What will go Fairtrade Next

Good to see Kit Kat Joining Cadbury’s Dairy Milk on the Fairtrade shelves, it shows that consumers do have power and manufacturers will, however reluctantly, respond to customer demands for more ethical products. The really good news is that these two volume products will have a huge impact on the Fairtrade cocoa market place, bringing scale and benefits to significant numbers of farmers and helping to reduce child slavery which is endemic in the cocoa industry. The big test for these two giant corporations is whether they will go on and extend Fairtrade across the range of other goods they produce. The effect on end user price and corporate profits would be negligible but the difference it would make in the world would be vast! Lets hope it is more than just cynical marketing which in the long run damages the image of Fairtrade in the eyes of the consumer.