Improve the world by shopping?

Today begins a new advertising campaign for water, nut bars and soap brand, which are already on the shelves of supermarkets and pharmacies since March. Whoever buys them automatically makes donations for aid projects. Consumer advocates are skeptical

trade

By Hanna Gersmann

Berlin – The donations campaign is not spectacular. The bottle "share – Alpenwbader tingle" is bought for 65 cents plus 25 cents of unidirectional deposit as any other. In addition, the ad text – it's called "refreshed tops" – is neither better nor worse than the competition. But then the look on this sentence falls on the blue and white label: "Drink and share" is there. And: "Look, where are you helping?" Just help in the supermarket – does it work?

Flashback: mid-March this year. Sebastian Stricker, who has already worked as a development badistant, also as a consultant, starts with his colleagues in more than 5000 Rewe Group stores and the German drugstore chain selling mineral water, but also organic nuts and vegan soap.

Your Promise: For a bottle of water sold, another person receives drinking water for a day, of at least 20 liters, by building or repairing a well. If the customer places a walnut bar on the crate, some of the food is given to another person in Germany or in countries in crisis such as Senegal. And the bottle of soap guarantees a person a piece of soap elsewhere. Five months later, it's time to take stock.

A small map, the Horn of Africa, a red pinhead, is being built on the website www.sharefoods.de. Under this name is called: "Proper repair in the south of Ethiopia". On the side of the code leads on the water bottle: AA489. "We are repairing wells in Miyo and Dhas districts in the south of the country." Share collaborates with "Action Against Hunger" and local authorities.

Elsewhere, things are similar. In addition to the fight against hunger, shares also cooperate with the United Nations World Food Program and Berliner Tafel. It's between 5% and 17% of the price that Stricker and his colleagues get for their products in chain stores.

Antje Trölsch is managing director of Berliner Tafel, which organizes the distribution of food to the needy in the capital. "It's going very well," she says, "in the first quarter of 2018, the share paid 50,000 euros." The meals were not paid directly, but the logistics for their distribution was improved – l 39; money was used to supply about fifteen refrigerated trucks, repaired. Trölsch: "Our work lives exclusively on donations and contributions, which is a blessing for us."

All the more so as Daniela Geue from the German Donor Council states that fewer and fewer people make donations to Germany, in 2017, 21 million people – 1.1 million less than in 2016 The total remains the same, giving the most: on average, in 2017, he paid 35 euros per donation, or 6.9 times a year. However, relief agencies are reaching the 30-50 age group less and less often. Share proposes a new form.

"You can put accents aside, where there is no other way," says Sylvie Ahrens-Urbanek of the action against hunger. Most of them help where there is an acute need, such as a natural disaster or a civil war. But often there is also a chronic shortage and chronic underfunding. So, well repair in Ethiopia is only one thing that has already been addressed with part. On the other hand: In Senegal, where the rain never stops, harried crops, hungry people, 600,000 meals and 70,000 soaps were distributed, in Myanmar, until 2008 under military rule and still one of the poorest countries in Asia soon, there will be 100,000 meals and 20,000 soaps. And in Liberia, where even near the capital, Monrovia, only one third of households have access to good quality drinking water, ten wells have been repaired, eleven in Cambodia

Own consumption, make the world better, it sounds as a good offer, Only this is for Kathrin Krause of the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband, vzbv, who did not do it alone. She says, "Sharing does not change the causes of hunger, including the price pressures that retailers are exerting on their global producers today, often violating human rights." Food Ingredient Suppliers often receive wages that they can barely feed. Krause: "Changing that, making it more responsible and therefore sustainable is crucial." That's why she advises consumers to pay attention to Fairtrade products. But above all, politics is necessary. "Companies should be obliged by law to ensure environmentally sound and decent production," says Krause. "Shareholders use the share to boost consumer engagement and divert attention away from their responsibilities to their own producers," she said.

Rewe and Dm emphasize that production produced according to social and environmental criteria and "very good" produces a new Use the trend. Sebastian Bayer, Managing Director Marketing and Procurement at dm, said: "Consumers are more aware of their purchases, sources of information about the origin of their products and what they represent." Sales figures far exceed expectations, especially water and water The nut bars are "top sellers", the initiative is a "great success". Rewe spokesman Raimund Esser said, "Social engagement is very important to us and, with sharing, we want to help as many people in need as possible. The small margin currently covers our logistics costs. Today, Rewe is launching a new advertising campaign for the actions.

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