Some UK Big Issue vendors are affronted by South African wine producer, Fairhills, which has sponsored the new high-visibility red vests worn by street sellers of the magazine.

The Big Issue vendor

One of them is Matthew Blackman, 40, who sells the The Big Issue in the Bristol city center and commented,

It’s disgusting because most of us vendors are either drug addicts or alcoholics. To be sponsored by a company that profits from that seems wrong.

They are making a big mistake. Even though they are being paid a lot of money it’s still bad publicity. It’s like some bad, ironic joke.

A more balanced view is expressed by Steve, a vendor in Bath who says,

I am a bit annoyed to hear that a wine company will be sponsoring the jackets as a lot of the vendors have an alcohol dependency.

If it is helping the Big Issue then it is important but I think the company should provide some kind of support to vendors on how to get off the alcohol.

Fairhills wine company is not called that for nothing. They are Fair Trade producers; have supported alcohol abuse treatment centers in South Africa for many years and are opening a center in England to assist alcoholics kick the habit.

Bernard Fontannaz, owner of Origin Wine addressed the controversy by explaining,

That is all good to do it here in South Africa, where the needs are big, but we wanted to contribute, as well, in countries where we sell our wines. As we all know the Cape does not have the monopoly on alcohol related abuse.

In order to do so we thought that, by sponsoring the Big Issue sellers, and in doing so helping them in their task to sell more and make a decent living, we will contribute to help people who fall out of the track sometimes due to alcohol abuse.

I do believe that we are acting responsibly and, in fact, are trying to be consequent with our involvement in the alcohol industry. We are a stakeholder in it and we need to assume responsibility for the good and the bad.

What the 60,000 pound deal means is that The Big Issue sellers will be more visible and easily recognized resulting in increased sales and hopefully, a speedier repatriation into society.

This can only be good.

Postscript

The recovery center is in fact in South Africa and not in England as I thought.

For more about it visit http://worldoffairhills.wordpress.com/