Will the fair trade revolution be marketised? Commodification, decommodification and the political intensity of consumer politics

Abstract

This paper brings to the fore a scrutiny of the politicisation of commodities in an exploration of the political promises and potential of ethical or political consumerism and specifically the case of fair trade. The analysis is informed by interviews with ethically consuming citizens which illuminate their concerns, certainties and confusions. I discuss consumer agency in relation to decommodification and branding as detrimental to the political qualities of the movement where the selling of fair trade is viewed through the prism of brand trust and the symbolised political quality of the commodity. Similarly, there is a corporate ‘veiling’ of consumer politics where the commercial sense which mainstream fair trade commodities enjoy is being manipulated through strategies of co-branding, thus signalling further distance from the older radical character of fair trade political consumerism. Thus, the decommodification of fair trade products is perhaps at the expense of the commodification of fair trade consumer politics.

Keywords:

• fair trade
• commodification
• decommodification
• ethical consumption
• political consumerism
• branding

Notes

Equal Exchange. http://www.equalexchange.co.uk/about/index.asp [accessed March 14, 2012].