Where now for fair trade?

Abstract

This paper critically examines the discourse surrounding fair trade mainstreaming, and discusses the potential avenues for the future of the social movement. The authors have a unique insight into the fair trade market having a combined experience of over 30 years in practice and 15 as fair trade scholars. The paper highlights a number of benefits of mainstreaming, not least the continued growth of the global fair trade market (tipped to top $7bn in 2012). However, the paper also highlights the negative consequences of mainstreaming on the long-term viability of fair trade as a credible ethical standard.

Keywords:

• fair trade
• mainstreaming
• fair trade organisations
• supermarket retailers
• multinational corporations
• co-optation
• dilution
• fair-washing

Notes

  1. Barratt Brown, ‘Fair Trade with Africa’ and Fair Trade: Reform and Realities.

  2. Nicholls and Opal, Fair Trade; Raynolds, Murray, and Taylor, Transforming Globalisation.

  3. Davies, ‘Alliances and Networks’; Doherty and Tranchell, ‘Radical Mainstreaming’; Golding and Peattie, ‘In Search of a Golden Blend’; Low and Davenport, ‘Postcards from the Edge’ and ‘Has the Medium’; Moore, Gibbon, and Slack, ‘Mainstreaming of Fair Trade’; Moore, ‘Fair Trade Movement’; Nicholls and Opal, Fair Trade.

  4. Davies, ‘Alliances and Networks’; Davies, Doherty, and Knox, ‘The Rise and Stall’; Davies and Crane, ‘Ethical Decision Making’ and ‘CSR in SMEs’; Low and Davenport, ‘Postcards from the Edge’ and ‘Has the Medium’; Jaffee, ‘Fair Trade Standards’; Jaffee and Howard, ‘Corporate Cooptation’; Moore, Gibbon, and Slack, ‘Mainstreaming of Fair Trade’; Murray, Raynolds, and Taylor, ‘Future of Fair Trade Coffee’; Reed et al., ‘Normatively Grounded’; Taylor, Murray, and Raynolds, ‘Keeping Trade Fair’.

  5. Hayes, ‘Efficiency’.

  6. Davies, ‘Eras and Participants’; Renard, ‘Fair Trade Quality’.

  7. WFTO, ‘About Fair Trade’.

  8. Moore, Gibbon, and Slack, ‘Mainstreaming of Fair Trade’; Raynolds and Long, ‘Fair/Alternative Trade’; Reed, ‘Corporations’.

  9. World shops are a specialist form or retailer specialising in the distribution of fair trade and other direct from producer community products.

 10. FTI, Annual Review 2011; Krier, Fair Trade 2007.

 11. FTI, Annual Review 2011; Fairtrade Foundation. ‘Products’.

 12. Davies, Doherty, and Knox, ‘The Rise and Stall’.

 13. Davies, ‘Eras and Participants’; Raynolds, Murray, and Wilkinson, Fair Trade.

 14. Nicholls and Opal, Fair Trade; Reed, ‘Corporations’; Smith, ‘For Love or Money?’.

 15. Jaffee, Brewing Justice; Low and Davenport, ‘Postcards from the Edge and ‘Has the Medium?’; Moore, Gibbon, and Slack, ‘Mainstreaming of Fair Trade’; Mutersbaugh et al., ‘Certifying Rural Spaces’; Raynolds, Murray and Wilkinson, Fair Trade; Renard, ‘Quality Certification’; Tallontire, ‘Top Heavy?’; Wilkinson, ‘Fair Trade’.

 16. Low and Davenport, ‘Has the Medium?’; Moore, Gibbon, and Slack, ‘Mainstreaming of Fair Trade’; Murray, Raynolds, and Taylor, ‘Future of Fair Trade Coffee’; Taylor, Murray, and Raynolds, ‘Keeping Trade Fair’.

 17. Jaffee, ‘Fair Trade Standards’; Jaffee and Howard, ‘Corporate Cooptation’.

 18. Campbell, ‘Conviction Seeking Efficiency’; Dolbeare and Edelman, American Politics; Dye and Zeigler, Irony of Democracy.

 19. Mintzberg, Management.

 20. Golding, ‘Fair Trade's Dual Aspect’; Jaffee, Brewing Justice; Moore, ‘Fair Trade Movement’; Mutersbaugh et al., ‘Certifying Rural Spaces’; Reed, ‘Corporations’; Renard, ‘Quality Certification’; Wilkinson, ‘Fair Trade’.

 21. Renard, ‘Fair Trade Quality’.

 22. Jaffee, ‘Fair Trade Standards’ also see Goodman and Goodman, ‘Localism, Livelihoods’.

 23. Renard, ‘Quality Certification’.

 24. Murray and Raynolds, ‘Alternative Trade in Bananas’, 68–9.

 25. Low and Davenport, ‘Has the Medium?’, 503.

 26. Moore, Gibbon, and Slack, ‘Mainstreaming of Fair Trade’.

 27. Davies, ‘Eras and Participants’.

 28.  http://www.wfto.com/index.php?option=com_contenttask=viewid=2Itemid = 14

 29. FLO (Fairtrade Labeling Organisation -- now Fairtrade International), IFAT (International Fair Trade Association), NEWS (Network of European World Shops) and EFTA (European Fair Trade Association).

 30. Fridell, ‘Fair Trade Coffee’; Jaffee, Brewing Justice; Jaffee, ‘Fair Trade Standards’; Renard and Perezgrovas, ‘Fair Trade Coffee in Mexico’.

 31. Raynolds, Murray, and Taylor, ‘Fair Trade Coffee’; Paul, ‘Evaluating Fair Trade’; Smith, ‘Mas Café and Fair Trade Impact Study’.

 32. Bacon, ‘Who Decides?’.

 33. Jaffee, Brewing Justice.

 34. Bastian, ‘Keeping Fairtrade Fair’; Jaffee, Brewing Justice, ‘Fair Trade Standards’; Le Velly, ‘La détermination du prix équitable: vices et vertus du prix de marché'.

 35. Blowfield and Dolan, ‘Fairtrade Facts’.

 36. Berlan, ‘Performance in Agricultural Social Enterprise’.

 37. Arnould, Plastina, and Dwayne, ‘Does Fair Trade Deliver?’.

 38. Mann, ‘Analysing Fair Trade’.

 39. Reed, ‘Corporations’.

 40. Smith, ‘For Love or Money?’.

 41. Bacon, ‘Who Decides?’.

 42. Kenyon, ‘Chocolate’; Micheletti, Follesdal, and Stolle, Politics, Products and Markets.

 43. Smith, ‘For Love or Money?’.

 44. Bacon, ‘Who Decides?’; Smith, ‘For Love or Money?’; Reed, ‘Corporations’.

 45. Personal communication, Fairtrade International employee, 18 May 2010.

 46. Renard, ‘In the Name of Conservation’; Blowfield and Dolan, ‘Fairtrade Facts’.

 47. Bahra, ‘Tea Workers Still Waiting’; Gogoi, ‘Fair Trade Lite?’; Jaffee, ‘Fair Trade Standards’.

 48. Fair Trade USA, ‘Innovation Strategy’.

 49. Fridell, Fair Trade Coffee; Jaffee, Brewing Justice; Renard and Perezgrovas, ‘Fair Trade Coffee in Mexico’.

 50. Hockerts and Wustenhagen, ‘Greening Goliaths’.

 51. Barratt Brown, ‘Fair Trade with Africa’ and Fair Trade: Reform and Realities; Jaffee, Brewing Justice; Moore, ‘Fair Trade Movement’; Nicholls and Opal, Fair Trade; Raynolds, Murray, and Wilkinson, Fair Trade.

 52. Auroi, ‘Improving Sustainable Chain Management’; Davies, ‘Alliances and Networks’; Lyon, ‘Fair Trade Coffee’.

 53. Gereffi, Humphrey, and Sturgeon, ‘Governance of Global Value Chains’.

 54. Reed, ‘Corporations’; Smith, ‘For Love or Money?’; Taylor, Murray, and Raynolds, ‘Keeping Trade Fair’.

 55. Smith, ‘For Love or Money?’; Reed, ‘Corporations’; Özçağlar-Toulouse, Shiu, and Shaw, ‘In Search of Fair Trade’; Becchetti and Costantino, ‘Fair Trade in Italy’.

 56. Bacon, ‘Who Decides?’; Blowfield and Dolan, ‘Fairtrade Facts’.

 57. Griffiths, ‘Ethical Objections to Fairtade’.

 58. De Pelsmacker, Driesen and Rayp, ‘Do Consumers Care?’.

 59. Özçağlar-Toulouse, Shiu, and Shaw, ‘In Search of Fair Trade’

 60. Loureiro and Lotade, ‘Do Fair Trade’.

 61. Becchetti and Costantino, ‘Fair Trade in Italy’.

 62. Arnould, Plastina, and Dwayne, ‘Does Fair Trade Deliver?’; Jaffee and Howard, ‘Corporate Cooptation’.

 63. Krier, Fair Trade 2007.

 64. Hutchens, Changing Big Business.

 65. Reed et al., ‘Normatively Grounded’.

 66. Ibid.

 67. Smith ‘For Love or Money?’.

 68. Becchetti and Costantino, ‘Fair Trade in Italy’. Also see Davies (‘Eras and Participants’) for the UK equivalent timeline).

 69. Becchetti and Costantino, ‘Fair Trade in Italy’.

 70. Davies, ‘Network Combinations’.

 71. Labelled figures from FTI, Annual Review; non-labelled from Krier, Fair Trade 2007.

 72. Özçağlar-Toulouse, Shiu, and Shaw, ‘In Search of Fair Trade’; Poret and Chambolle, ‘Fair Trade Labelling’.

 73. FTI, Annual Review and Krier, Fair Trade 2007.

 74. Jaffee, ‘Fair Trade Standards’.

 75. Smith ‘For Love or Money?’.

 76. Becchetti and Costantino, ‘Fair Trade in Italy’.

 77. Tallontire, ‘Partnerships in Fair Trade’ and ‘Top Heavy?’.

 78. Low and Davenport, ‘Has the Medium?’.

 79. Krier, Fair Trade 2007.

 80. Polonsky et al., ‘Consumer Ethics’.

 81. Nicholls, ‘Fairtrade in the UK’.

 82. Moore, ‘Fair Trade Movement’.

 83. Davies and Crane, ‘Ethical Decision Making’.

 84. Davies and Crane, ‘CSR in SMEs’.

 85. Golding, ‘Fair Trade's Dual Aspect’; Huybrechts and Defourny, ‘Are Fairtrade Organisations?’.

 86. Low and Davenport, ‘Has the Medium?’, 501.

 87. Ibid.

 88. Doherty and Tranchell, ‘Radical Mainstreaming’.

 89. Davies and Crane, ‘Ethical Decision Making’ and ‘CSR in SMEs’.

 90. Teather, ‘Big Retailers Help Raise Fairtrade Sales’.

 91. Smith, ‘For Love or Money?’.

 92. Davies, Doherty, and Knox, ‘The Rise and Stall’.

 93. Co-operative Group, ‘Sustainability Report 2008–9’.

 94. Reed, ‘Corporations’.

 95. Smith, ‘For Love or Money?’.

 96. Ibid.

 97. Jaffee, ‘Brewing Justice’; Smith, ‘For Love or Money?’; Nicholls, ‘Fairtrade in the UK’.

 98. Smith, ‘For Love or Money?’.

 99. Ibid.

 98. Jaffee, ‘Fair Trade Standards’; Renard, ‘In the Name of Conservation’.

 99. Jaffee, ‘Fair Trade Standards’; Jaffee and Howard, ‘Corporate Cooptation’.

102. Jaffee and Howard, ‘Corporate Cooptation’.

103. Which has many issues covered in full by Jaffee, ‘Fair Trade Standards’.

104. Lamb, ‘Fairtrade’.

105. Wiggins, ‘Cadbury Wraps Up’.

106. Bacon, ‘Who Decides?’; Blowfield and Dolan, ‘Fairtrade Facts’; Huybrechts and Reed, ‘Different National Contexts’; Jaffee, ‘Fair Trade Standards’; Reed et al., ‘Normatively Grounded’.

107. Smith, ‘For Love or Money?’.

108. Beji-Becheur, Diaz Pedregal, and Özçağlar-Toulouse, ‘Fair Trade – How Fair?’; Golding, ‘Fair Trade's Dual Aspect’; Renard, ‘Quality Certification’.

109. Ballet and Carimentrand, ‘Fair Trade’; Bezençon and Blili, ‘Ethical Products’.

110. Bezençon and Blili, ‘Ethical Products’.

111. Ibid.

112. Renard, ‘In the Name of Conservation’.

113. Strong, ‘Features’, ‘The Problems’.

114. Ransom, ‘Fair Trade for Sale’.

115. ‘Voting with your Trolley: Can You Really Change the World by Buying Certain Foods?’, The Economist, 9 December 2006, 73–5.

116. Jaffee, Brewing Justice; Low and Davenport, ‘Postcards from the Edge’.

117. Gabriel and Lang, The Unmanageable Consumer; Parker, ‘The Role’; Urry, Consuming Places.

118. Micheletti, Follesdal, and Stolle, Politics, Products and Markets

119. Nicholls, ‘Fairtrade in the UK’.

120. Ballet and Carimentrand, ‘Fair Trade’.

121. Carrington, Neville, and Whitwell, ‘Ethical Consumers’.

122. Seyfang, ‘Eco-warriors in the Supermarket?’.

123. Zavestoski, ‘Social-Psychological’, 121.

124. Doherty and Tranchell, ‘Radical Mainstreaming’.

125. Wiggins, ‘Growth in Fairtrade’.

126. Bondy and Talwar, ‘Through Thick and Thin’.

127. Thompson and Troester, ‘Consumer Value Systems’.

128. Doran, ‘Fair Trade Consumption’.

129. Golding, ‘Fair Trade's Dual Aspect’.

130.  http://www.geofairtrade.eu (accessed 17 September 2011).

131. Kozinets and Handelman, ‘Adversaries of Consumption’.

132. Reed, ‘Corporations’.

133. Reed et al., ‘Normatively Grounded’.