Friday, 14 January 2011

Nike - high quality clothing, low quality ethics?

Nike has been accused over the years for the exploitation of its factory workers overseas and for endorsing child labour. Nike had factories in places such as South Korea and Taiwan but moved out because workers wanted higher wages which were above poverty level wages. Therefore they relocated to countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and Indonesia to save money.

Recently factory workers in Honduras claim that when Nike shut down two manufacturing plants in January 2009, the employees were denied severance pay totaling more than $2.5 million.


Children in Vietnam are making Nike shoes worth £70 and only being payed 12p an hour. Nike makes billions yet still pays employees peanuts in comparison to what they make in earnings. Image is everything to Nike. They spend an estimated $280 million a year on celebrity endorsement. They have had people such Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan to endorse their brand in the past.

Clearly child labour is not right, however despite these facts about how Nike has treated its workers, does it still deter you from purchasing their products and can anything really be done to help eradicate the exploitation of workers?
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2 comments:

  1. Lewington14 January 2011 at 11:19

    Would it deter me from buying products? No..
    If I like a pair of shoes, I'll buy them without thinking about who made them. If the football club I love had a shirt made by Nike would I think about child labour and not buy it to protest? No, I'd still buy it. It's my football club. On top of that, I doubt a single person protest would make much difference anyway. There's a lot of people who complain about child labour and go out and spend loads on clothes that've been made by these kids, only to slate the companies who use their situation advantageously; I hate to say it, but I'm not one of them. I don't have any strong attachments to the children working for next to nothing, and I'm not afraid to admit that I'll buy the clothes they make for such low wages, coz obviously the wages they're making them for are worth it if they're producing such high-quality products year in year out.

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  2. Evija Germane14 January 2011 at 15:54

    Knowing these facts if Ill have an opportunity to choose some other brand over Nike, I probably will, otherwise this would not deter me from buying Nike products.
    I believe that countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan should have some regulations that demands from companies like Nike to pay fair wages.
    There always will be workforce that will work for less money and I cant imagine anything that would stop that.

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