. Ideally participants should be familiar with the analysis of images. If you need to see detailed examples of deconstructing text and images look at the activities Every picture… and Between the lines from the Seeing through the spin teaching pack. These can be downloaded from: www.babymilkaction.org/spin. what you do s Explain that fair trade organisations – producers, suppliers, shops, campaigners – produce produce a wide range of materials to sell their products and raise awareness of fair trade, ranging from posters and leaflets to the packaging itself. s Hand out Actionpage: Logo. Explain that these are either logos of organisations involved in fair trade or Fairtrade Marks which certify that a product conforms to fair trade criteria. s Taking each logo in turn, ask the group what words and messages the image communicates. Which are the most/least effective? Why? s Divide participants into small groups and hand out Actionpage: Fair marketing. Display selection of packaging and promotional materials. Ask groups to choose one and use the Actionpage to analyse its use of words and images. whole group discussion s Choose two or three groups to show their material and explain the main points of their analysis. Bring out more general points. ◆ Which audiences are the materials aimed at? ◆ What strategies have the PR or advertising agencies used to gain your interest, eg humour, guilt, striking image, human interest? ◆ How well do text, images (photos, illustrations) and design (use of colour, layout, fonts) work together to communicate the message? ◆ How do the materials give authority to their views? ◆ How can you find out if the information provided is accurate? ◆ Will material like this make a difference to your attitudes or the products you consume? Why/why not? ◆ What would be the most effective way of reaching a group like you? key ideas ◆ The fair trade movement grew out of Alternative Trading Organisations (ATOs) set up in the 1970s. Through buying crafts and foodstuffs from trading partners committed to economic and social justice, they aimed to help poor people in developing countries improve their standard of living. Products were largely sold through their own shops, eg Oxfam, mail order, churches, solidarity groups etc. 40
◆ In 1988 a conference of ATOs agreed that if fair trade was to become more than a marginal activity, it needed to become part of the mainstream, with products marketed more widely through outlets such as supermarkets. The Fairtrade Foundation was set up to license fair trade products (mainly food) in Britain. Its Fairtrade Mark guaranteed that producers enjoyed minimum employment and social standards. ◆ To compete in the market place ATOs had to improve their marketing strategies, including packaging and advertising. The first product to receive widespread promotion was Cafédirect, launched in 1988 with a national poster campaign focussing on the improved education and health enjoyed by the families of fair trade producers. ◆ There are now over 1000 products which have the Fairtrade Mark (2006). Packaging has become very important in the competition for shelf space with brands sold by TNCs. ATOs want to increase market share in order to benefit producers but also to make profits to sustain their activities. Many supermarkets also offer own-label Fairtrade products. ◆ In the UK all fair trade foodstuffs carry a Fairtrade Mark which has gained consumer recognition. A new international Mark was launched in 2002. ◆ Most packaging has some additional information about fair trade. Larger packets often have case studies to show how producers will benefit, with photos of smiling farmers or children. There is also often an ‘ethnic’ flavour to the design – illustrations, fonts, colours etc. There is a marked similarity with the stereotyped images used in tourist brochures! ◆ The implication from this kind of marketing is that producers are small farmers. The consumer is encouraged to empathise – the feel-good factor of buying fair trade is reinforced. However, athough a proportion of fair trade tea, coffee, cocoa etc is sourced from such family-run farms, much production is from commercial plantations which qualify for fair trade status if they meet basic employment standards on pay and conditions for their labourers. ◆ The danger of this kind of marketing is that it gives the impression that fair trade alone is enough to give poor farmers in developing countries a sustainable income that will meet basic needs. The reality is that most fair trade producers, both wage labourers and smallscale farmers, still live in poverty with low incomes and limited resources. ◆ The global trading system needs to be changed if poor people in developing countries are to have a chance of sustainable livelihoods. Fair trade has an important role in educating people about the unequal nature of the system and how changing our patterns of consumption are a first step towards more fundamental reform, eg WTO, World Bank, IMF. ◆ The launch of Partners’ Blend, Nestlé’s first Fairtrade coffee, after the company had spent many years denying the relevance of Fairtrade in the coffee market, prompted much debate. Some argued that it was PR exercise to raise the company’s ethical profile in the light of a long international boycott because of its illegal marketing of breast milk substitutes in developing countries. Others welcomed the move as a step in the right direction but pointed out that only 200 farmers in El Salvador would benefit, while another 3 million worldwide depended on Nestlé but remained outside the Fairtrade supply chain. ◆ Marketing is a challenge to fair trade producers. The products are usually slightly more expensive, because of the fair trade premium paid to producers, yet they must compete with their mainstream rivals. Packing needs to give the impression of high quality – its not only for a good cause, but also tastes excellent – as well as raise awareness of fair trade. follow-up ◆ Hand out Actionpage: Press release, a joint statement from Cafédirect and Costa Coffee which warns of the dangers of cause-related marketing – creating the (false) impression of corporate responsibility through association with good causes. ◆ Read Appendix 3: Sustainable Development, p52 and Appendix 4: Co-op’s fairtrade coffee, p53 on the launch of more sustainable coffee brands. ◆ Follow the debate over Nestlé’s Fairtrade coffee: Appendix 7: Partners’ Blend, p60. www.babymilkaction.org/press/press7dec05.html and www.growmorethancoffee.co.uk. ◆ Draw up guidelines for the marketing of Fair Trade products which address issues of stereotyping and produce designs for attractive and/or informative packaging. 41
Page 2 and 3: credits devised, written and design
Page 4 and 5: “ A company that adopts and imple
Page 6 and 7: the instructions What you need - ge
Page 8 and 9: glossary bluewash The ploy used by
Page 10 and 11: coffee file Coffee: adaptation of A
Page 12 and 13: 8 the story of coffee D the coffee
Page 14 and 15: wet method D requires the use of re
Page 16 and 17: 200 Robusta coffee market 1986-2005
Page 18 and 19: drinker roasted, ground, instant CO
Page 20 and 21: 16 key ideas ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
Page 22 and 23: Profit margins are high - Nestlé h
Page 24 and 25: key ideas ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ In respon
Page 26 and 27: • because of past price fluctuati
Page 28 and 29: aim a fair price? ◆ To analyse th
Page 30 and 31: ◆ Although in The coffee cycle Ne
Page 32 and 33: s Analyse the photos used and the o
Page 34 and 35: ◆ ◆ Real costs A supply and dem
Page 36 and 37: aim how fair’s fair? ◆ To explo
Page 38 and 39: actionpage: how fair’s fair? s Re
Page 40 and 41: 1990 european fair trade associatio
Page 42 and 43: Actionpage: Pros & cons 38 PROS Gua
Page 46: Actionpage: Logo ® 42
Page 49 and 50: actionpage: press release Statement
Page 51 and 52: appendix 1: the coffee crisis The I
Page 53 and 54: demand sides in which the coffee cr
Page 55 and 56: demonstrating that traditional shad
Page 57 and 58: appendix 4: co-op’s fairtrade cof
Page 59 and 60: appendix 5: mugged introduction The
Page 61 and 62: women earn less, work longer, have
Page 63 and 64: appendix 6: rescue plan A Coffee Re
Page 65 and 66: Consumer governments 1 Provide poli
Page 67 and 68: joining forces we believe that we w
Page 69 and 70: of shortfalls that occur (see Nestl
Page 71 and 72: appendix 8: robbing coffee’s crad
Page 73 and 74: appendix 9: behind the mask the rea
Page 75 and 76: • change the law to enable people
Page 77 and 78: Fair Trade in Action - KS 3-4 Fairt
Page 79 and 80: ackground reading* Behind the mask:
Page 81 and 82: useful contacts Anti-Slavery Intern
Page 83 and 84: International Coffee Organisation w
Page 85 and 86: isc Reading International Solidarit

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