Continuing its campaign to supersede U2 as the biggest and most socially conscious band in the world, Coldplay is publicly supporting Oxfam‘s fair trade program, which attempts to end poverty by lobbying against trade policies that hurt developing countries. At a news conference in Hong Kong, a stop on the band’s world tour, twee frontman Chris Martin said, “We don’t want to be preachy, we just say the words ‘fair trade’ and make sure people look it up themselves.”* Martin said the band doesn’t want to impose its political beliefs on others, but it feels an obligation to use its celebrity for good. “When one or two people take pictures of us, we feel like we could start advertising something we care about.” Like when he signs an autograph (does he do that?), fans can see the Oxfam tattoo on his hand.

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*fair trade n. Trade that conforms to a fair-trade agreement.