Here’s your weekly roundup of the latest news and updates related to Fair Trade:

BEN & JERRY HIGHLIGHT FAIR TRADE ON LATE NIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON

Ben Cohen shows off his t-shirt with Fair Trade logo

Ben & Jerry appeared on The Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon recently where they introduced a new ice cream flavor with Fair Trade ingredients. It’s called “Late Night Snack” and features Jimmy Fallon’s mug on the packaging.

You won’t believe what’s in this new concoction. Would you believe potato chips and caramel are two key ingredients? (How could I make that up?!)

This TV segment was one of the best endorsements for Fair Trade we’ve seen lately. You can watch it here. The label featured in this segment is Fair Trade USA‘s Fair Trade label.

Jimmy Fallon pointing out the Fair Trade label

During the segment, Ben proudly sported a Fair Trade logo-emblazoned t-shirt and mentioned the term “Fair Trade” 11 times (I counted.) This number doesn’t include “Fair Trade” mentions by Jimmy or Jerry.

You can read more about what lead up to this Fair Trade-erific TV segment in this press release.

As Jimmy Fallon pointed out (literally) regarding the Fair Trade label on Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, “This is a big deal right here.”

ANNOUNCING THE BRAND JAMMING CONTEST…

Make a Hershey Spoof Slogan, Ad, or Video. Have a little creative fun with the Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign!

Create a mock ad, tagline, or video asking Hershey to end pervasive child and forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa fields and replace it with Fair Trade, which prohibits these practices.

The three entry categories are:

  1. Slogan/tagline
  2. Advertisement, up to 8.5×11
  3. Video, up to 2 minutes

Deadline for submissions: March 24, 2011

The Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign will use the submissions in their campaign.  To learn more about the campaign, visit www.raisethebarhershey.org. Once submissions are in, those who participate will be invited to vote on the winners.

Check out the prizes involved:

Visit the Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign coordinating organization websites for contest information and rules, how to submit your entry, information about brand jamming and examples of other brand jamming campaigns, and ideas and information to get you started, including Hershey ads and slogans that you can parody. These are the coordinating organizations:

NEW ISSUE OF FOR A BETTER WORLD JUST RELEASED
Fair World Project’s free semi-annual publication For a Better World hits the stands this month at Whole Foods, plus cooperative grocery stores and hundreds of other places throughout the country. The Fair World Project promotes organic and fair trade practices and transparent third-party certification of producers, manufacturers and products, throughout the world.

Here’s a description of this publication from the Fair World Project website:

Featuring articles from a variety of perspectives; from farmer workers to 100% committed fair trade brands to deciphering certification schemes and trade organizations, “For a Better World” is an excellent resource to educate consumers.

Request the Fair World Project publication for free distribution here or download a pdf version right now here.

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!