The recently-announced takeover of Cadbury by Kraft raises concerns about future commitment to Fairtrade. Cadbury was rightly heralded for its decision to make all of its chocolate Fairtrade in 2009. It was an excellent show of support for the movement from a major company and helped boost the Fairtrade Foundation’s profile enormously. However, Kraft does not have the same philanthropic pedigree of its new partner.
Indeed, Todd Stitzer, CEO of Cadbury, implicitly criticised the approach of Kraft in a speech in September when he said that the “unbridled” capitalism of large corporations was putting the ethical foundations of companies like Cadbury at risk. An MP has already tabled a motion in the Commons urging Kraft to stick by the Fairtrade deal.
It cannot be underestimated how symbolic the Cadbury deal was for the Fairtrade movement. It gave a massive boost to the public understanding of what makes trade fair, and undoubtedly has made people more conscious of the issues surrounding ethical trading. To go back on this now, just as Fairtrade was threatening to break into the mainstream, and return to mass-production and exploitation in the name of paying down debt and demands from shareholders would be a dreadful retrograde step.
So, we at This Fair Earth will be doing everything we can to pressurise Kraft into retaining the commitment to Fairtrade. If that means, ultimately, sacrificing our Dairy Milk and Natural Confectionary Company Squirms (yes, these are Cadbury too!), then so be it. Let’s just hope Kraft doesn’t renege on its commitments. All too easily, it would provide a green light for all competitors to abandon their tentative commitments to Fairtrade, which were starting to emerge across the industry. Cadbury is a Fairtrade beacon we can’t allow to go out.
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