Ghana Aloud
Last Wednesday we attended the launch of Cadbury’s Fairtrade Fortnight campaign at the Gold Coast Bar and Restaurant in Brixton. The event was an opportunity for an update on the impact of Cadbury Dairy Milk achieving Fairtrade status last year. After a vote of thanks from the Deputy High Commissioner for Ghana, Her Excellency Mrs Elizabeth Nicol, Alison Ward, Global CSR Director for Cadbury, gave us an update.
Since Dairy Milk bars went Fairtrade in the UK and Ireland in July 2009, consumers in Australia, Canada and Japan have had the opportunity to support Fairtrade. In total a whopping 350 million Dairy Milk bars will carry the Fairtrade mark around the world. The range of products is expanding to include Buttons and, by the end of 2010, the entire hot beverages range in the UK and Ireland. The move has quadrupled the amount of Fairtrade cocoa coming out of Ghana compared with 2008, and will benefit more than 40,000 farmers.
Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, then talked more about Fairtrade in Ghana, managing to quote both Michael Jackson and Barack Obama in the first minute. Describing her experiences of visiting Ghana and seeing Fairtrade in action over the years, she reminded us that in addition to cocoa, other Fairtrade products such as pineapples and shea nuts were being exported from Ghana. She also mentioned that the Fairtrade Foundation were continuing to explore how to certify gold.
After a robust question and answer session, the team at Cadbury unveiled their latest ad campaign.
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This year Cadbury is supporting the Big Swap with a free compilation of musical swapping. The CD has an exclusive collaboration with Paolo Nutini and the Big Ghana Band, the track by Zingolo featured in the last ad and five covers by the Big Ghana Band of pop classics including “You Spin Me Round” and “Sound of the Underground”. Since we picked up a copy at the launch, the CD has hardly been off the Fairtrade London sound system. Hearing really is believing – so much joy in one small disc!
To get your hands on a copy of Big Swap Songs, buy any Fairtrade product during Fairtrade Fortnight, and visit the Glass and a Half Productions website.
