Ethical Brand News

Since acquiring the right to display the Fair Trade logo on a few of its products  the ‘Cadbury’ brand is enjoying an enhanced reputation as something of an ethical brand and yet it hasn’t  actually produced one single product with 100% Fair Trade coco.   This is because during production the coco Cadbury has acquired from Fair Trade sources is simply tossed in with all of the coco it has purchased from ‘other’ sources. 

Does anyone actually know what percentage of its global chocolate production is acquired from Fair Trade sources?  Our research appears to suggest that 10% would be a generous estimate.   Some observers argue that this is better than nothing, but we don’t believe this is the case.  It is an anti-competitive move and detrimental to the economic interests of most coco producers.

By purchasing a relatively small percentage of its overall coco needs from Fair Trade sources Cadbury is, in effect, preventing competitors with genuine, authentic 100% ethically sourced ingredients from growing the market share they deserve as consumer demand for ethically sourced products continues to expand. 

If Fair Trade had not allowed Cadbury to pollute its brand then sooner or later Cadbury would have begun to feel that competitive pressure and be compelled to make a substantially bigger commitment than the marginal one it has made thus far. 

In the market Cadbury looks like a do good corporation, but the reality is their Fair Trade manoeuvre is little more than a rather shrewd, thinly veiled ethical marketing ploy that is detrimental to healthy competition. 

By inhibiting the ability of its competitors to compete on a level playing field, Cadbury is also undermining the economic potential of the coco producing community, because their interests are actually best served by healthy competition in the consumer markets they supply. 

These coco farmers are some of the poorest and economically marginalised working people on the planet.  Cadbury can and should be doing so much more.  There is nothing stopping Cadbury engaging all of its suppliers using Fair Trade principles, except the will to do so.  Clearly, this isn’t what Cadbury signed up for.

Excessive bank charges and fees really do expose a raw nerve in many households.  So much so that during the recent UK general election campaign the Liberal Democrats pledged that if they were to win they would stop banks charging excessive penalties when people go overdrawn, or to have a payment returned.   The thing that makes these fees particularly distasteful is they invariably target those in society who can least afford them. 

Until very recently, some Australian banks charged you up to $60 if you became overdrawn, went beyond an agreed limit, or made a late payment.  The true cost might only have been a few dollars at most on each transaction.  Most account holders know that the actual cost of administering these events is negligible and entirely disproportionate to the charges imposed on them – with bank profit margins on these fees running up to 5,000% (yes, five thousand percent) or more.

In recent months some Australian banks including Westpac have significantly reduced these types of fees.  Interestingly, Westpac’s latest marketing campaign touts the resurgence of local bank managers as a good reason to bank with them.  Local Westpac branches it seems, are no longer glorified ATMs.  Meanwhile, the Bank of Queensland touts their owner manager model as the best option, but they don’t articulate why…  perhaps because the reality of an owner/manager is rather counter-intuitive to what we might be tempted to assume, because the Bank of Queensland continues to charge $30 to go $1 overdrawn and $40 to return an unpaid debit request. 

Now, following in the footsteps of a long running legal challenge to punitive fees in the UK, which was led by the industry regulator there, the team at Financial Redress have recently joined forces with IMF, Australia’s largest and most successful litigation funder.  They have secured the services of one of Australia’s pre-eminent class action lawyers to prepare one or more class action lawsuit to make the banks repay all the excessive fees they have helped themselves to over the last six years, plus interest.

If you have incurred at least one of these exception fees on any of your bank or credit card accounts, visit financialredress.com.au to register for help to get your money back.