Editing Fair trade (section)

=== Large companies as buyers ===
Large transnational companies have started to use fair trade commodities in their products. In April 2000, [[Starbucks]] began offering fair trade coffee in all of their stores. In 2005, the company promised to purchase ten million pounds of fair trade coffee over the next 18 months. This would account for a quarter of the fair trade coffee purchases in the United States and 3% of Starbucks' total coffee purchases.<ref name="ReferenceC" /> The company maintains that increasing its fair trade purchases would require an unprofitable reconstruction of the supply chain.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Macdonald | first1 = Kate | year = 2007 | title = Globalising Justice within Coffee Supply Chains? Fair Trade, Starbucks and the Transformation of Supply Chain Governance | journal = Third World Quarterly | volume = 28 | issue = 4| pages = 793–812 | doi=10.1080/01436590701336663| s2cid = 154177027 }}</ref> Fair trade activists have made gains with other companies: [[Sara Lee Corporation]] in 2002 and [[Procter & Gamble]] (the maker of [[Folgers]]) in 2003 agreed to begin selling a small amount of fair trade coffee. [[Nestlé]], the world's biggest coffee trader, began selling a blend of fair trade coffee in 2005.<ref name="ReferenceC" /> In 2006, [[The Hershey Company]] acquired [[Dagoba Chocolate|Dagoba]], an organic and fair trade chocolate brand.

Much contention surrounds the issue of fair trade products becoming a part of large companies. Starbucks is still only 3% fair trade–enough to appease consumers, but not enough to make a real difference to small farmers, according to some activists. The ethics of buying fair trade from a company that is not committed to the cause are questionable; these products are only making a small dent in a big company even though these companies' products account for a significant portion of global fair trade.<ref name="ReferenceC" />

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Types of businesses engaged in fair trade (DeCarlo, 2007)<ref name="ReferenceB" />
|-
! Business type !! Engagement with fair trade products
|-
| || '''Highest'''
|-
| Fair trade organizations || Equal Exchange
|-
| || Global Crafts
|-
| || [[Ten Thousand Villages]]
|-
| Values-driven organizations || The Body Shop
|-
| || Green Mountain Coffee
|-
| Pro-active socially responsible businesses || Starbucks
|-
| || Whole Foods
The Ethical Olive
|-
| Defensive socially responsible businesses || Procter & Gamble
|-
| || '''Lowest'''
|}