For the last century, Cadbury Dairy Milk candy bars have used Ghanaian cocoa beans to achieve their trademark taste and texture. Recently, Ghanaian cocoa has been officially certified Fairtrade certified in the UK and Ireland. Fairtrade requires companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than market price) and enables lesser-off countries to improve their position without being taken advantage of. The company has since announced plans to roll out Fairtrade certified Dairy Milk bars in Australia, New Zealand and Japan in spring 2010, and in Canada in summer 2010.
Beyond fair prices, being Fairtraide certified affords many other opportunities to growing countries.
Fairtrade also assures:
- Freedom of association
- Strict child labor laws
- Safe working conditions
- Living wages
- Direct trade, eliminating unnecessary middlemen
and
In celebration, Cadbury has launched “Zingolo“, the first single from Glass and a Half Full Records featuring Tinny, Ghana’s very own pop star. The result is an infectious tune with an impressive and visually gratifying video. The Zingolo video is a good example of what can come from impoverished countries when given the chance.
The Zingolo video is currently un-embeddable (the only thing keeping it from going entirely viral), but you can find it at the end of this Zingolo“>link. It’s worth a few minutes of your time, especially in support of a country that needs it.
The company has since announced plans to roll out Fairtrade-certified Dairy Milk bars in Australia and New Zealand (and by extension Japan) in spring 2010, and in Canada that summer.
