News and Politics | December 12, 2011 | 4 comments

The View On The Streets: ethical shopping & fair trade

worldwrite
In the run-up to Christmas, many charities are encouraging us to shop ethically. By making moral choices about what you put in your shopping trolley, these charities say, you will not only have a guilt-free shopping experience but you will be helping millions to escape the worst excesses of poverty. But what exactly are these ethical principles which underlie the fair trade label and what do we really know about it? In this revealing report, we ask the public if they buy into fair trade and the response is a mixed bag. Many base their purchasing decisions on price and need and plenty of people who know the score in the developing world see it as far from fair.
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4 comments // The View On The Streets: ethical shopping & fair trade // Video

  • danclayton
    • 0
      danclayton  

    • Clearly the public are not as dumb as people think. Its about time there was more public scepticism of this feel-good marketing gimmick.While consumers in the west have been encouraged to buy into trendy fairtrade labels for years, the real gains in global equality has been from economic growth in the east - where the only label to be seen has been 'Made in China'.

    • 5 months ago
  • NazzyB
    • 0
      NazzyB  

    • Is Fair Trade simply a way of competing with rival businesses? Making people in the West feel better about what they buy? Or actually trying to help people in the third world and build better lives?
      There seems to be too many loopholes in the argument for Fair Trade!

    • 5 months ago
  • keroppi_therapy
    • 0
      keroppi_therapy  

    • Hmmm, this is something of a tricky topic – the term “Fair Trade” does seem somewhat loaded to make Western consumers feel better in themselves, but if it does fulfil the promise (even to a small extent, after all the conditions and middle men) then there is an element of good there. I think that Fair Trade is not the solution but it is a start – now we just need to see more substantial action to follow it.

      Great variety of opinions and a well formed basis for debate in this video!

    • 6 months ago
  • fredburma
    • 0
      fredburma  

    • Good that not everyone is being duped into thoughtlessly buying into so-called charities that are only convenient for them. Also interested by the ‘patronising’ comment by the gentleman at 2:35, something that I completely agree with. How egotistical do you have to be to tell someone you know what’s best for them without even consulting them? Are these people mentally retarded? No! Do the African and other third-world nations need to be led by the hand? Of course they don’t!

    • 6 months ago
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