Does Fair Trade Always Equal Green?
This is a guest post from Stephani S, who contributes to Advance Me America’s leading merchant cash advance provider.
A question that many people might not ask themselves – are fair -trade items always necessarily eco-friendly? The two concepts seem to be inextricably linked, especially in the consumer mind, but perhaps they are not always one.
The surge in popularity of ethical consumerism has certainly created a market for greener products, but it has also created a market for specific branding to demonstrate that these products have been scrutinized, and are assuredly your best conscious purchase. There are so many up-and-coming products, the average person can become confused rather quickly. It’s easy to make the assumption that any chocolate bar bearing a sticker that announces “fair trade” must also be good for the environment and good for those who pick the cacao, but, indeed that is not always the case.
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Fair-Trade Coffee Sets an Example for Other Industries
You might not think that a mega-corporation like Starbucks could be the pinnacle of corporate responsibility. And a few short years ago you would have been right. But after the coffee industry came under attack for practices that were clearly exploitative to native farmers in countries that were providing the beans for these booming coffee houses, Starbucks decided to do their part to clean up the coffee industry (not to mention improve their public image). Studies conducted back in 2008 showed that Starbucks was rated by consumers as being one of the least ethical corporate entities (barely better than companies like McDonald’s and KFC). In fact, they received less than 50 points out of a possible 100 in a survey conducted for The Times. Luckily, this spurred them to jump on the bandwagon of fair trade and drastically change the operation of their industry.
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Fair Trade Chocolate Trumps Hershey’s this Halloween
The largest candy company in the United States has recently come under fire not for the sugar-laden, teeth-rotting treats they sling at children, but rather for the children they employ to do the slinging. The Hershey Food Corporation may have a corporate headquarters located in aptly named Hershey, Pennsylvania, but the cocoa beans that are harvested to make the chocolate for which they are internationally famous can be found in Ghana and Ivory Coast in Africa, along with underage and exploited workers. A recent report released by Tulane University’s Payson Center for International Development cited Hershey as one of the companies responsible for the endurance of child labor in these countries, and called for them to embrace fair trade practices that would help to bring about the end of child labor in the cocoa industry. But until they take up the call, there are several other organizations willing to adopt fair trade practices when it comes to making chocolate. And you may want to use your consumer dollars to send a message to Hershey this Halloween: that the exploitation of children is too frightening for even this spooky holiday. Read more