Dear Global Exchange Supporter,

This is the moment Global Exchange and the Fair Trade Movement have been waiting for, and your action today is more important than ever.

Cadbury has announced plans to begin using Fair Trade certified cocoa in the summer of 2009 for England's leading chocolate bar, Cadbury Dairy Milk. Cadbury will be the first major chocolate brand to go Fair Trade certified with one of its main product lines, a goal Global Exchange has been striving towards--proving what we have been saying for years: it is viable for a major chocolate bar to go Fair Trade without passing a significant cost increase to consumers.

This is an important victory for everyone who has taken action by buying a Fair Trade certified chocolate bar or writing a letter to bring us to this moment!

The deal, which will bring the Fair Trade label to 15% of the chocolate sold in England, is welcomed by Global Exchange and our allies on both sides of the Atlantic. Increasing the amount of chocolate sold on the Fair Trade market is an important step to improve the lives of farmers around the world.

That doesn't mean Cadbury is now a model of sustainability. Here in the US, Cadbury's chocolates are not Fair Trade certified.While Cadbury Green and Black's is organic, only one bar is Fair Trade Certified™ and there is no labor certification behind Cadbury's Easter Eggs, which are manufactured by Hershey Chocolate in the US.

While it is crucial that we urge Cadbury to extend the Fair Trade certification to more of their products, it is also important that we acknowledge the enormous impact of this step. Please join Global Exchange and our partner Fair Trade advocacy organizations around the world in generating as many letters as possible.

For your own chocolate purchases, we invite you to commit to seeking out Fair Trade chocolate for special occasions, such as Easter eggs from green business leaders like Divine Chocolate and Sweet Earth Organic, which also has chocolate-covered matzohs, instead of buying Cadbury's Crème Egg. Fair Trade Easter chocolate is also available at http://www.globalexchangestore.org/.

Check-out these resources on Cadbury and the cocoa industry:

Learn more about Green America's Responsible Shopper Guide

Learn more about the International Labor Rights Forum's Chocolate Scorecard

Learn more from Global Exchange's cocoa pages

We encourage you to shop from companies like Divine, Equal Exchange, Sweet Earth Chocolates, and Alter Eco have been pioneering Fair Trade and sustainable practices for decades, and are 100% Fair Trade.

However, at this critical time, it is just as important to thank companies when they make a change for the better, so that company executives can bring an outpouring of positive feedback to their boards, shareholders, and employees to sustain their new, responsible practices and promote more change.

Thank you, as always, for your work on behalf of peace & justice.

Global Exchange