Supermarket trolley of fairtrade products.

Fairtrade consumerism in focus

New light on the motives of fair-trade shoppers has recently been concluded by a research team in Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Exeter.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project examined fairtrade promotional material and analysed in-depth interviews with people buying fairtrade products in England and Germany.

It is the first international qualitative study of fairtrade consumption. Researchers found that through fairtrade people are able to perceive and express themselves as morally responsible citizens. Buying fairtrade is not just about achieving a better life for producers in the developing world but also about reassuring oneself and other people of one’s personal integrity.

Leader of the project, Dr Matthias Varul commented, “There is a general feeling that not buying fairtrade would seem ‘out of character’. This is an important indicator that these consumers have already made fairtrade a habit and will be unlikely to be put off by the current rise in the cost of living.”

Opting for fairtrade products is embedded in a wider set of lifestyle choices associated with an academically educated liberal middle class culture. Dr Varul sees this link to a specific group as a potential problem for further growth, he explained "It may be difficult to convince working class people to buy fairtrade as it still tends to come across as a thing for middle-class do-gooders. As a result, fairtrade may experience the same limits to future growth as other lifestyle-choice based campaigns around topics like health promotion or environmental awareness.”

Researchers recommend that for fairtrade organisations to grow, they need to maintain their efforts to go beyond targeting individual consumers and try to establish fairtrade as a standard in supermarkets and other institutions.

The study also showed some ethical problems with fairtrade marketing. Achieving a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work through, as the well-known slogan states, ‘trade not aid’ is also meant to promote respect, communicating that this is an exchange between equal partners. However, the standard of living of fairtrade producers remains significantly lower than that of fairtrade consumers in the West. There is a tendency to still present producers as needy recipients of charitable donations. In some cases exotic and idyllic imagery of producers is used to promote sales.

UK fairtrade sales are three times higher than Germany. In 2006 the UK imported more than two thirds of the world’s fairtrade tea – and the market share of fairtrade coffee was an extraordinary 20 per cent. In part this is likely to be a result of the much higher price of fairtrade products in Germany. However, the study revealed further factors: in Britain, fairtrade’s largest sales are through supermarkets whereas in Germany networks of ‘world shops’ (Weltläden) are the main outlets. These specialist shops are deeply associated with particular activist lifestyles. Dr Varul explains: “It is easier in Britain to buy fairtrade products without being associated with ‘green politics’ or feel too closely aligned to an activist subculture that you may not wholly identify with. This plays a major role in widening the market appeal of fairtrade whereas Germany’s niche outlets hamper the development of fairtrade overall. This is a significant factor in the difference in fairtrade sales between the two countries. “

Researchers found that UK fairtrade consumers saw themselves as empowered decision-makers in a beneficial commercial relationship; whereas in Germany consumers sought out expert guidance from fairtrade shop volunteers and the emphasis was much more about coordinated development aid. This reflected the fact that the two approaches operate in different consumer cultures.

Dr Varul concludes: “Fairtrade in the last few years has become a success story, particularly in Britain but to a lesser extent also in Germany. Our research encourages the fairtrade movement to reflect on the best ways to drive future growth of fairtrade both in terms of economic and moral sustainability. German fairtrade needs to catch up by adapting more efficiently to their own retail culture and British fairtrade will need to think about how to overcome the anticipated limits of the market-centred approach. Both countries need to be constantly monitoring how they live up to their moral credentials.”

An additional ESRC award has been secured by Dr Varul in collaboration with Professor Paul Cloke (Geography) for a seminar series that will bring together British and European policy makers, practitioners and academics to discuss new developments and new challenges in ethical consumption.

Date: 23 February 2009