good corp – bad corp
March 6th, 2006Marks and Spencer seems to be exploiting the goldfish attention span of the media today, last week it was reported;
Marks & Spencer suppliers have reacted angrily to the retailing giant turning the screw on them, just one year after demanding better terms from all its food, textile and accessory manufacturers.
“People are being squeezed to the bone. There will come a point where we will either go bankrupt or throw in the towel and walk away,” said one small textile supplier.
[…]
whereas today M&S proudly announce;
Marks & Spencer is to stock only Fairtrade coffee and tea from next month as it extends it commitment to ethical sourcing.
…
Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks & Spencer, said: “Our customers have told us they care about how our products are made and we want to help them make Fairtrade part of their retail habit.” M&S, as an own-brand-only retailer, was in a “unique position” to make the change.
[…]
Call me a stickler for consistency but it seems somewhat two-faced to force UK suppliers to be barely profitable and at the same time call yourself ethical for stocking Fairtrade products from countries where the cost of being ‘ethical’ is markedly less. (Anyhow the UK suppliers are free to take their trade elsewhere – given that all the other supermarkets operate on similar lines maybe they should try local independent retailers).
An analogous doublethink situation to the government calling for ‘freedom and democracy’ abroad whilst imposing repressive legisaltiuon at home?
March 6th, 2006 at 11:17 am
This reminds me of the farmers giving away milk for free outside supermarkets as a protest against supermarket domination.
I immediately thoght out loud, “why dont they all get together and create their own supermarket chain?”
Then they would be able to control the flow and price of their own goods, the consumer gets cheaper food…its a win win solution, and with internet shopping and home delivery, its more doable now than its ever been.
Giving away milk is not going to do anything at all, except maybe get you a spot on the news.
March 6th, 2006 at 11:30 am
AFAIR there was a time in the 90s, due to CAP funds driving surplus production, when farmers would give away their surplus milk instead of paying for its removal (because of the subsidies or env. health this had to be done rather than pouring it away) to avoid greater losses.