i was phoned up by three counties for an interview to talk about
fairtrade this morning at around 10:30. i had 45 minutes to prepare,
at least it wasn't an on the spot interview. Sadly i couldn't record
it i don't have the facility on this computer and there's no radio
recorders anywhere in teh house. doh!

Well, i think it went a bit better this time, but although i tried to
keep it simple, it's so easy to be taken by the moment when you're
live and you lose track of the things you meant to say.

i was asked why fairtrade was so much more expensive, they were taste
testing the green and blacks organic drinking chocolate and they
compared it to cadbury's bottom of the line drinking chocolate.
ofcourse now i can think of any number of things to say but such as...

why are you comparing the quality of a green and blacks organic cocoa
to a bottom of the line product?

and why are you asserting that it's only fairtrade that is expensive
when clearly there are other luxury chocolate drinks of the market
that are just as if not more expensive

my anwers was:

the price reflects the true value of the product and..

what is value for money anyway? The single most important thing to
remember about fairtrade is that it offers shoppers a choice. people
don't always buy the cheapest things, they buy on a range of factors
such as quality, disposition, belief in the product and ofcourse
taste. When people learn about what fairtrade means they can then
choose accordingly.

Now one of the things the radio interview said at the beginning of
the interview was that sales had increased by 50%. so i wish i had
made a connection back to that and reminded him that clearly the
british public are choosing to buy fairtrade despite the price.

i also said that many fairtrade products are as competitive if not
cheaper than some mainstream branded goods. They have to be to
compete in the market.

i remember saying that the purpose of fairtrade fortnight was to
raise awareness among consumers and to remind the british public that
fairtrade offers not just a great tasting product but a real and
lastin difference to the lives of the producers enabling them to earn
their way out of poverty.

Anyway, i hope my point about the value was a good enough answer
although i can think of additional points i could have made.

Finally he asked me about the events we had planned so i told him we
had events across the borough starting with costa coffee's opening in
berkhamsted with a fairtrade coffee producer and in store tastings in
waitrose, berkhamsted, hemel hempstead for tesco's, sainsbury's and
waitrose, and two fairtrade markets in tring and hemel hempstead and
tying in with comic relief and make poverty history.

would like to have finished with 'look for the mark and buy with the
heart' but forgot. oh well.

i need more practice on radio interviews, i'm reminded of what a good
idea it would be to join membership with a local radio station and
work on making programmes and getting more practice.

Still in the meantime any offers from somebody who wants to be press
and publicity officer for the group?

Regards

Francois Henderson