Taking a Hypocritical Bite at Apple

The last week or so I've seen a lot of people ragging on Apple over the factory conditions at Foxconn in China, who Apple contracts to do much of their production.

I'm just wondering how many of the people who are bashing Apple and swearing they'll never buy an Apple product have anything by Acer, ASUS, Cisco, Netgear, Lenovo (or Dell. Do they have a Nintendo DS or Wii?? What about a Microsoft XBox 360?? Sony laptop. playstation, or PSP?? Do they have an Amazon Kindle or Barns and Noble Nook?? What about anything from IBM or HP? Do they have Intel Inside?? Do they have a Motorola, Sony Ericsson or Nokia mobile phone? What about a Panasonic or Sharp TV, DVD, or laptop? A Vizio monitor??

If the answer to any of those is "yes", then congratulations. You're using a product more than likely ALSO made by Foxconn, in the exact same factories and conditions that Apple products are made in.

Wouldn't it make more sense, rather than ragging on one company, to hold ALL of them to task for the conditions their contractors maintain? Or is it simply easier to lash out at one particular company and ignore the rest?

Comments

[G]

Good post Patrick! Well said.

[Mark M]

The point they're trying to make, Patrick, is that Apple has by far the biggest clout with regards to its contractors. If Apple were to require certain minimum labor standards for the factories that produce its products, it would cover a greater proportion of the labor force in China, and thus make it easier to get the other companies to also comply.

Somebody has to be the first to take a stand. Apple, as the biggest guy in the market, is the one being asked to do so.

[Mary]

I would pay more for a PC if
(a) it and its parts were made in the US, and
(b) if I could be assured of a good quality product that wouldn't have a 20% chance of some major part failing within a year.

Those 2 items may be related.

[Phil]

Further to Mark M's comment.

I'd also add that Apple makes more profit per employee then any other company using Foxconn's "services". So not only are they engaged in the same practises but their consumers don't even get as much benefit in pricing from it as those that buy their competitor's products.

This then forces that competiton to drive conditions even lower in an attempt to compete. It's not called a race to the bottom for nothing.

The simple solution of course is to require all imports to be manufactured under working conditions equivalent to the minimum standards applicable to workers in western nations. And for those that aren't either ban their import or place tariffs on them equivalent to what they would have cost to manufacture. Unfortunately since big business owns the government and the average voter is a moron, this will never happen.

[Suranis]

There was a big lawcase about 10 to 15 years ago where the EU decided to import bananas from Haiti rather than South America, even though Haitian Bananas were more expensive, because they preferred the working conditions Haitian bananas were made under. (I may be getting the name of the countries mixed up but its the overall story that's important. And I'm too lazy to look it up right now) The us took the EU to the WTO, arguing that such a move contravened free trade. The US won and the EU was forced, and yes I mean forced, to import south American bananas instead. Devastation for Haitian farmers followed.

SO the EU was not allowed by the US to chose its own product even if it was more expensive due to humanitarian constraints. And you are surprised by the foxconn BS?

This computer which I've put together out of parts has a Foxcon motherboard, and oddly I'm not going to feel guilty as long as fucked up shit like that banana story is allowed to happen. Besides I didn't know about Foxcon when I bought it. Its actually a pretty decent motherboard too.