FAIR PLAY?

Features - Earth

Illustration by VJ Woof

Supermarkets and big brands have cottoned on that Fairtrade has the potential to bring the pennies in, but is looking at Fairtrade with commercial eyes really fair enough?

Words by Clare Howdle

(first published: Stranger issue 9, April 2006)

Supporting Fairtrade seems like a simple premise. Want to help coffee farmers in El Salvador or banana growers in the Winward Isles? Buy your shopping in green and blue. In 2002 The Fairtrade Foundation introduced its now famous Fairtrade mark, offering a colourful stamp of approval to 150 products guaranteeing that they "conform to standards and contribute to the development of disadvantaged producers and workers."

Then Fairtrade got big - and bigger. 150 products turned into 1500 products ranging from tea and coffee to yoghurt and wine. Between 2004 and 2005 sales of Fairtrade produce grew by 40%, and the market is now worth £195 million annually. Every major supermarket has its own-brand Fairtrade range, Topshop's newest concession is the Fairtrade label People Tree - even politics has succumbed to the lure of playing fair (who'd've thought it?) with David Cameron last month announcing that from now on Conservative HQ would serve only Fairtrade refreshments. Fairtrade is big business, but can big business really be fair trade?

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Albert Tucker managing director of Twin, an alternative trading company that puts north-south equality first, stated his concerns about big companies entering the Fairtrade market. "The real worry is that these guys are coming in just to grab at current growth, and that when that's done and chewed up, they'll walk away from it and we'll be in a worse position." And he is not on his own with his worries about big businesses jumping on the Fairtrade bandwagon. Benedict Southworth, Director of the World Development Movement agrees: "It's more likely to be an attempt to cash in on a growing market or a cynical marketing exercise rather than represent the beginning of a fundamental shift in business model." For these men, and many others, it's not so much that such organisations have started producing Fairtrade, but that their decisions to enter into the Fairtrade market have been commercially, rather than ethically motivated.

Illustration by VJ Woof

"I think what is interesting with either multinationals or big supermarkets is that they are primarily driven by consumer demand, not what producers want," says Hannah Ireland, Communications Director at Café Direct, the UK's leading Fairtrade brand whose ethical credentials are so squeaky clean you could see your face in them (Fairtrade, she says is just part of a holistic ethical approach which fundamentally affects how Café Direct do business across the board). She continues, "If you are a company or a supermarket and part of your product range isn't growing at all and you can see the Fairtrade category rapidly growing, and consumers are asking for it then inevitably you are going to enter that. Our concern is that should the demand go away they'll withdraw their lines and the producer will be left in the lurch."

Hilary Parsons, Corporate Affairs Director of Nestlé believes that the amount of work put into launching products like their controversial Partners Blend coffee demonstrates dedication to the cause. "It wasn't an overnight decision to launch Partner's Blend," she argues, "we have been working for well over two years and in discussion with the Fairtrade Foundation in confidence about how best to help farmers who have been adversely affected by fluctuating coffee prices." The work put behind launching Fairtrade own-brands is also cited by supermarkets to illustrate their commitment to Fairtrade. Tesco, speaking to Stranger, also claimed that their decision to shift from stockist to producer was far from a "knee jerk reaction," and that they "don't jump into new Fairtrade products lightly or quickly as it takes a long time for Fairtrade products to become certified, so is a long term commitment."

But arguing that they have put time and effort into developing their product is not denying that "the opportunity to bring a product to market" as Hilary Parsons puts it, has been identified for commercial, not ethical reasons. Tesco are the first to admit that their decision to switch from just stocking Fairtrade to actually producing Fairtrade has been triggered by consumer demand. "We want to be able to offer our customers a choice ranging from value to organic to Fairtrade to Finest" a Tesco spokesperson explains, "there is the customer demand there and we can cater for it." Many supermarkets and big brands see Fairtrade as an opportunity to make money and in doing so the likelihood of them jumping ship if the outlook gets stormy is higher. However, the Fairtrade Foundation have been willing to take a chance on big businesses seeing their commitment through and by having them onboard, the profile of Fairtrade will only keep getting bigger.

Ian Bretman, Deputy Director of the Fairtrade Foundation explains, "The introduction of any new Fairtrade product is a positive one as we are always trying to expand the market simply because the more that gets sold, the more that producers benefit - but we obviously can't audit why companies are doing it." He continues, "however, I do think that we have aligned Fairtrade certification in such a way that also meets business interest for them in the long term." Charlotte Borger, Communications Director for Divine Chocolate agrees (Divine, like Café Direct are a wholly ethical business whose producers in Ghana have a 32% share in the company, attend board meetings and take a share of the profits) that it is not as clear cut as good guys and bad. "It's a bit of a double edged sword really," she admits, "because although some companies can be deemed more ethical in their overall approach than others the bottom line is the more Fairtrade gets made and sold the better."

And there's the rub. If the major players who have identified Fairtrade as a growth area continue to invest in it and nurture it, Fairtrade could become the rule, not the exception. Tesco now stock 80 Fairtrade products and produce 14 and Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons can boast similar figures. COOP made all their own brand coffees Fairtrade in 2003 and Marks and Spencers recently announced their switch to Fairtrade for all their teas and coffees. Even coffee behemoth Nescafé are willing to entertain the notion of taking Fairtrade a step further than just one brand in their portfolio. "We are not ruling things out for the future," says Parsons, "but hope that what we are doing with Partner's Blend is seen as an evolution of a broader approach across the coffee market." Ok so they're making money, OK they might not be as transparent or worthy as Café Direct or Divine and OK, supporting producers might not be their first reason for signing on the green and blue dotted line - but the point is that they have signed on the line, they are supporting producers and they are contributing massively to the growth of Fairtrade in the UK. "We are in an interesting situation at the moment," offers Borger as a closing comment, "we have people who are coming on board with Fairtrade right now who have the power to transform the worldwide market if the wanted to." Here's hoping.

www.fairtrade.org

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