Conversion or co-option? The implications of 'mainstreaming' for producer and consumer agency with fair trade networks

Lockie, Stewart

Abstract

[Extract] In October 2005, Nestle, the largest of the world's big four coffee multinationals, launched a certified fair trade coffee in the United Kingdom. With net profits in 2005 of approximately US$6.5 billion from the sale of some 8500 product lines (Nestle 2007), the introduction by Nestle of a single fair trade product to just one of the countries in which it operates was bound to generate cynicism. By contrast, the involvement in fair trade of Starbucks - the world's largest 'specialty' coffee roaster and retailer - has invited a more mixed response. In the fiscal year 2006, Starbucks purchased some 8 million kilograms of certified fair trade coffee. This represented 14 per cent of global fair trade coffee imports and about 6 per cent of Starbucks' own coffee requirements, making Starbucks the largest importer of fair trade coffee in North America (Starbucks 2007). According to civil society organisations, however, Starbucks' entry into fair trade has been a slow and reluctant response to campaigning and consumer pressure (Renard 2003).

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Creating Food Futures: trade, ethics and the environment

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978-0-7546-4907-6

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Gower Publishing

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Aldershot, Hampshire, UK

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