Fairtrade Fortnight

Fairtrade Fortnight is an annual event in which fair and ethical trading values are celebrated. The concept was pioneered by the Fairtrade Foundation in the United Kingdom, and held firstly in 1997 in Scotland directed by Barnaby Miln. Its national launch was on 12 February 1997 at Augustine United Church on Edinburgh's George IV Bridge by Lady Marion Fraser, chairman of the charity Christian Aid. She broke a bar of fairtrade chocolate to launch the event.




It turned out to be a highly successful campaign to get every supermarket throughout Scotland to stock Fairtrade products. Supporters of Christian Aid Scotland, SCIAF, Traidcraft, Oxfam and the World Development Movement were sent by Barnaby Miln a list of 85 supermarkets in Scotland's cities and larger towns, and encouraged during the Fortnight to go and ask for Fairtrade products.



Fairtrade fortnight spread to the rest of the United Kingdom the following year. Today, Fairtrade fortnights are celebrated in several countries, most notably Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.