Fairtrade Label South Africa (FLSA) celebrates our very first Fairtrade Week in South Africa this week, a campaign aimed at raising awareness about Fairtrade among the local public. Fairtrade Weeks slogan, ‘Taste the Change’, encourages South Africans to learn about the incredible potential of fair trading, and the significance it plays in improving lives in farming communities and in offering consumers the possibility of an ethical choice.
“I am confident in the ethical consciousness of South African consumers. I have no doubt that they will be excited in tasting the positive changes brought about by Fairtrade in our country simply by choosing Fairtrade certified products in their everyday shopping.” says FLSA Executive Director Boudewijn Goossens. Goossens continues, “Fairtrade Week is going to be a major milestone for increasing Fairtrade brand awareness in South Africa”.
Fairtrade Week, the biggest event on FLSA’s annual calendar, will include a host of activities. The campaign will be kicked off in high spirits as Kraft Foods’ Fairtrade Cadbury Dairy Milk bars will be introduced into retail stores with an official product launch at Pick n Pay’s flagship store on William Nicol on 15 November 2011. Throughout the course of Fairtrade Week FLSA’s Executive Director Boudewijn Goossens and Fairtrade producers will be featured and interviewed in a range of newspapers, on various radio stations and other media platforms around the country. The Fairtrade Week festivities will be concluded in style with an intimate, trendy Fairtrade cocktail at the soon to be opened Bean There coffee Roastery in Cape Town on 18 November 2011. Media representatives will be invited to meet Fairtrade producers while getting a taste of Bosman Family Vineyards Fairtrade wine, Bean There Fairtrade coffee and the new Cadbury Dairy Milk Fairtrade chocolate.
At the heart of Fairtrade Week are seven inspiring ‘change stories’, including:
- Five stories on how Fairtrade has changed the lives of farm workers and their families in wine and fruit farms in the Western Cape and Limpopo;
- A passionate article by a freelance journalist and consumer activist to support Fairtrade as a consumer choice;
- The account of Kraft Foods SA showing how fair trading can be a benchmark for the way to do business in Africa.
Everyone can be involved in Fairtrade Week and help us spread the word by simply liking Fairtrade´s Facebook Page and following them on Twitter. By doing so you’ll also stand a chance to win a grand Fairtrade hamper, each containing lip-smacking Fairtrade wine, yummy Fairtrade chocolate and de-li-cious Fairtrade coffee.
The liveeco team
