„Fairtrade“ hat zwar ein nobles Motto, das ist aber, so der Ökonom Tyler Cowen, letztlich nur ein Marketing-Trick. Die Organisation sichert teilnehmenden Bauern zwar faire Bezahlung zu, verhindert aber die Verbesserung ihrer Lebens- und Arbeitsbedingungen und vermittelt in westlichen Ländern ein falsches Bild ihrer Arbeit:
We might think of sub-Saharan subsistence economies when we think of Fairtrade, but the biggest recipient of Fairtrade subsidy is actually Mexico. Mexico is the biggest producer of Fairtrade coffee with about 23% market share. Indeed, as of 2002, 181 of the 300 Fairtrade coffee producers were located in South America and the Caribbean. As Marc Sidwell points out, while Mexico has 51 Fairtrade producers, Burundi has none, Ethiopia four and Rwanda just 10 – meaning that „Fairtrade pays to support relatively wealthy Mexican coffee farmers at the expense of poorer nations“.