CSR - Focus on Fairtrade Fortnight 2011

Fairtrade comes into the spotlight over the next two weeks as a series of campaigns are run to showcase the growing level of consumer interest (UK sales of over £1bn p.a.) in Fairtrade products….

Not everyone is a Fairtrade fan. The right-leaning Institute of Economics Affairs have penned this piece in the Telegraph which is very critical of the organisation and concept.

However, the overall reception for Fairtrade seems to be pretty positive. That was certainly the case at our packed-out Teacher CPD at Charing Cross today when several delegates came back to the event excitedly reporting on the innovative Fairtrade promotion they had witnessed just around the corner! Two naked actors posed in the window of The Co-operative’s new food shop on The Strand to highlight the start of Fairtrade Fortnight.

I suppose it is inevitable that the likes of the IEA will pick fights with a movement like Fairtrade. But the reality is that the major supermarkets (Sainsbury’s, M&S, Co-op in particular) are getting behind Fairtrade in a big way, which will continue to provide the movement with momentum despite the evidence of a sharp decline in UK consumer confidence.