THE ADBUSTERS SOLUTION
PEACEFUL REVOLT AGAINST THE NIKE CORPORATION Keeping with true Adbusters philosophy, they have devised a shoe in resemblance to the Nike corporations popular Converse sneaker. Many people are not aware that Converse is even owned by Nike but it is. The Nike brand has been exposed many times for the shameful way in which they manufacture their products, yet many are unaware of the situation. For those who don't know what Adbusters is, they are a publication bent on fighting back on media propaganda and capitalism overdrive; therefore they have absolutely no ads in their magazine.
The Blackspot shoes campaign is all about providing an environmentally friendly, anti - corporation shoe to be sold and worn proudly. Now before you get defensive and point out the obvious fact that Blackspot shoes involve marketplace and branding you must understand that Adbusters was never against selling things, people need things, they were just against exploitative selling accompanied by psychologically harmful messages. This is an attempt to turn entrepreneurship into a legitimate business.
I love fashion, magazines, and beauty products as much as the next girl, but if we have options that are less exploitative and harmful why not take them? I'm not saying give up all the things we love about the industry, but don't reject solutions to the problems that the industry has.
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| Classic Blackspot sneaker |
Some would argue that we need child labour and workshops in order for a country to grow.
ReplyDeletePeople in developed countries protest sweatshops jobs because the long hours, low wages, and danger that takes place seems cruel. Although this protesting can help improve the safety and quality of working conditions, one should not cancel out the idea of sweatshop labour as a whole. People need these jobs after all, and sweatshop labour is the rung in the ladder out of extreme poverty.
Look at the Bangladesh garment Industry for instance. Women in the garment industry have no break, short lunches and are constantly sexually harassed by bosses: but they like the jobs, because the wages provide a personal liberation that wasn't offered in the patriarchal, unschooled, hungry countryside that is their alternative.
Still, I support the little guys, and AdBusters was really cool to come out with thier own version of Converse - we can all agree that Nikes had enough business. Aren't AdBusters also donating the profit to charity?
Love your Blog Eddie!
Although I agree that workshops are a necessary first step to take in developing third world countries, and that the work is liberating in itself, mega sweatshops can be horribly abusive to their workers. I encourage jobs, but why can't we have unionized workshop jobs in developing countries that pay a decent wage and don't take advantage of their staff?
ReplyDeleteAs for donating the profits to charity, I am not sure if they do that, although I do know that adbusters only sells their shoes to local shops worldwide in attempt to pump some money back into local economies instead of supporting the already dominating mega - stores like Wal-Mart.
Thanks for commenting!