This effect can be combated to some extent with extra information. If the customers (or journalists, bloggers, etc...) know about this, then the coffee plantations will suffer.
At the moment the US food industry successfully lobbied for laws to prevent animal right activists from filming how they treat their animals.
A corporation can argue that they exact mix that they feed to animals is a trade secret and go after people who spread information about it. Companies have much more resources to fight legal battles than bloggers or journalists in underfunded newsrooms.
UK libel law would be another instance of how corporation can fight journalists who spread the information that a product does harm to customers health.
Interestingly, those laws are examples of coordination, which suggests the picture is more nuanced that it seems (which is always a safe prediction :-)
At the moment the US food industry successfully lobbied for laws to prevent animal right activists from filming how they treat their animals.
A corporation can argue that they exact mix that they feed to animals is a trade secret and go after people who spread information about it. Companies have much more resources to fight legal battles than bloggers or journalists in underfunded newsrooms.
UK libel law would be another instance of how corporation can fight journalists who spread the information that a product does harm to customers health.
Interestingly, those laws are examples of coordination, which suggests the picture is more nuanced that it seems (which is always a safe prediction :-)