I am to blame for the Bangladesh factory collapse

That may sound like a very harsh statement. While I did not build the factory or failed to ensure that its inspection was done on a regular basis…while I did not ignore the safety hazards evident in the structure of the building, I am to blame.

Western businesses have come up with an amazing idea: they have moved away from manufacturing and the responsibilities that that entails and have simply become buyers. They order items such as the shirts we wear and it is up to the manufacturer to provide…it is up to the manufacturer to decide what to pay its employees…it is up to the manufacturer to decide whether to stop production due to safety issues…and it is up to the manufacturer to deal with the ever decreasing selling price that Western businesses demand for products.

The aftermath of such a horrific event has led many businesses, such as Canada’s Loblaw Companies Ltd, to state that they will work to ensure that building inspections are done regularly and that funding is available for maintaining factories so that ‘accidents’ do not occur. Where in the public discourse is the topic of wages? Yes, a system needs to be in place to ensure that a building does not collapse again. But there are workers in Bangladesh who are working for a mere 18 cents an hour! This reliance on and exploitation of cheap labor will continue to occur if companies continue to demand rock bottom prices.

A frightening chain will continue to occur:

Customer wants to buy a t-shirt for $5 –> businesses want to purchase t-shirts from overseas manufacturers for $1 –> manufactures know that it costs $3 to make so they have to decrease wages in order to fulfill their contractual obligations with big business and make a profit –> workers are paid mere cents.

The above illustration is fabricated…maybe it is much worse that I imagine!

The point is that there are many players in the chain: the consumer, the buyer (Big Business), the manufacturer and the cheap labor.

This is a very complicated issue that cannot be resolved with tackling just one aspect of that chain. Indeed, businesses need to be willing to spend a bit more to buy products but there are so many layers to this issue:

(1) Labor unions need to be given power

(2) Building inspections needs to be done regularly

(3) Consumers need to take a stand against slave-like conditions of the workers who make the products we purchase

While I cannot tackle all the issues because (1) I would have to write a book instead of a blog and (2) I am sure I do not know about all the factors that contribute the slavery in 2013, I want to focus a bit on our shopping habits.

Consumerism and the role of advertising

In capitalist Canada, the economy is controlled by multinational corporations whose main goal is profit maximization. With a myriad of commodities on the Canadian market, multinational corporations have become a dog-eat-dog industry that epitomizes ruthless competition. In order to ensure that consumers are aware of and choose to buy a particular corporation’s commodity, the avenue of advertising has become crucial in ensuring profit maximization. To increase the consumer’s awareness of a commodity, the process of branding has been applied to all major products on the market. As Naomi Klein stated in her book No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No jobs, this process of branding is about marking a product with a logo that sends a clear message to the consumer about its consistency and quality. Once affixing a logo to a product, corporations engage in mass advertising to attract consumers. Today it is not enough to simply create television ads to increase awareness; advertising has to manipulate consumers by telling them how to think and what they should want. Every day consumers are constantly being bombarded by images of products on television, buses, newspapers and even coffee cups. Mass advertising has become ubiquitous because corporations believe that the ingraining of products into the minds of consumers will create a system of wants that will inevitably increase consumption of goods and services.

As different companies advertise the same products, advertisers have realized that it is not enough to bombard consumers with images in the hopes that they will choose one product over the other. Consumers need to relate to and forge a relationship with products. It is only then that one product can be superior over another. To ensure product superiority, an influential form of brand management is being used across Canada: emotional branding. Emotional branding is a relational and story driven approach that is aimed at manipulating consumers by encouraging them to forge a deep bond with products. As a result, modern day capitalism is not about selling a product but about selling an idea or a lifestyle. This idea of lifestyle branding focuses on creating the ideology of brands being able to enrich lives so that consumers begin to associate the brand with good conditions such as happiness or youth.

Photo Credit: Evian

To further stress this newly created false ideology, celebrities are increasingly being incorporated into advertising in order to sensitize young consumers to brands. This false ideology results in the increase of hyper-consumerism and conspicuous consumption. As a result of this false consciousness, consumers become slaves to mass consumption and in effect become slaves to the self-interests and self-preservations of multinational corporations.

With such strong forces shaping our ways of thinking, we do not see the dangers of hyper-consumerism. We often hear that eating food in moderation is a healthy way to live. What about shopping in moderation? With individuals often being critiqued based on what they wear, it is no surprise that our malls are continually packed…it is no surprise that credit card debt is increasing at a fast and frightening rate.

I am to blame 

I am not saying that I am the sole factor in the equation that provided the environment for the collapse of the Bangladesh factory. I am but one of the reasons that slavery still exists today. I am a shopper. I do not go to the mall everyday. There are times where I haven’t stepped into a mall in months. However, if you look into my closet you will see many dresses, t-shirts, pants, shoes…many of which I have not worn in years. But I still buy new clothes or new shoes.

Our need to keep up with the ever changing fashion trends has led to many of us buying clothing and only wearing it for a season because heaven forbid we wear a pair of pants that was so last year!

Walking through the stores in a mall, a trend has been emerging where poorly made clothing are not only sold but shoppers are aware that they are poorly made and they are still willing to buy it. With poorly made clothing being sold at low prices at stores such as Forever 21, we justify buying it because next year a new fashion trend will be around and we will have no need for that poorly made outfit. In our minds, it is better to buy an item of clothing that only lasts for 2 months than to buy something that lasts for a year because it is easier to throw away/stop wearing that tattered item than to throw away/stop wearing that perfectly fine item.

I am not saying that we need to not shop ever again. But do we need 15 pairs of shoes? Do we need 5 different style of dresses in the same color? Do we need to follow the advice of the fashion police who yearly compiles a list of what to wear and what not to wear?

If I keep buying clothing when I already own enough that can fill a store, I am only contributing to the continued exploitation of workers. If I keep shopping, demand will increase and corporations will have to go looking to places such as Bangladesh to purchase more clothing at low prices. If I keep shopping, more buildings will collapse and more people will die. If I keep shopping, I will continue to be a slave of capitalism.

I leave you with a trailer for a movie I saw once about advertising: