Not buying Chinese is very difficult and the amount of people with the dedication to do this is miniscule and won't make an impact. Shaming the most profitable company in the world into either switching to a more ethical manufacturing partner or pressuring its manufacturing partner to improve working conditions is more likely to succeed. Success with this will increase the odds of success with other Western companies indirectly profiting from bad treatment of workers.
Why do people like to jump at one manufacturer while ignoring almost all of the others who have devices built in unsavoury conditions?
> not to think about how certain countries can make things this cheaply.
Some products - a t-shirt from a budget shop - cost a few dollars. We kind of expect those products to be made in a sweat shop. We hope there's at least some kind of legal regulation. And then there are expensive designer t-shirts - a $150 billionaire boys club t-shirt - and we really hope that these garments are not made in the same sweat shops. We really hope that some of that $150 trickles down to the factory in the form of much better regulation and conditions and pay.
Fairtrade-like schemes could work here, if they're done properly.
Bob produces widgets. He gets paid $0.20 per widget. I as the end consumer buy a widget for $1.00
If I pay $1.02, that's a 2% increase for me, and if that whole $0.02 goes to Bob he gets $0.22, a 10% increase.
Unfortunately, it feels like I pay $1.10, and Bob gets $0.02.
There's no doubt that working conditions in China can and should improve, and there's nothing wrong with trying to accelerate the process. But taking money out of the country probably isn't the answer. They are transitioning from a developing country to a developed one, and it is a process that will take time. Coercing the entire country (with boycotts) into improving conditions seems unlikely, and just focusing on one factory will only hurt the workers at that one factory.
In today's modern, integrated economy it is near impossible to buy anything that isn't at least partially made in China. Defence suppliers try to avoid foreign parts for political reasons and even they cannot prevent some components, metals, plastics or raw materials being sourced from China.
It is you who are living under a rock if you believe you can truly vote with your wallet. You don't have that choice any more. Even if you go out of your way to avoid all electronics (I guarantee you at least some of those components came from China) and only buy locally sourced, fair-trade hemp clothing you will still be giving money to someone else who is buying almost everything from China.
This doesn't just apply to China, it applies to every nation (except, maybe, North Korea, you really need to try hard to find something that they have exported recently). Economies are interconnected and boycotts are feelgood nonsense.
No, it's not pretty, and it's going to stay not pretty for a while. But buying goods from China, and buying a lot, is the best foreign aid money can buy.
I'm not indifferent, I'm just pointing out that viewing this as an Apple / Foxconn problem misses the point, and that most action based on that view will be ineffective and possibly even counter productive.
Journalists piggy back these stories on Apple because that shifts papers or gets clicks. That's fine as it raises the issue and puts pressure on companies to improve things (which seems to be happening).
As a result of this Apple are probably the most scrutinised company in China and are likely at the better end of things when it comes to how workers are treated. What does boycotting them and giving your business to a less scrutinised company really achieve?
The point is if you're going to use this as part of your buying decision, then assess it properly and apply the same standards to all the products and companies you are considering.
As for my position, I'm not sure what this wilful indifference really is.
My position is that other than monitoring the situation and revising my views as things change (for the better or worse), any significant action I might take would inconvenience me in a manner disproportionate to the impact it might have and that effort would be better invested elsewhere.
Simply doing nothing is only hypocritical if that's contrary to other actions or statements I make.
I guess my point is I find embracing consumerism at the expense of cheap labor to be more honest than refusing to admit my role in not being a solution.
You need to distinguish "I believe there are things I can do but I'm not doing them" (which is hypocrisy) with "I've thought about it and I don't think there is any meaningful action I can take" (which isn't).
I think I'm in the second camp. I may be wrong in my assessment of the situation and what I can do, but if that's true it's misguided rather than hypocrisy.
Good luck with that.
I presume Apple has the largest clout with Foxconn and can essentially demand better worker conditions from them. Other companies may not have as much leverage, though I agree there needs to be more awareness about things like laptops, XBox, and PS3.
Put this in the perspective it really needs - what percentage of Asia's comparable manufacturing output do you think Apple accounts for?
And now consider that it's not just Asia, it's countries all over South and Central America and Eastern Europe.
A friend of mine used to be a town planner and part of his job was getting planning permission for new McDonald's sites. When you're pitching to the relevant authorities in the UK, you're under no obligation to reveal who your customer is, just the basic nature of the business (in this case fast food restaurant). But, he said, they would often hint (in a deniable manner obviously) that they were representing Burger King because McDonald's had such a bad reputation.
That reputation while largely deserved, distinguished them only from what we'd want them to be like, not from their competitors. Any fast food chain on that scale at a corporate level is largely indistinguishable from McDonald's - it's how they remain competitive.
But McDonalds' rep meant that they got the kicking so people would rather have a (morally identical) Burger King in their town. Cosmetically a win perhaps, in reality nothing got any better anywhere.
What I'm saying in a very roundabout way, if you boycott Apple, if all you do is move your custom to another organisation who are no better, you've made close to no difference at all. If this really bothers you, then you probably need to look further afield for your next smartphone or PC or tablet than the next big player.
There are some interesting bits in there from the perspective of understanding the manufacturing process, but in terms of the worker conditions and so on, it's nothing new and anyone for whom this is news has presumably been hiding under a rock for the last couple of years and making a concious effort not to think about how certain countries can make things this cheaply.
That's not to make light of the conditions, just to say that we're all somewhat complicit and any outrage needs to be matched with action, not just against Apple but against anyone using Foxconn or their peers.