Fairtrade...
...M&S have announced that they are going to stock in some shops Fairtrade cotton t-shirts and socks. Am I just being cynical in thinking that they are just jumping on the bandwagon? BBC story here
posted by Helsalata @ 4:10 pm
3 comments
3 Comments:
Is something better than nothing. Also, to be fair M&S are the only high street shop I know of where the tea and coffee served in the restaurant is fair trade completley.
This is great - so the more they are doing the more we should encourage. Aye or Nay?
I really only added the last sentence cos I wanted a bigger post! Presumably a company as large and as "troubled" as M&S are really only going to be looking for an edge in their retail market? It doesn't take much to get an edge against competitors and I guess they probably have got it right because the type of person who would normally shop at M&S or is borderline (white, upper middle class) is likely to be highly sympathetic (to the point of swapping allegiances) to buying Fairtrade. So "yay" Fairtrade is going to be more mainstream and have a bigger high street profile but "nay" to the "ooo, this is fashionable at the moment" bandwagon jumping. What happens if 3 years down the line the publicity for Fairtrade has gone and people have stopped buying the products because they assume all goods are fairly traded now? I want to see a long term commitment to trading ethically...
You're right I should try and be more encouraging...
A Compassionate style as a fashion accessory? Is that so unusual? When one is polled to express or act on one’s views on a subject (e.g. Debt Cancellation) publicly what is the underlying motive? In the public spot light doesn’t one on occasions feel the subtle peer and/or social pressure to look above all fair, go ahead, fashionable, and knowledgeable and to thus avoid selling oneself short? And yet it is wrong to deny that these social style drives may well at times be amalgamated with truly compassionate motives. However, when motives mix they seem to mix like liquids and it is humanly impossible to separate them out into their components. 3+7 =10, but which bit in 10 is 3 and which is 7?
As for the nine till fivers on the M&S board (more likely they’re workaholic careering 8 till laters) who are paid to do all in their power to update their company’s image and fashion accessories and to make a living by making a killing, they are probably like the rest of us with good and bad motives well and truly and irretrievably mixed.
And my motives for writing the above? Well, in passing I noticed that your attempt to net a bigger post than just one in well over a week has failed. (I'm not rubbing my hands together, honest) So, I thought, here’s someone who could do with a little help. My motives, of course, are completely pure; but will cynical, world-weary Mrs. Boo-tell-em believe it? Nah! No chance!
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