Consuming Anti-Consumerism: The German Fairtrade Movement and the Ambivalent Legacy of ‘1968’

Abstract

AbstractThe article explores the influence of ‘1968’ on the West German fair trade movement. It argues that 1968 constituted an ambivalent legacy for the perception of mass consumerism: while the 1960s student movement radically criticised modern consumer society, it also put new emphasis on consumer products as markers of individual identity. The article analyses this relationship by focusing on the design, representation and advertising of fair trade products by the German fair trade organation GEPA. The first two case studies examine the politicisation of fair trade products in its early campaigns in the 1970s and the subsequent attempts to use everyday products like coffee, tea and honey to educate consumers about their individual lifestyles. The third case study looks at the GEPA's first mail-order catalogues and asks how the GEPA tried to transform an icon of modern mass consumerism into a tool to communicate its fair trade approach.