A few weeks ago, Cadbury announced their plans to use Fair Trade Certified cocoa in the summer of 2009 for their Cadbury Dairy Milk, which is the leading chocolate bar in the United Kingdom. This announcement is a significant victory for the Fair Trade movement as Cadbury is the first major chocolate company to certify one of their main products as Fair Trade. Various Fair Trade advocates, such as Global Exchange along with consumers like you have been working very hard to encourage major chocolate companies to take positive steps to respect human rights and environmental sustainability throughout their supply chains.
In hearing the announcment, Global Exchange along with the International Labor Rights Forum offered their congratulations to the chocolate company and encouraged major US chocolate companies to follow Cadbury’s lead. Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Campaign Director, Adrienne Fitch-Frankel said,
Cadbury’s Fair Trade announcement is an important victory for cocoa farmers, chocolate lovers, and grassroots Fair Trade advocates in the UK and around the world. We hope that Cadbury will extend its commitment to Fair Trade to all of its cocoa products sold in the UK and worldwide. After the remarkable leadership of 100% Fair Trade certified chocolate companies like Equal Exchange, Divine, and Alter Eco, Cadbury has proven that embracing Fair Trade is also both feasible and profitable for the major international chocolate brands. Cadbury’s is the first domino in the domino effect of major chocolate companies going Fair Trade. The tens of thousands of grassroots Fair Trade activists we work with, from young children to grandparents, are eagerly awaiting the day that we will savor our first Fair Trade certified Hershey’s bar, package of M&Ms, or World’s Finest Chocolate bar.
So, we congratulate Cadbury in their efforts to make positive changes and encourage them to expand their Fair Trade commitment to more of their chocolate lines in other countries including the United States.