University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

UK: Producers and Competition
431
While articles mentioning ‘producer’ were easy to find for ADM, direct quotes in
British newspapers for the word ‘producer(s)’ are very scarce. Running a frequency
search using the words producer(s), farmer(s) or grower(s) in our Tesco and
Traidcraft sample carries approximately the same results in terms of quantity;
however this does not take into account the context in which the word is being used.
A deeper analysis surrounding the context in which the word producer(s) is used
reveals a very different discourse produced by Tesco and Traidcraft in the UK.
First of all, it is important to mention that they are almost no direct quotes
whatsoever mentioning producers neither in articles related to Tesco nor for those
related to Traidcraft. In articles referring to Tesco, the word producer(s) is usually
mentioned very briefly. Illustrating our point are sentences such as: “(…) helping
five million people across 49 developing countries”, or again used in a context of
market trends: “community Foods has launched the basmati rice in 500g packs under
its Crazy Jack brand. The rice, which is grown in the foothills of the Himalayas, is
produced through a partnership of 572 growers. It will be distributed to 150 Tesco
stores across the country”. In 2007 there was a discernable shift and we were able to
see sentences such as: “Last year we also converted all the tea and coffee we sell to
Fairtrade, which meant more than GBP340,000 in Fairtrade premium went directly
back to our farmers to invest in their communities”. While the reference to producers
here is still tied to market growth and profit, the sentence nonetheless links profit and
producers’ well-being, as well as containing the word ‘communities’ – vocabulary
very specific to the Fairtrade discourse. But even more interestingly, we can notice
the use of the possessive pronoun ‘our’, suggesting a recognition of increasing
corporate responsibility from Tesco.
Traidcraft, on the other hand, makes a very different use of the word producer(s),
although it is again important to stipulate that most sentences are not direct quotes
from Traidcraft’s employees or representatives. The following sentences best
illustrate our point: “Traidcraft plc's sales are now worth more than pounds 12m a
year, providing vital income for producers in more than 30 countries”. While
reporting how much profit was made, this profit is associated with helping producers
in developing countries, therefore connecting profit and ethics. Lastly, Traidcraft’s
motives are best summarized by this sentence: “We shall carry on doing what we do
best: gently trying to persuade folk that it really is a good thing to help the poorer
producers overseas, that Traidcraft is one of the best ways of achieving this and, at
the same time, giving folk the opportunity to taste very high-quality produce”. Here,
helping producers is cast at the forefront, although while not losing the sight of
consumers and supplying quality products. But here it is also worth noting that
Traidcraft is positioning itself against competition, as judged by words such ‘what
we do best’, ‘persuade’, ‘one of the best ways of achieving this’.
This oblique reference to competition is, however, the only one for Traidcraft, while
there are 19 references to competition from Tesco. In 2005, newspapers are
comparing, for example, Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s lines of Fairtrade products. In 2006,
Marks & Spencer, a major competitor of Tesco, ‘became the first major British
retailer to sell coffee and tea that carries only the Fairtrade mark’. Other