David Hylden

s finals approach, most of us will turn to a dependable dark companion to warm our weary fingers and keep our neurons firing long into the night. When we buy our coffee at Blue Java this semester, we will see a new sign: “Proudly serving fair trade and organic coffee.” But can buying a cup of joe be a political action?

The fair trade label can be found on products including sugar, rice, chocolate, and many tropical fruits. By far the most prevalent fair-trade product is coffee. The label is certified in the United States by an NGO called TransFair USA. The label indicates that the workers involved in the coffee’s production are paid a “fair” wage, ostensibly ensuring that over one million farmers in Africa, Asia, and South America live better lives. Furthermore, the fair trade label ensures environmentally sustainable farming practices that benefit the health of farmers directly, as well as the global environment as a whole.

The idea of making a difference through our purchasing decisions is appealing: nine out of 10 Americans say they would be willing to pay more for fair-trade products. TransFair USA is extremely proud of this statistic, touting the economic benefits that companies can gain from fair trade. Consumer demand for fair-trade coffee has led to an increase in its consumption from under 80,000 pounds in 1998 to more than 25 million pounds last year. The largest retailer of coffee, Starbucks, increased its purchase of fair-trade coffee from 4.8 million pounds in 2004 to an expected 12 million pounds this year.

TransFair sees this as a wonderful solution in which both consumers and producers both benefit from trade. According to a film the organization recently made, fair-trade coffee can “harness the power of globalization.” Maybe so—but there's something unsettling about the idea that we can fight the excesses of consumer capitalism through consumption.

Karl Marx might have located the problem in the commodity fetish. One of his most powerful ideas, the commodity fetish describes the way in which a commodity is seen as valuable not because of the human labor that went into producing it, or its use, but because of an inherent, almost mysterious reason. The commodity fetish, according to Marx, alienates laborers from the fruits of their labor and leads to an economy driven by ever increasing consumption. Contemporary theorists Wolfgang Haug and Robert Goldman take this one step further, arguing that value in contemporary society resides not in commodities themselves, but in symbols associated with them: brands, logos, slogans.

This theoretical framework can illuminate the problem of fair-trade coffee. TransFair USA implores us to “look for the label” as a means of ascertaining the value of the coffee we consume. Retailers like Starbucks use similar marketing tactics. We consumers don’t have the time to research all the facts, but we trust the fair-trade label as a guarantee of socially conscious trade. We passively grow to accept the value of this symbol without consciously thinking of the processes and labor that went into the coffee we buy. Thus, the fair-trade symbol and brand will grow to become valuable in themselves, and the issues they are supposed to address are ignored.

Buying fair-trade coffee is not political action: it is a poor substitute. As socially and morally conscious students, we may wish to improve the lives of those disenfranchised and exploited by capitalism. Buying fair trade products is an empty catharsis: we imagine we have accomplished something, but we lose sight of the real economic injustices. Consider your own knowledge of the details of fair trade and the fair wages given to farmers. What is a “fair” wage, anyway? In fact, fair-trade coffee growers still receive less for a pound of coffee beans than we pay for one small cup at Blue Java.

Of course, given the choice, it's good to buy fair-trade coffee, but we must not fool ourselves into thinking this is political activism. So, as finals bear down on us, and you find yourself buying that cup of coffee, consider the significance of fair trade, and more importantly, your own motivations for buying it.