Home Truth

A couple of days ago, I decided to make a momentous purchase. All my trousers have been a size too small since my excesses at Christmas, but I thought the best incentive to lose weight was to resist buying any new ones. It didn’t work. So, having seen M and S adverts for fair trade organic cotton jeans, I thought I could ease my physical discomfort and simultaneously support the cause.

The staff on the shop floor looked at me as if I was mad and half-heartedly joined me in my search. We found none. Although strangely, when I rang up just now, I was assured there were some on display, even though the person on the phone could not tell me where exactly they were. And the fair trade organic cotton T shirts, promoted so heavily during Fairtrade fortnight, have also dramatically disappeared.

I can’t help wondering if my husband’s scepticism of large retailers jumping on a fair trade bandwagon is founded in some truth. Smaller companies devoted to ethical issues certainly seem to have purer motives.

But, faint-hearted and weak-willed shopper that I am, I sit here wearing comfortable new cargo pants that seduced me from the sale rack. So it worked. The advertising got me in and I made a purchase anyway.

Maybe next time.

Filed under: Uncategorized on April 1st, 2007