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• www.cardiff.ac.uk/researchwww.cardiff.ac.uk/research

Places Where People Matter: The Marketing Dynamics of

Fairtrade Towns

Professor Ken Peattie(Cardiff Business School) &

Dr Anthony Samuel(University of South Wales)

• www.cardiff.ac.uk/research

Fairtrade – A Success Story

• In UK over 4000 FT products are generating £1.78 Billion (Doherty, et al. 2013);

• In USA & W. Europe worth £5.24 billion in 2013;

• A key success story in ethical & sustainable marketing & consumption;

• Also very much about people.

Principles of Fairtrade

Direct purchasing from producers;Transparent and long term trading partnerships;Minimum price which covers cost of

sustainable production and living;Social premium to allow

investment in development;Commitment to labour standards;Upholding basic environmental goals;Assistance to improve management

and production efficiency;Provision of market information to producers.

FT – The People Dimension‘It unveils for northern consumers the people, places and relations behind the commodity, helping launch the politically crucial leap from passive consumerism to active engagement’

Hudson and Hudson (2003)

Women make up 23% of more than 1.4 million farmers and workers involved in Fairtrade - 75% are small-hold farmers;

Phases in Fair Trade Marketing

‘My first experiences with Fair Trade was before the Fairtrade mark was around and it was rather disgusting Nicaraguan coffee. I was a student and I think the people who were really into it were Christians and chaplaincy who maybe sold it and drank it but it wasn’t very popular because it was poor quality and it certainly wasn’t as good as standards are now so it was quite an heroic endeavour. It was actually like drinking brown sludge’

Entry of the Global Brands

…and Direct Consumer Pressure

FT – Becoming Ubiquitous?

FT at a Crossroads?• Does FT now risk becoming just a “consumer

lifestyle choice” (Moore et al., 2006) about little more than “fair prices” Davies et al. 2009?

• Does the entry of global brands into the FT space make it another “depersonalised” element of big business?

• Can we further grow FT without “selling the movement’s soul” (Renard, 2003)?

• Are we losing the “people” element that made FT special?

FT has always been Placed–Based, in terms of specific places of production;

Fairtrade Towns (and later villages, cities and even countries) transfers and extends the notion and process of Fairtrade accreditation to specific places of consumption;

Can generate connections between actual places of production and consumption, and the people within them.

Fairtrade Towns

Garstang 2001

• Emerged from a small group of local people systematically lobbying local retail outlets, organisations and public services in the town of Garstang to stock and consume Fairtrade products (Alexander & Nicholls, 2006);

• Represented a “grassroots revolution” (Human & Crowther, 2011);

• Based on accrediting places of consumption not of production.

Fairtrade Towns Accreditation

1. The local council must pass a resolution supporting Fairtrade:

2. A range of Fairtrade products must be readily available in the towns & cities shops:

3. Fairtrade products must be used by a number of local work places;

4. The council must attract popular support for the campaign;

5. A local Fairtrade steering group must be convened.

Fairtrade Towns A Globalizing Phenomenon.

• By 2015 604 UK FTTs;• Presence established in 26 further

countries;• Despite this comparatively

under-researched except:– as Actor Networks (Nicholls & Opal, 2005);– FT support/consumption as social

practice in a FTT (Wheeler, 2012);– Power relations between FTTs and

other types of group (Lyon 2014);– Local/global relations (Malpas et al, 2007).

Methodology• Informed by a 3 year ethnography through

membership of a FTT Steering Group;• Involved semi-structured interviews with

participants in FTT steering groups covering eleven different towns and 29 interviewees;

• Enriched by 3 days spent with the founder of the movement and a narrated tour of Garstang;

FTTs - Conceptual Lens for the Study

FTT – About Connecting People“I think its promoting awareness of Fairtrade and justice in trade relationships. Pointing out to people questions about where our food comes from or where our clothes are made and the conditions they are produced in affect the livelihood of many people whose names you don’t know and lives we are ignorant of. It’s the first step towards a wider understanding of the need for justice in the trade relationships. Try to raise peoples’ awareness and try to realise that their choices can affect the lives and livelihoods of lots of other people.”

Community Representative (Ondule)

Personalising the FT Agenda

Trying to make FT “Personal” is becoming a popular approach with campaigners.

The Power of Direct Producer-Consumer Interaction

“We had a partner from overseas who was able to share with us what a difference Fairtrade makes to people on the ground. You know it wasn’t just an idea in the sky it was real and there was this person their saying Fairtrade is making a difference to us. That is always a good influence because people can see then that what you are doing is worth doing.”

NGO Worker (Carmarthen)

It’s About People in Multiple Roles

The marketing of FT products within FTTs was promoted by:• Activists exerting pressure and leading by example;• Educators teaching;• Religious leaders preaching;• Local politicians representing their electorates;• Civil Society Organisation representatives acting

locally;• Retailers from the global to local, and local employers;

It’s Market Activism – But Not As We Usually Understand It

“I do think it is just to keep the issues alive in our local community, to promote the issues to as many different groups as we can……… We think our role is to keep promoting it through different groups locally and to keep putting on events and just to keep the presence locally and to put pressure on any new organisations that come into the town.”

Volunteer (Bridgenorth)“I would say our main role is to promote and encourage people…….promote the use of Fairtrade whenever possible. I think that’s it in a nutshell.”

Student (Carmarthen)

FTT - Local Activism, But With a Global Focus

“I’ve met people who have basically benefited from Fairtrade, I think it’s an excellent standard…it does what it says on the tin really...it is Fairtrade. It means some people in the developing World can sent their kids to school and get clean water in their villages and basically raise their standard of life.”

Sustainability Officer (Merthyr Tydfil)

“Importantly the community involvement encouraged by the Fair Trade Town initiative is not geographically limited, rather it embraces a model of social capital creation across national boundaries”

Nicholls & Opal (2005)

FTT – Connecting Who You Are And Where You Live

Although consumer citizenship is long-established as a basis for ethical consumption, citizenship is most acutely felt locally – presenting opportunities to ‘glocalise’ FT branding and consumption through FT towns. For example:•Keswick – connecting to their identity as a tourist town and experience with Foot&Mouth disease;•Cardiff – via their commitment to sustainable development;

FTT – Marketing Dynamics

FTTs – A Glimpse of the Future?• FT is seen as one of the principle mechanisms to

pursue more sustainable consumption/production;• The need for the re-localisation of some elements of

production/consumption also potentially important in creating more sustainable societies;

You Are Here-ish?

More Sustainable

More Global

Our Economy’s Trajectory?

More Local

Less Sustainable

FTTs – A Glimpse of the Future?• FT is seen as one of the principle mechanisms to

pursue more sustainable consumption/production;• The need for the re-localisation of some elements of

production/consumption also potentially important in creating more sustainable societies;

• FTTs may point the way for other locally based branding and consumer involvement campaigns;

• FTTs may also to help us to understand issues of sustainable production/consumption in relation to real places and real people.

Ultimately ……

“It’s about people, it’s about friendship, it’s about real people, and that’s what’s at the heart of it all.” Bruce Crowther (FTT Chair Garstang)

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