AUTOEVALUACIÓN

The story of fair trade began in Finland much earlier than in Poland, providing a stable foundation for the development of an overarching ethical trade movement. As in many Western countries, fair trade started in Finland with the introduction of ‘worldshops’ (Maailmankaupat), the first of which was established in 1978 in the city of Oulu. Currently, there are nineteen worldshops operating across the country. The website of the Finnish Association of Worldshops (Maailmankauppojen liito) describes their mission in the following way:

World Shops are shops that specialise in Fair Trade goods. They trade fairly with producer groups from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Their goal is not only to pay a fair price to the producers and improve their

51This section is primarily based on my interviews with Sanna Räsänen, communications officer at Fairtrade Finland, conducted on 2 June and 2 September 2015. In addition, I use Krier (2008) for historical data on fair trade in Finland and the reports available on Fairtrade Finland’s website (http://www.reilukauppa.fi).

working conditions, but also to change the structure of world trade so as to make Fair Trade the norm⁵².

In addition to selling products, many of the worldshops run development cooperation projects, either with their trading partners or other organisations (Krier, 2008). According to Krier (2008: 69), one of the worldshops was particularly instrumental in bringing fair trade to Finland: Tampere ATO (Kehitysmaakauppa), which also introduced an instant coffee from Tanzania to consumers in many other countries. The organisation started in 1983 and currently operates under the auspices of the WFTO as an importer, wholesaler and retailer of a wide range of food products (e.g., coffee, tea and chocolate) as well as candles and handicrafts. However, as Tampere ATO was not a part of my fieldwork, I will stop here by simply acknowledging its importance in introducing fair trade in Finland.

In 1998, the Worldshop Association teamed up with five other partners – the development cooperation organisations Solidarisuus and Finn Church Aid, the development cooperation platform Kepa, the civil society organisation the Swedish Martha Association in Finland and the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation – to set up the National Fairtrade Organisation called the Finnish Association for Promoting Fair Trade (Reilun kaupan edistämisyditys)⁵³. In addition to the five founding members (the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation seems to have left), in 2017 Fairtrade Finland had 27 other member organisations, including Eetti, the Finnish chapters of UNICEF and World Vision, several trade unions, and environmental, development, church and youth political organisations.

Currently, Fairtrade Finland certifies products in Finland as well as in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Under a virtual duopoly in grocery trading⁵⁴, fair trade products were quickly mainstreamed, with first coffees and teas appearing on the shelves of Finnish supermarkets in 1999 (Reilu kauppa ry, 2012). The early and

‘wholesale’ arrival of fair trade has resulted in very high levels of visibility and recognisability of fair trade products among Finnish consumers. On its Facebook page, Fairtrade Finland quotes a market study from 2017 that concluded that 89 per cent of Finns recognised the Fairtrade label⁵⁵(a study conducted in 2005 estimated that figure to be at the level of 83 per cent; Krier, 2008: 71). In 2015, 83 per cent of those who recognised the Fairtrade mark could explain what the Fairtrade label entailed, and in 2011, 85 per cent of the

52Available at http://www.maailmankaupat.fi/index.html (accessed 7 March 2017).

53In 2013, on the occasion of its 15^thanniversary, the organisation was renamed Fairtrade Finland (Reilu kauppa ry). In what follows, I will use this shorter name.

54In 2016, the market share of the two biggest retailers – a Finnish retailing conglomerate, Kesko, and a Finnish retailing cooperative, S Group – was estimated to be around 85 per cent.

55 Available at https://www.facebook.com/reilukauppa/photos/pb.102566909780881.-2207520000.1516278884./1562011267169764 (accessed 18 January 2018).

Finnish consumers familiar with Fairtrade found the certification system trustworthy⁵⁶. High consumer awareness goes hand in hand with the consistent growth in the overall sales figures for Fairtrade products: from 13 million euros in 2005 (Krier, 2008) to over 100 million euros in 2011 to 173.5 million euros in 2015 (Reilu kauppa ry, 2016). In 2015, over 1760 Fairtrade-certified products were available in Finland, including coffee and tea, honey, cocoa, sugar, chocolate, bananas and roses. Roses are the most sold Fairtrade-certified product, claiming a 32.5 per cent share of the whole Finnish rose market. Coffee, bananas and wine are other popular Fairtrade products.

Moreover, public organisations willingly support Fairtrade in their procurement: in 2015, there were 13 Fairtrade towns and municipalities and 116 Fairtrade parishes in Finland.

In more descriptive terms, the communications officer at Fairtrade Finland maintained that their work overwhelmingly met with a positive consumer response (personal communication, 2015). At the same time, she noted that even though Finnish society was aware of Fairtrade, there was a considerable degree of misunderstanding of what it was. For example, Finns tended to mistake Fairtrade Finland for a producer or retailer, and Fairtrade for the product brand, rather than a certification scheme. Typically, consumers would ask her where the Fairtrade products were available or complain when their local store did not stock certain certified products. More profoundly, she recognised a common confusion as to what products could be Fairtrade certified. This misunderstanding underpinned the accusation that Fairtrade favoured Southern producers over Finnish farmers and flower growers, thereby contributing to the misery of local industries. This charge seemed misguided insofar as the vast majority of Fairtrade products can be produced exclusively in the Global South, the Finnish climate not being conducive to cultivating exotic fruit or coffee⁵⁷. Finally, the communications officer at Fairtrade Finland identified two further ill-informed preconceptions that might have caused some Finnish consumers to dismiss Fairtrade altogether.

On the one hand, there was the mistrust towards the organisation itself on the part of those ‘who don’t believe in any organisation, who think that… the whole world is just one big fraud and everyone’s cheating, [and that] we put all money in our own pockets’. On the other hand, some tended to ascribe to Fairtrade

56Available at http://www.reilukauppa.fi/meista/toiminta-suomessa (accessed 7 March 2017).

57Of course, there are some more problematic commodities such as flowers, honey and some herbs that can be and are produced in Finland. With regard to Fairtrade roses, the communications officer at Fairtrade Finland countered the accusations by pointing out that the crisis in the Finnish flower industry started well before the introduction of the Fairtrade option. She also argued that the local supply had shrunk so much that the choice was no longer between a Finnish rose and a foreign rose, but between an unfairly produced Kenyan rose and a Fairtrade Kenyan rose. Finally, she remarked that from the environmental point of view, it was still more ecological to fly roses from Kenya than to grow them in Finland under the energy-intensive, artificial conditions.

the nearly magical power of instantly improving the lives of producers once and for all.

The picture of Fairtrade in Finland that arises from the above overview is that of a well-established, mainstreamed market. According to the communications officer at Fairtrade Finland, this market is populated largely by enthusiastic, yet slightly ill-informed, consumers. Compared to the negligible Fairtrade sales in Poland, 173.5 million euros in a country of 5.5 million people might impress. Compared to the overall sales in the UK, totalling 1.6 billion pounds in 2015⁵⁸, however, this figure pales considerably.

Zooming in on the Fairtrade consumption per capita, we can nevertheless see that an average Finnish consumer spends slightly more on Fairtrade products than their British counterpart per annum⁵⁹(see also Stolle and Micheletti, 2013). Yet, it is not the commercial activities that make the Finnish incarnation of fair trade particularly worth studying, but its location at the intersection of business, development cooperation and politics.

Firstly, there is a certain convergence between fair trade and development cooperation projects. In addition to promoting Fairtrade and certifying products, Fairtrade Finland was involved in the period 2014–2016 in development cooperation projects funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Moreover, there is the possibility of convergence of interest and the opportunity for cooperation between fair trade organisations and Finnish businesses that source from Asia, Latin America or Africa.

Secondly, Fairtrade Finland took political stands in their communication that would be unimaginable, or even suicidal, for fair trade organisations in Poland. The most controversial instance had to do with an event organised by Muslim women in Helsinki in which they talked to Finnish people about their clothing. Fairtrade Finland donated certified roses that the women handed out to the passers-by whom they were trying to engage in conversation.

Information about this cooperation was subsequently shared on Fairtrade Finland’s Facebook page, implicitly valorising the veil and headscarf as parts of the contemporary cultural landscape of Finland. While this post predictably stirred the audience and engendered some racist remarks, the organisation decided to disregard the negative responses and avoided much reputational damage. In fact, in three of the 584 comments the authors threatened that they would not buy Fairtrade-certified products again. In Poland, with its conservative values and strongly right-wing political climate, the fear of a consumer backlash – threatening the already minuscule sales of certified products – prevents fair trade organisations from openly taking stands on political and social issues beyond trade and consumption.

58 Approximately 1.8 billion euros; Fairtrade Foundation’s Impact Story available at http://ourimpactstory.fairtrade.org.uk/a-journey-we-are-walking-together (accessed 3 March 2017).

59Roughly calculated, per capita consumption in Finland equals 32 euros per year and in the UK (population 63.5 million) approximately 25 pounds, so some 30 euros per year.

All in all, Fairtrade Finland is a much more multifaceted and multifarious organisation than its counterparts in many other countries. It inhabits the interstices between commerce, business and trade-oriented development cooperation. It nourishes its liberal, left-wing roots and does not shy away from taking political stands. Finally, it also encourages consumers to participate in fair trade beyond voting with their pockets (see Wheeler, 2012a).

And this is where Eetti enters the picture as a platform for those most committed to the ideal of equitable global trade.

Having discussed Fairtrade Finland in some detail, it is worth outlining the composition of the broadly conceived ethical trade movement in Finland.

Firstly, on the non-commercial side, the 32 Fairtrade Finland member organisations can be regarded as participating in the movement, more or less actively. During my fieldwork, three of these organisations appeared to cooperate with Eetti in particular: (1) Kepa, an NGO platform for civil society organisations working around the issues of global development; (2) the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland (SASK), a development organisation coordinated by the Finnish trade unions; and (3) Service Union United (PAM), a trade union for employees in the private service sector, especially in retail trade, property services and security services as well as tourism, leisure and restaurant services. In addition, several organisations from outside the fair trade ‘circles’ deal with at least some themes to do with ethical trade, such as Finnwatch, which is focused on global corporate responsibility; Attac, the Finnish chapter of an alter-globalisation organisation fighting for tax justice and the tighter regulation of financial markets; the Youth Academy (Nuorten Akatemia), which works with global education; and Friends of the Earth Finland, who concentrate on global equality and sustainability.

Secondly, on the commercial side of the movement, there is a host of Finnish ethical brands and companies. For example, in the food sector Jalotofu is a brand of ethical and Fairtrade-certified tofu; Goodio produces raw chocolate using organic ingredients sourced following the principles of ethical and direct trade; and Louis is a trademark encompassing a wide range of ethical spices and herbs. There are also several firms operating outside the food sector, such as Kaiku, which produces a small selection of goods from Fairtrade-certified cotton, and Mifuko, a WFTO-certified homeware company that marries modern Finnish design with traditional Kenyan craftsmanship.

In addition, many of the big Finnish brands offer some Fairtrade-certified options in their selection. For example, the textile company Finlayson produces a range of towels from Fairtrade-certified cotton. Similarly, some of the big food producers, such as Meira and Paulig, offer a Fairtrade option in their coffee selection. Furthermore, many distributors are involved in importing foreign ethical products, including brands such as Clipper, Pukka Herbs, Urtekram and Ethletic. The wide accessibility of ethical, and particularly Fairtrade, products is facilitated by the main retail chains – S group, Kesko and Lidl – which, in addition to carrying many products of ethical firms, often sell Fairtrade products under their own brands. Other than

in chain-affiliated grocery shops and supermarkets, ethical products can be easily purchased online or in specialised shops, including two organic chains, Punnitse & Säästä and Ruohonjuuri.

As the above sketch makes clear, the position of Fairtrade on the market and the stage of the ethical trade movement in Finland are rather advanced.

In terms of the market, ethical products are plentiful, easily accessible and recognised by consumers who buy them quite willingly. In terms of the movement, there is a wide range of organisations that, except for Fairtrade Finland and Eetti, might not be fully involved in the problematics of ethical trade but readily come together to address certain issues surrounding global trade. Yet, despite this seemingly bright picture, ethical trade organisations in Finland are aware of misunderstandings and resistance that still persist in the society.

3 ETHICAL TRADE COMMUNICATION AS MORAL EDUCATION

To recapitulate, this study is curious about how ethical trade is communicated in Poland and Finland. I approach ethical trade as trade that recognises itself as a mediated relationship between human actors – specifically, producers in the Global South and consumers in the Global North – and, as such, is governed by moral principles (see Goodman, 2004; McEwan et al., 2017).

Thus formulated, ethical trade stops being merely a set of consumption-related practices, and becomes a communication problem: it relies on a moral disposition that, rather than being intrinsic to some people and not to others, must be constructed through careful mediation by ethical trade organisations.

I see ethical trade communication as mediation between producers and consumers through a ‘Silverstonian’ lens, that is, as an ethically charged communication process where the social values and meanings are constructed, negotiated and circulated (Silverstone, 1999, 2002, 2007). Within this conceptualisation, my research is particularly interested in how ethical trade communication as mediation can function as moral education geared towards constructing consumers who consider the impact on distant others in making their everyday buying decisions (e.g., Barnett et al., 2005a, b; Massey, 2006;

Noddings, 1984). This chapter constructs the theoretical scaffolding presented in Figure 2 for studying ethical trade communication as moral education.

Firstly, it establishes a conceptual link between the notions of mediation and moral education in communication studies in general and humanitarian communication in particular. Secondly, it engages the mediation–moral education couplet in theorising ethical trade communication. Thirdly, I plug communication theory into the research on ethical trade across disciplines in order to conceptualise two distinct modes of mediation: mediated familiarity and moral education. The section on mediated familiarity begins by discussing representations of distant others in general and zooms in subsequently on the extant analysis of fair trade representations. The section on moral education, in turn, identifies and theorises three dispositions – in methodological vocabulary, signifiers – that ethical trade communication intends to instill in the audience: solidarity, care and responsibility. In doing so, it relies on the research on ethical trade conducted within the disciplines of communication studies, postcolonial theory, human and social geography, anthropology and political science. Finally, to reflect a more media-oriented dimension of the study, the chapter provides an overview of communication literature that discusses the potential of social media in relation to organisational communication, activism and moral education.

Figure 2 An overview of the theoretical framework.