For some shoppers, when they buy their coffee, a bottle of honey and or that Mexican woodcarving, a "fair trade" label on it is just as important as the taste or the look or the cost.
The fair trade label of one international organization is familiar to at least half of consumers, according to a 2008 survey conducted in 15 countries for Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International.
Yet even as awareness grows, fair trade gins up controversy because the term is difficult to define – unlike, say, setting safe lead-paint levels for toys...