Who Cares ?

     

                Demonstrations held outside Gap offices following a series of tragedies in Bangladesh

              

              It came as no surprise to me, as I scanned the results of a recent NPR study, to learn that just a 5% price increase was enough to deter two thirds of shoppers from purchasing garments labeled as “ethically produced.” However the survey also cited that in an experiment where the price of both garments was kept the same, of costumers who recognized the label only 50% chose to purchase them versus the unlabeled identical pair. This lead me to believe the middling resistance against corporations using sweatshops, save for the weeks following a tragedy, is because shoppers (we) lack an emotional response when given the option between ethical and unethical clothing. We lack empathy.

Our favorite clothing companies, are chiefly responsible for this. They have done a great job of dissociating their brand with negative images of abuse and unhealthy conditions in their factories across the world. Forfeiting vertical integration for reasonable deniability these companies send manufacturing duties to nameless production companies to further distance their involvement. A NYT article published shortly after the Bangladesh factory collapse detailed this relationship, “Production is farmed out to contractors and subcontractors with revolving labor pools. Last year, Walmart claimed that it did not know that a supplier had subcontracted orders to a Bangladeshi factory where more than 112 workers died in a fire.” Corporations use these "middle men" to evade the inevitable clean up. 

Companies must be held responsible for their actions. No other avenue of action will solve the global issue of sprawling sweatshops and unethical treatment of workers. If our money represents votes determining validity of a company and their product then aren’t we also condoning unethical treatment of factory workers?  The NPR study showed that the issue was not dependent of money but also on awareness and perceived sense of agency. Steven Greenhouse, a columnist with the New York Times wrote, “There have to be signals to government and suppliers, especially when you have loss of life, that positive steps have to be taken,” he said. “But you also have to have companies saying, ‘Enough is enough. We want to see significant change or we can’t source here.’ ”

In terms of solutions that we as high schools and contributors to the global market can enact Richard Locke, deputy dean of M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management says seeking to further our own knowledge, “About how the things we buy everyday are made,” is the first step to making a difference. The occurrences in Bangladesh have inspired me to continue the strides we’ve made in class and extend our message to the community as a personal initiative that I felt spoke to me.