From an advertisement for Equal Exchange Coffee (1997):

From an advertisement for Equal Exchange Coffee (1997):

It may be a little early in the morning to bring this up, but if you buy coffee from large corporations, you are inadvertently maintaining the system which keeps small farmers poor while lining the pockets of rich corporations. By choosing Equal Exchange coffee, you can help to make a change. We believe in trading directly with small farming cooperatives at mutually agreed-upon prices with a fixed minimum rate. Then, should the coffee market decline, the farmers are still guaranteed a fair price. So have a cup of Equal Exchange Coffee and make a small farmer happy. Of course, your decision to buy Equal Exchange need not be completely altruistic. FOR we take as much pride in refining the taste of our gourmet coffees as we do in helping the farmers who produce them….