The Challenges of Marketing Fair Trade - Wynne, Sandy

purchases should be a requirement for TFUSA’s licensure. This would, in turn, help
address the halo effect, or fairwashing, that some companies have taken advantage of. It
should not be acceptable to carry only one Fair Trade Certified product without further
commitments. Reducing fees for licensees might be a useful tool to reward 100% Fair
Trade committed companies and companies demonstrating substantial increases in
purchases of certified products relative to their overall purchases.
Sales of new product categories and existing products rely on customer demand
generated by marketing. TFUSA set up a generic marketing fund in 2004 to help move
product, but unfortunately this fund no longer functions. One problem may have been its
dependency on voluntary contributions of individual companies who could then request
generic marketing in a specific geographic region. As part of the licensing process or fee
structure, all companies should have to make a contribution to this fund to get it back on
track and to keep it functioning. The rationale is that generic marketing helps increase
consumer awareness levels, leading to increased sales. All companies, in the long term,
would benefit from such a strategy.
Another challenge, addressing narrow branding and confusing terminology, will
require a collaborative effort by NIs through their common organization, FLO. These
NGOs should agree upon common language for branding, Fair Trade principles, Fair
Trade terminology, a single universal FTC logo and Fair Trade goals to reduce confusion
and the risk of misleading or disappointing consumers. According to FLO, all the NIs
have agreed to a single FTC logo except TFUSA. It is time for TFUSA to join the global
community.
57