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Chapter 7: Families and intimate relationships

 

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Case studies Video clips Weblinks Further reading Podcasts

 

Case study

The No Logo campaign and ethical consumption

Naomi Klein’s popular book, No Logo (2000), did much to expose the sweatshop labour in poor countries that produces most of the developed world’s retail products, which are often marketed with brand names, logos, and catchphrases that reflect youth, freedom, and independence. For example, ‘Nike sneakers have been traced back to the abusive sweatshops of Vietnam, Barbie's little outfits back to the child labourers of Sumatra, Starbucks’ lattes to the sun-scorched coffee fields of Guatemala, and Shell’s oil back to the polluted and impoverished villages of the Niger Delta’ (Klein 2000, p. xviii).

In most sweatshops, workers are paid only a few dollars a day. As the Boycott Nike campaign exposed, unions are banned and working conditions are poor: shifts are long, and health and safety standards low. Klein’s book did much to expose the hypocrisy behind popular brands, which often evoke ‘freedom’, independence, and quality as part of their logos, while supporting sweatshop labour. Her point was to show that social protest can make a difference, and to make consumers aware of the ethical choices they can make when purchasing products. One approach to ‘ethical consumption’ is the Fair Trade movement. It aims to improve the living standards of producers in less developed countries by buying products directly from them at above market prices. The Fair Trade logo and certification are used as a consumer guarantee that the products have been produced without child or forced labour in healthy, safe, and environmentally sustainable conditions, and purchased at a price that covers the costs of sustainable production.

References and further information

Klein, Naomi. 2000, No Logo, London, Flamingo.

Web sources

  1. Naomi Klein’s No Logo website: http://www.nologo.org/
  2. Boycott Nike campaign: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/sweatshops/nike/
  3. Fair Trade Foundation: http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/

Discussion questions

  1. Many commentators suggest that our identity is expressed through our consumption practices, particularly the brands we buy and the logos we display. Do you wear clothes and buy other goods that display brands and logos? Why/why not?
  2. Given that so much clothing and so many electrical goods are made in developing countries, some of which use sweatshop labour, do you think it is possible to be an ethical consumer?
  3. Do you take ethical considerations into account when consuming goods and services? Why/why not?
  4. Are there limits to consumer power in changing unethical corporate practices? What other courses of action could be pursued?