Mainstreaming fair trade: adoption, assimilation, appropriation

Abstract

Fair Trade is a global social movement that blends an alternative business model with explicit transformative objectives—a ‘business and campaign’. This paper explores the ways in which the movement challenges aspects of hegemony, including colonialism and free trade, to transform traditionally exploitative global production and trade relations. We present a case that the mainstreaming of Fair Trade into commercial distribution channels has not led to its principles being embedded in conventional trade. Instead, the dominant discourses of Fair Trade are currently assimilation, and appropriation or ‘clean‐wash’. Finally, we suggest ways in which elements of the movement have maintained their original counter‐hegemonic character, taking Fair Trade beyond the current discourse of individuals ‘shopping for a better world’ and into realms of collective decision making about consumption, and new producer/distributor relationships that challenge the distribution of value, through the ‘alternative high street’.

Keywords:

• Fair Trade
• history of fair trade movement
• mainstreaming
• clean‐wash
• discourse

Notes

1. While Nicaraguan coffee has come to epitomize solidarity trade, Tanzanian coffee was first imported in 1981 by Equal Exchange in Scotland, and dubbed as ‘Campaign Coffee’. The tea trade has been an even longer standing focus of anti‐hegemonic action. For example, Trade Aid in New Zealand first began importing tea in 1976 ‘as a way of educating people about … trade injustices’ and in 1987 Tanzanian tea supplied by a state‐owned corporation arrived in Trade Aid shops for the first time. ‘Tanzania, a country with a commitment to justice, was attempting to break the stranglehold of the multinationals in its tea industry.’ (Trade Aid, 1998, p. 42.)

2. Fair Trade Labelling Organisation International (FLO) was established in 1997, International Federation of Alternative Trade (IFAT) in 1989, Network of World Shops (NEWS) in 1994, and European Fair Trade Association (EFTA) in 1988.

3. Both terms play with the imagery suggested by social justice initiatives in the apparel industry such as the Clean Clothes Campaign and No‐Sweat Clothing.