Passionate advocates of corporate social responsibility say the movement is gaining as much momentum as the human rights campaigns of the 1970s. Statistics showing that certification for the Fairtrade label – goods that are proven to have been bought from producers at better prices, benefiting 5m farmers, workers and their families worldwide – has been growing by 40 per cent a year, driven mostly by consumers demanding a fairer deal for the world’s poor, would appear to support their argument.

Mike Barry, head of CSR at Marks and Spencer, the UK retailer, says he noticed a big shift in customer expectations about five years ago. “At one point, customers would have expected us to build a few kiddies’ playgrounds but attitudes over such issues as animal welfare, GM foods and fair trade started to harden and we have now got to be doing the right thing,” he says.