Cadbury Chief Executive, Todd Stitzer, today explained how principled capitalism and development can be complementary. Cadbury’s commitment to buying Fairtrade-certified cocoa for its Dairy Milk chocolate bars will significantly improve the lives of thousands of Ghanaian farmers at the same time as being good for business.
Speaking at the Fairtrade Commercial Conference, Todd said that the move signified Cadbury’s principled approach to capitalism which balances profit motive and shareholder value with a responsible and values-led way of doing business.
Todd said: “Lots of people think that organisations’ commitment to Fairtrade is all about reputation, marketing and the brand – about getting an ethical ‘badge’. But for us it’s much more fundamental. It’s about supply chain sustainability. We realised that we needed to be much more active – right across the economic, social and environmental aspects of cocoa farmers’ lives. Profit and principle can go hand in hand.
Our partnership with Fairtrade has the opportunity to deliver a significant improvement to thousands of farmers at a scale previously unseen and this is also good for our business – providing us with high quality cocoa that makes the nation’s favourite chocolate bar.”
Cadbury’s commitment accelerates Fairtrade further into the mainstream with Fairtrade chocolate available from nearly 30,000 outlets from supermarkets to independent retailers, convenience stores and garage forecourts. With over 300 million Cadbury Dairy Milk bars sold each year, consumers’ purchasing power can benefit thousands of farmers in Ghana.
Cadbury launched Fairtrade Dairy Milk bars in the UK in July and have since announced that four more markets - Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan – will receive Fairtrade certification for their flagship Cadbury Dairy Milk brand by early 2010. This commitment to Fairtrade will quadruple the amount of Fairtrade cocoa coming out of Ghana from 5,000 to 20,000 tonnes in 2010 and bring the Fairtrade mark into millions more homes across the world.
To celebrate the launch of the Fairtrade bars Cadbury has created its first music single starring Ghanaian superstar, Tinny. The five minute music video was inspired by Ghana’s love of music and features local communities, cocoa farmers and some of the country’s hottest dancers.
The single, titled Zingolo meaning ‘enjoy it’, has been created under the Glass and a Half Production series in follow up to ‘Gorilla’, ‘Trucks’ and ‘Eyebrows’. It is available to download from ‘iTunes’ with all of Cadbury’s share of the profits going to the charity CARE International – part of the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership - to fund education programmes in cocoa growing communities in Ghana. To view the video visit the Cadbury Dairy Milk blog at www.cadburydairymilk.typepad.com.
The launch of Fairtrade Dairy Milk builds on the groundbreaking Cadbury Cocoa Partnership (CCP). Through the CCP, the company will invest £45 million over the next ten years to support the development of thriving cocoa communities in Ghana, India, Indonesia and the Caribbean.
Read Todd Stitzer's speech from the Fairtrade Commercial Conference here.
About Cadbury plc:
Cadbury plc is a leading global confectionery company with an outstanding portfolio of chocolate, gum and candy brands. It has number one or number two positions in over 20 of the world's 50 largest confectionery markets. Cadbury also has the largest and most broadly spread emerging markets business of any confectionery company. With origins stretching back nearly 200 years, Cadbury's brands include many global, regional and local favourites including Cadbury, Creme Egg, Flake and Green & Black's in chocolate; Trident, Clorets, Dentyne, Hollywood, Bubbaloo and Stimorol in gum; and Halls, Cadbury Eclairs and The Natural Confectionery Company in candy. For more information visit www.cadbury.com.