New report suggests ethical shopping is not a popular Xmas choice

WORLDbytes, the online citizen TV channel, has today launched a report which looks at what British shoppers think about fair trade and ethical shopping.

In the run-up to Christmas, many charities are encouraging shoppers to treat their nearest and dearest to a fair trade product or an ethical gift from their collections. From Maltesers from Mars to giving a goat to a poor family ethical shopping has become part of high street and online branding. 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 will be helping millions to escape poverty.
In this revealing report, we learn that shoppers base their purchasing choices on budget or need, many are sceptical of fair trade labels making a difference and there are plenty of critical voices who have first hand knowledge of the peanuts earned by small scale farmers. The restrictions or conditions placed on fair trade producers such as not using chemical fertilisers or pesticides and remaining small are, as more than one eloquent citizen remarks, hardly fair and certainly anti-growth.
WORLDbytes Director, Ceri Dingle said today:
“While champions of fair trade claim it is sheltering producers in the developing world from market price variations, in truth it ties them into intolerable moral relations. These farmers have to abide by the worst of Western romantic ideals which see semi-subsistence farming, hand tools and toil as positive, organic and sustainable. The imposition of these anti–growth criteria can only ensure they stay poor. Without growth, equality or the label ‘ethical’ is meaningless and really means controlling what poor producers do and monitoring their efforts in good old colonial fashion. These schemes may think they can dupe Western shoppers but it’s clear from this report that not everyone is buying it. Fair trade may have good intentions but like the missionaries it is doing our peers no favours. With African growth rates averaging 7% it won’t be long before the lion joins the tiger and the elephant and it will be no thanks to Fair trade. It is time to tell the real story.”

The report “The View on the Streets: ethical shopping & fair trade” is available to watch on WORLDbytes at:
http://www.worldbytes.org/the-view-on-the-streets-ethical-shopping-fair-trade/

WORLDbytes welcomes reproduction, embedding and sharing of this report.

For more information and interviews contact:
Ceri Dingle or Viv Regan at: info@worldbytes.org.uk Tel: +44 (0)20 8985 5435

Notes to editors:
WORLDbytes is a unique online Citizen TV channel featuring reports and programmes created by young volunteers learning to shoot 'on the job'. Its programmes aim to get behind the headlines and promote a people-first perspective on a wide-range of issues. The channel's credo is "don't shout at the telly, change the message on it".

WORLDbytes is run by the education charity WORLDwrite, registered charity number 1060869. The charity champions quality citizen reporting and provides free film training to make this possible. The charity's website address is www.worldwrite.org.uk

WORLDwrite has an open door policy and encourages all-comers to get involved and recognise there are no limits to what's possible.
For more general information, please visit: www.worldwrite.org.uk & www.worldbytes.org