University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

low. 1994 was the first year a product carried the Fairtrade mark. From this event
forward, the numbers of articles available gradually increased.
428
In the UK, supermarkets became involved very early on. The first product to carry
the Fairtrade label was a Green & Black drinking chocolate that was sold in
Sainsbury, a British grocery retailer. By 1996, the number of articles available for
Tesco overcame the ones for Traidcraft, clearly emphasising that supermarkets had
sensed an opportunity in the Fairtrade market and were now moving in to take
advantage of it. The year 2000 saw the appearance of the first supermarket-owned
Fairtrade branded product, with the Co-op starting its own-brand Fairtrade milk
chocolate bar.
While in France we had to wait until 1997 to find an article mentioning both
Fairtrade and at least one of our selected retailers, a significant increase in the
number of articles available seemed to follow the same pattern as in the UK.
However, while in the UK the number of articles is through the years greater for
Tesco than for Traidcraft, in France, over the entire period 1996-2009 the number of
articles is greater for ADM than for Carrefour. This highlights the different way in
which the Fairtrade market has evolved at in France and in the UK.
Findings
France: Militant vs Profit-Seeking Discourse
ADM casts itself in the militant role of ‘changing the rules of international trade’:
“(…) Ce n'est pas que payer un bien à un prix juste, c'est aussi une tentative de
changer les règles du commerce international” (“ (…) It’s not only paying a good at
a fair price, but also an attempt to change the rules of international trade (…)”). The
idea of a militant discourse is reinforced by ADM’s opposition to the involvement of
supermarkets in the Fairtrade market: one of ADM’s employees stated that “il n’est
pas question d’être dans le même référentiel que la grande distribution (…). Nos
boutiques sont des lieux citoyens, avec des point d’information et un
accompagnement de la clientèle” (“Being in the same referential as large retailers is
out of the question (…). Our stores are a place of exchange and sharing, with
information points and a follow up of customers”); or again “Equité et supermarchés
ne vont pas de paire. (…).” (“Equity (fairness, justice) and supermarkets do not go
well together. (…)”. Again in 2007, a volunteer of ADM stated: “Vendre n'est pas
notre principal leitmotiv, nous sommes là aussi pour éduquer au commerce équitable
et faire pression sur les décideurs pour changer les règles actuelles du commerce
international” (“Selling is not our main leitmotiv, we are here also to educate to an
equitable trade and pressure those who make decisions to change the present rules of
international trade”).
It should, however, be noted that while ADM is against supermarkets’ involvement
other organizations, such as Alter-Eco and Max-Haveelar (two big names of
Fairtrade organizations in France), are however favourable to such involvement:
“pour permettre a beaucoup de producteurs de bénéficier de ces échanges” (“to
enable many producers to benefit from theses exchanges”).