UPDATE!

The best entry in the Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign brand jamming contest will now win a $1,000 cash prize!

New extended deadline: April 10, 2011

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Have a little creative fun with the Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign!

Announcing our Hershey Brand Jamming contest.

We’re teaming up with our Fair Trade allies, Green America, the International Labor Rights Forum and you to create ads asking Hershey to end pervasive child and forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa fields and replace it with Fair Trade.

It’s time to use your creativity to tell Hershey’s to raise the bar on their corporate social responsibility.

Hershey’s has long avoided addressing the issue of child and forced labor that persist in its cocoa supply chain. Let’s keep the pressure on them.

You’ve seen brand-jamming like this before when Global Exchange Sweatfree campaign spoofed The Gap’s ads or when several organizations, including Global Exchange, came together to call out Chevron’s greenwashing campaign in these clever and powerful spoof ads.

The Hershey brand-jamming contest will be judging on three categories:

  • Best mock slogan/tagline
  • Best print advertisement
  • Best mock commercial in video format (up to 2 minutes long)

E-mail entries to fairtrade@globalexchange.org. Deadline for submissions will be March 24, 2011.

The winner of each category will get a “Chocolate Lovers” Gift Basket from Global Exchange’s Fair Trade store. All those who submit entries will receive a 10% off coupon from Global Exchange’s Fair Trade stores.

Once submissions are in, we will invite you to vote on the winners.

Visit our Hershey Brand Jamming page for more information about the contest and for resources to get your started.

Happy Jamming!

Fair Trade Webinars are in the Air! Read about what’s coming up, plus how Fair Trade advocates expressed themselves to Hershey’s CEO this Valentine’s Day.

Photo Credit: FTRN

WEBINAR: HOW TO HOST A GREAT WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY EVENT

The Fair Trade Resource Network (FTRN) is producing a free webinar on How to Host a Great World Fair Trade Day Event on March 3 from 8-9pm EST. Yours truly will be moderating this informative webinar aimed at providing info and advice to those interested in planning their own World Fair Trade Day event. The webinar panelists will be Stefanie Colish, FTRN’s WFTD Organizer Coordinator, and Jeff Goldman, FTRN’s Executive Director.

Register for this free webinar here: FTRN website

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FREE PERKS FOR WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY EVENT ORGANIZERS

World Fair Trade Day events are happening between May 1-15, 2011, and some organizers who register their event (for free) online are receiving fantastic Fair Trade products to incorporate into their event, like these added recently:
•    Theo Chocolate will donate chocolate to 20 events between 200-500 people
•   Lucuma designs will donate 10 gift baskets of crafts to 10 WFTD events
•    10 events with more than 100 people attending will receive $15 gift certificates for clothing from Maggie’s Organics

How do you receive these awesome Fair Trade goodies? Just register your event on the FTRN Events Calendar to receive an email on how to request all special offers. Find complete info about WFTD here.

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HERSHEY CEO SURPRISE + MUST-SEE KIDS VALENTINES

Hershey CEO David West received a surprise this Valentine’s Day! A box of flowers was delivered directly to West’s office, containing handmade valentines from children outraged at Hershey’s’ continued use of cocoa that has not been Fair Trade certified to be free of child labor or cocoa prices that perpetuate poverty.  The valentines ask Hershey to “Go Fair Trade.”

Check out this must-see web page to view nearly 200 cute, funny valentines included in the box or sent directly to Hershey.

This action to pressure Hershey to go Fair Trade was a collaborative effort coordinated by Global Exchange and our Raise the Bar Campaign partners International Labor Rights Forum, Green America and Oasis.

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FREE WEBINAR: JOINING THE FAIR TRADE FEDERATION

When: March 1, 2011, 1:00pm EST
Interested in having your Canadian or US-based business join the Fair Trade Federation community? Have questions about the qualifications? Learn all you need to know during this FREE Webinar for prospective members.

Learn more and register here.

FREE WEBINAR: WHY BRING FT (F) INTO YOUR STORE

When: March 8, 2011, 1:00pm EST

Own a store? Attend this webinar to learn just how easy it is to bring Fair Trade Federation members’ products into your store, as well as how you can benefit from offering high-quality products with tremendous societal and cultural impact during this Free Webinar.  Learn more and register here.

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Check back each week right here on our Fair Trade blog for more Fair Trade News Round-Ups…your one-stop shop for current Fair Trade news and events. And if you’ve got big Fair Trade news to share, email me!

What started as a once-in-a while blog post is now a weekly series. There’s lots going on in the Fair Trade movement, so look to our weekly Round Ups for current updates. Each Round Up will feature two sections: Fair Trade Movement News and Global Exchange Fair Trade News.

FAIR TRADE MOVEMENT NEWS

Photo credit: Fast Company

Restaurant giant Bon Appetit announced a commitment to introduce Cordillera Fair Trade Certified chocolate in all of its kitchens. Fast Company’s Ariel Schwartz reports on this recent development:

Fair Trade Chocolate hit the big time this week as restaurant management giant Bon Appetit announced a commitment to introduce Cordillera Fair Trade Certified chocolate in all of its kitchens beginning on Valentine’s Day. This is a big deal–Bon Appetit provides cafe and catering services to corporations, colleges, and universities in 400 locations throughout 29 states. When the company makes a change in its food sourcing practices, it has a ripple effect. Read the entire article here.

Fair Trade Resource Network Webinars

–Fair Trade Webinar 105 Community Discussion of TransFair’s Name Change to Fair Trade USA, and Pending Service Mark Application took place on 2/9/2011. Panelists included Fair Trade USA CEO Paul Rice, Equal Exchange’s Answer Man Rodney North and United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries Minister for Economic Justice, Edie Rassell. If you missed it, you can download the webinar for just $5 or wait until March 30th when it will become available for free on FTRN’s website.

–Fair Trade Webinar 106 Minimum Fair Trade Content Standards for Multi-ingredient Products is coming up. Here are the details of this highly anticipated webinar:
Date: February 28
Time: 2:00-2:50pm EST
Investment: just $5!
Details: Minimum Fair Trade Content Standards for Multi-ingredient Products
Presenters: Dr. Bronner’s CEO, David Bronner; Ben & Jerry’s Director of Social Mission, Rob Michalak

World Fair Trade Day 2011 Poster Design

Take Part in World Fair Trade Day
To join in the World Fair Trade Day celebration, the Fair Trade Resource Network is inviting you to host a World Fair Trade Day event during May 1-15 and post your event to their website to help promote it.

Download the free World Fair Trade Day (WFTD) Activities Guide for tips, ideas, and resources, plus order WFTD promotional posters and postcards, and Fair Trade products – most free of charge – all on their website www.FTRN.org.

ILO and Kuapa Kokoo partner to combat child labor in cocoa industry

The International Labour Organization (ILO)  has announced it will partner with Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union in a two-year project to assist the government of Ghana in reducing child labour. The pilot will run in 15 cocoa-growing communities affiliated with Kuapa Kokoo, the only Fairtrade certified cocoa cooperative in Ghana. The project focuses on preventing and removing children from hazardous work on cocoa farms. This includes livelihood support for vulnerable families and setting up a child labour monitoring system. Learn more here.

GLOBAL EXCHANGE FAIR TRADE NEWS

Coco-Zen Chocolate Truffles

Fair Trade Chocolate Tasting

Join us this Sunday, February 13th, for a Fair Trade chocolate tasting. San Francisco-based artisan chocolate company Coco-Zen will be providing organic, Fair Trade Certified chocolate to sample this Sunday afternoon. Bring the kids to make Valentines cards, or use our color-your-own Valentines to ask Hershey’s to go fair trade.

When: Sunday, February 13. 1pm-4pm.
Where: Global Exchange Fair Trade Store in Noe Valley (b/t Noe and Castro).
Price: FREE!

Global Exchange Fair Trade Internship
March 7th is the application deadline for summer internships at Global Exchange. So if you’re looking for a Fair Trade summer internship, visit the internship web page for more info and to apply to our Fair Trade department. Global Exchange’s internship program offers great work experience, as well as fun weekly training seminars with dozens of other interns throughout the organization.

Send a Valentine Message to Hershey’s
Make valentines (or print out and color in this pdf) asking the Hershey’s CEO to start sourcing Fair Trade Certified cocoa. Global Exchange will email you a coupon for 10% off your purchase at any Global Exchange store if you scan your valentine and email it to us to be posted online. Deadline to email all valentines is Friday, February 18.  Visit our website for more details.

WIN Fair Trade prizes by telling educators about Fair Trade curriculum

That’s right…you can win Fair Trade prizes just by telling educators about Global Exchange’s Fair Trade curriculum. This information helps teachers teach the issues of child labor in the cocoa industry. Educators can win prizes by teaching the curriculum, too. More info here.

Host a Dark Side of Chocolate Screening during National Week of Action.

I did, which you can read about here. We make it easy for you to show this compelling new documentary about the continued use of child labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry. Order a copy plus a screening toolkit for just $6.

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Check back each week right here on our Fair Trade blog for more Fair Trade News Round-Ups…your one-stop shop for current Fair Trade news and events. And if you’ve got big Fair Trade news to share, email me!

In September, Hershey’s issued their first-ever Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, yet failed to mention any real solutions to issues of forced and child labor that persist in its supply chain. As a response, Global Exchange and ally organizations, Green America, International Labor Rights Forum, and Oasis USA issued an alternative report CSR report encouraging  Hershey to increase its transparency in its cocoa supply.

At the Green Festival in San Francisco this past weekend, Global Exchange and Green America issued the Hershey’s Challenge in order to gather as many petition signatures on the Hershey’s: Raise the Bar campaign. We hoped to target the over 40,000 people in attendance and we’re looking to you to help surpass that goal as we begin to tally up the signatures.

Take action with us as we target Hershey’s CEO, David West and encourage him to Raise the Bar on his chocolate company. Mr. West received a compensation package of over $8million in 2009, while cocoa farmers in West Africa harvesting for Hershey’s were struggling to make ends meet and often employing abusive child labor on their farms. So, join us by signing the Raise the Bar petition and let Hershey’s know that consumers are demanding that they begin sourcing Fair Trade Certified cocoa.

Want to get inspired? These 6th grade students in Joi Chimera’s class in New York are already taking action as you can see in their Raise the Bar drawings asking Hershey’s to take child labor out of the chocolate equation.

So join these students who are speaking up for children in West Africa and demand Hershey’s and the rest of the cocoa industry commit to Fair Trade Certified cocoa.

A special thanks to Anne Kelly at the New York Labor-Religion Coalition for sending over these photos and the amazing work she and the NY Labor-Religion Coalition has done for the Raise the Bar campaign and the Fair Trade movement. Also thanks to Ms. Chimera’s class for getting involved and producing these amazing drawings.