Apple
Victoria’s Secret
Forever 21
Aeropostale
Urban Outfitters
Hershey
Faded Glory
Abercrombie and Fitch
Hollister
Skechers
Carter’s
Fruit of the Loom
Lacoste
Quiksilver
That is a list of companies that suck. Also a list of companies I will not be buying from in the future.
Why?
They use either child labor, slave labor, or something similar.
I’ve known about forced labor for a while. Passively known about it I guess.
I’ve seen the article titles that claim they will expose bad companies.
I’ve chosen not to read them, until today.
Why?
Because once you know, you’re responsible.
Responsibility isn’t always fun.
It’s harder to eat a Hershey bar knowing a child was probably forced to work to provide the cocoa Hershey uses.
I’m not saying I’ve never owned anything from any of those places. Because I have, and I do. I’m not going to destroy my ipad or burn any clothes I have from the listed companies. But I won’t be buying from them in the future.
Do you still want to buy that Mac knowing that someone was forced to assemble it?
hm.
And the companies I’ve listed aren’t just ones that might just seem a little sketchy. They’re ones that are definitely mistreating workers.
Not mistreating like we think of in the US like, “ughh, my stupid boss won’t let me take 3 weeks off to go to Malibu right after my maternity leave. Ughh.”
No. Like actual oppression.
But that’s okay, as long as our products are cheap, we still like them!
And then I think of all the American church programs, like VBS or something, that hand out products made by child slaves.
“We are so glad that we got our vbs program going and that we got all of our regular church attenders’ kids here by luring them with products made by children their age in 3rd world countries. That’s okay if a kid is being beaten, we got little Timmy here for his 4th year in a row. I mean really, let’s think about this…support slave labor and get Timmy here…or maybe make the kids miss chocolate this year..hmm”
GIHRQEWND
AGH
AGH AGH AGH
And maybe they don’t know the truth.
But it is our responsibility to seek the truth.
I’m not saying that I’ve been doing great, because I haven’t.
I have known, cared for a few minutes, and then moved on.
But it’s time to quit being indifferent.
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” –Desmond Tutu
We like to pretend we care about the real issues, but we don’t. We care more about what idiotic thing Lindsey Lohan has done now or what hideous outfit/hairstyle Miley Cyrus is wearing now.
We are choosing to be blind idiots.
And you can say, yeah, but what difference is one angry teenage girl who refuses to shop at Hollister going to make?
Touché.
If I never buy a product made by slave labor ever again, the chances are no, no major changes will happen. But I still can’t wear jeans from Aeropostale and pretend that everything is okay I can’t pretend, “No humans were harmed in the making of these jeans”
But if I stop.
But if you stop.
And your neighbor.
And my neighbor.
And people are made aware.
Change can happen.
Oh and a little baby high-five to Nestle for making some effort
“Nestlé agrees to hire a third-party monitor to examine child labor in its supply chain.For a decade now, the world has known that cocoa in West Africa is often harvested by children under difficult and dangerous conditions. That cocoa is purchased by the world’s leading chocolate companies and eventually becomes the chocolate treats that we all love to eat. For years, the advocacy community has pushed the chocolate industry to do more to combat this intractable problem. This year, Nestlé agreed to hire the Fair Labor Association, a nonprofit monitoring group, to look for child labor and other problems in the Côte d’Ivoire.”
Sources:
http://www.free2work.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/DOL-Tainted-Goods-2010.pdf
http://stopchildlabor.org/?p=2528
http://www.care2.com/causes/do-your-clothes-come-from-slave-labor.html
http://www.free2work.org/trends/apparel/Apparel-Industry-Trends-2012.pdf
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