Fair Trade for Cocoa?

Question

Given all of the benefits of chocolate, would you be willing to Pay Farmers More where they grow cocoa in former European colonies in Africa?

Starbucks and other examples of Fair Trade have made enough consumers aware of farmers? Or maybe we will argue about this for another generation and our grandchildren will look back at us as selfish and ignorant?

Answer 1

Starbucks is all about branding your perceptions so they can sell high priced stuff. Why isn't it like McDonald's who announced they were going to pay more for tomatoes but prices on food sales would stay the same - they cut their profit margin. Why doesn't Starbucks cut its incredibly large profit margin? It is the Starbucks and McDonald's of the world that make large profits at the expense of farmers, why are they asking you and I to pay for it?

Answer 2

I like chocolate very much, but the place where one of its inputs is grown doesn't affect the price I'm willing to pay. Were my palate sufficiently discriminating, it might matter, but such is not the case. Nor does the current or former colonial status of the nation where it's grown affect what I'm willing to pay.

Perhaps you mean to ask a different question: would it be socially just if former colonial powers contributed to the economic development of their former colonies in Africa?

That might get a different answer.

Answer 3

No. That doesn't benefit me in any way.