Fair trade provides no significant benefits. To what extent do you agree - Essay Example

mplishments, the structure by which Fair Trade aspires to attain its objectives is severely weak, restricting its market opportunities and the value it gives to workers and farmers. As such, some claim that fair trade provides no significant benefits. This essay argues that Fair Trade does suffer from internal and external problems, but that does not mean that it provides no significant benefits. There is a wide array of criticisms about whether Fair Trade accomplishes its objectives of raising living standards for the most underprivileged producers and other players in global trade.

Basically, there is a major problem at the core of the present development and achievement of Fair Trade (Cole & Brown, 2014). So as to achieve dominant presence and significantly influence the market, Fair Trade advocates have to collaborate with major corporate players. These corporate traders usually pursue clearly different objectives and usually reluctant or unable to totally commit themselves to Fair Trade principles (Smith, 2013). For instance, Starbucks’s dedication to Fair Trade principles has been criticised.

A small percentage of Starbucks coffee was fairly traded in 2007, but its brand image or corporate reputation became known as socially responsible immediately after declaring its involvement in the Fair Trade system (Cole & Brown, 2014). Since Starbucks is the biggest global coffee retailer, it is in charge of buying larger volumes of Fair Trade coffee than any other vendor. Nevertheless, a meagre portion of its overall coffee is Fair Trade. The Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO), tasked to give Fair Trade authorisation, was also criticised for not obliging major multinational companies (MNCs) to pursue or maintain higher ideals before granting them certification (Cole & Brown, 2014).

Simply put, the increasing incorporation of the Fair Trade stamp without completely implemented Fair Trade ideals undermines the general objectives of Fair Trade principles and