Cost of coffee.indd - RISC

◆ 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