A Black Day for Fairtrade?

In Mid January 2010 the first certified Fairtrade Kit Kat will appear on our shelves. The Fairtrade Foundation are hailing it as a huge success, Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, has welcomed the move by the York-based Kit Kat brand, saying

"Cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire struggle under the relentless pressures of poverty with shockingly high levels of illiteracy and poor access to healthcare. The significant volumes of cocoa that go into making Kit Kat will open whole new possibilities for these farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, giving them a more sustainable livelihood and the chance to plan for a better future.”
However the announcement has been dubbed as "Black Monday" by critics, Joe Turner writing on his Civil Society Blog said:

"In the headlong rush to certify everything that moves the Fairtrade Foundation, Britain's self-proclaimed guardian of all things fairtrade, gave Nestlé the ethical pass it so desperately wanted. I shudder to even type the words: The Fairtrade Kit-kat.

Yes, that biscuit coated in the most sickly chocolate has finally burst through the winning tape. But only the four-fingered version, you'll understand.

The two-fingered version can continue being made by children and slaves in the Cote d'Ivorie. Four fingers good, two fingers bad. Though apparently they will also certify the two-fingered version. At some point in the undefined future."

Read more from the Fairtrade Foundation. Read more from Joe Turners Black Monday blog.

What do you think? Is this a Black day for Fairtrade? Or maybe just a Grey day?

I know what I'm going to keep doing, buying Fairtrade from my local co-operative, who have the second biggest range (27) of Fairtrade Chocolate products in the UK (Divine are No 1 and they share the 2nd place with Chocaid.com)