Holidays by Hasbro: Transformers from Hell

A sad press release from the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights:

Today, the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights is releasing an explosive 40 page report "Holidays by Hasbro, Transformers from Hell," including scores of photographs and documents smuggled out of the Jet Fair toy factory in China.

The Jet Fair sweatshop in China produces Hasbro's Transformers. "I challenge Hasbro's executives to imagine their own sons and daughters working under such miserable sweatshop conditions," said Institute director Charles Kernaghan. "It does not have to be this way."

  • Workers housed in filthy, over-crowded dorms, infested with rats and bed bugs. Workers report they cannot sleep at night from the bed bug bites.
  • Workers describe factory food at "Pretty much like swine food."
  • Workers allowed less than 9 minutes to assemble each Hasbro Transformer, for which they are paid 17 cents.
  • "We are drenched in sweat," workers say. Factory temperatures soar to 104 degrees F in summer.
  • During peak season, workers toil 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, while earning a take-home wage of just 92 cents an hour.
  • Workers undergo three body-searches each day, are not permitted to talk or lift their heads to look around, and need permission to use the bathroom.
  • Hasbro is open to the hiring of 14 and 15-year-olds on a "case-by-case basis."
  • Workers in the spray paint department fear they are being exposed to dangerous solvents.
  • There are no fire drills and some emergency exits are locked.
  • During the slow season, hundreds of workers are fired under false charges so management does not have to pay their legal severance.
  • Workers are cheated of paid sick leave and maternity leave.
  • Workers describe their work as mindless, miserable, constantly monotonous, yet furious and exhausting.

"While Hasbro demands all sorts of enforceable laws backed up by sanctions to protect their Transformers and other toys," said Charles Kernaghan, director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, "when it comes to the workers in China, Hasbro is happy to offer them useless voluntary codes of conduct which are designed to fail. Nothing will change until Hasbro and the other toy companies are held legally accountable to comply with internationally recognized workers' rights standards."

Wow, that is very disappointing to hear. We expect better from Hasbro - granted, most of those expectations are based on the fact that we like the company's products and don't want to consider the poor conditions under which they're made.

It gets even worse if you read their full report:

Come on, guys, don't you remember? Freedom is the right of all sentient beings! You allowing this to go on would be like Stan Lee telling someone that with their great power came no real sort of responsibility, so hey, go nuts True Believer! So show some accountability, Hasbro, and don't let your factory get away with this.

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72 Responses to Holidays by Hasbro: Transformers from Hell

  1. Victor Von Doombot says:

    That is really disappointing. I will be interested to see how Hasbro responds. I am definitely considering a boycott. We need to let them know this is unacceptable.

    • Diablo says:

      then go boycott Hasbro then! what's stopping you? less people like you means more opportunities for us cold, heartless, evil bastards to get ahold of those rare figures.

  2. Fries Against says:

    Thats the way of life over there. It's not Hasbro's fault China can't evolve as a society.

    • orpheus says:

      You're an idiot, Fries Against. "That's the way of life over there" because of the exploitation by an oppressive government and Western interests. The ignorance of your comment is incredible.

      • Diablo says:

        you're calling him an idiot even though he just wrote the truth? you an expert on asian politics or something? that's how tough reality is there so don't you be calling names. try being born in asia and make a living there while you're at it?

        if you really did care about those poor poor workers then why don't you boycott hasbro for good and give away all your toys because you're disgusted by the exploitation by an oppressive government and Western interests.

  3. Luke Porter says:

    I'm glad you shared this. I think it is important to know more about anything you buy. I hope that this exposure will convince Hasbro to clean up their act.

  4. Soundwinder says:

    I wonder how recent this is, if it correlates to the spike in QC problems around the start of Universe 2.0. Given that these bullet points make reference to "slow times" and "fast times" it must have been observed for at least a year, so I wonder how things would change with DotM (which to me seems like it marked a change in Hasbro's handling of TFs, with a price jump, smaller toys and reduced paint apps... I wonder how deep the change went or if it was more superficial).

  5. Victor Von Doombot says:

    Yeah. And to say "that's just the way of life over there" is just the way you try not to feel guilty about supporting it. Here's the thing: This factory isn't even living up to the already low standards of Chinese labor laws. It's Hasbro's responsibility to ensure that the factories they contract out to are not abusing their workers so blatantly, and it's our responsibility as consumers to hold them accountable if they don't. If you can compare your life as a consumer who pays money for... toys... to the lives of the kids who put them together for you... and not be forced to do some serious soul searching, then there is something really wrong with you.

    • bob says:

      its not Hasbro's responsibility to improve Chinese society and make them enforce their own laws. since when is Hasbro part of or is the Chinese government? its the governments responsibility to fix it or the people of china to rise up and fix it. if Hasbro pulls their product from that factory, the factory is still going to operate they will just produce toys for someone else.

      • yo go re says:

        Of course it's their responsibility: if they take their money out of that factory, then yes, someone else will move in, at which point it becomes THAT company's responsibility. When nobody is willing to deal with the factory that abuses its workers, then the factory will have no choice but to improve or its workers will go elsewhere.

        If you have more than enough food for your family, then it's your responsibility to make sure your neighbors don't go hungry. If you have extra toys, then it's your responsibility to donate to Toys for Tots. Not because of some external mandate, not because of the law or because God tells you to, but because the other option is to just do nothing and be a dick. And being a dick is a bad choice.

        As someone recently said, "the tactic of decrying the struggle against smaller offenses because there are greater problems elsewhere is a standard suppressive effort to maintain the status quo." You can't say "they'll produce toys for someone else" as an excuse for why Hasbro should allow this to go on; maybe the factory will, but Hasbro shouldn't be allowing the factory to produce toys for them under those conditions, because that's the dick move...

  6. DaveyDaken89 says:

    dude, thats completely sickening. i've always thought of hasbro as being one of the "better" toy companies, but this has rocked my view of them. i'll be boycotting all hasbro products till i hear a change has been made.

  7. Frowny says:

    Welp, someone responded. . .

    Hasbro takes all claims involving working conditions very seriously, and we are immediately investigating. The Company has a strong track record and has had long-standing policies and processes in place for years to help ensure good working conditions, including health and safety, at factories making our products. We strive to conduct business throughout our supply chain in accordance with the highest ethical standards, and we utilize not only ICTI– but also our own on-the-ground workforce– to monitor social compliance. For more information about Hasbro’s comprehensive corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, including more detail regarding Hasbro’s policies and practices related to ethical product manufacturing, please visit Hasbro.com/csr.

    Not quite entirely dismissive BS, but it also doesn't say much.

  8. Victor Von Doombot says:

    Yeah, it sounds exactly like the stuff they were saying already. That doesn't count as a response to this specific situation.

  9. Ugh. That's just a horrible thing to learn about. I don't buy any Transformers, but you know this kind of treatment is part of the culture there. It's just terrible that people can treat one another like that.

  10. yo go re says:

    I saw someone say fans aren't willing to pay what it would cost to raise the standards of working over there. That may be true, to an extent, but can anyone really say they WOULDN'T be willing to pay an extra 17¢ per figure, immediately doubling the workers' wages? It's a small change, and only one of several that really need to be made, but isn't making a small change for the better right now better than not making ANY change until it's possible to make a big one?

    Nine figures per hour at 17¢ per figure is $1.53 an hour. $3/hr doesn't sound like much to us, but it would be a huge jump for them, and it would mean paying $12.16 instead of $11.99. I don't see any problem with that...

  11. Victor Von Doombot says:

    Absolutely. But the problem is the company isn't charging us stupid high prices already because of labor costs, it's because they can. Same reason they contract to factories that turn out product at the lowest price. But yeah, I'd pay a lot more than that if it meant humane wages and conditions. Anyway, that argument doesn't hold water, as you point out, and is just more rationalizing.

  12. Monkey boy says:

    The problem is companies don't raise prices to pay higher wages to workers...they raise prices cause hey, screw you we want more money. The bitching you see with a matty price hike would probably disappear if they said it was going to pay Chinese factory workers who make a pittance. The problem is there's no incentive. People are buying figures; paying higher wages to workers wouldn't increase figures sold, and it's an added expense. Until consumers refuse to support the product, there'll be no change. There will never be a moral shift without a financial incentive.

    • Frowny says:

      I think a lot of us understand that, but at the same time my moral center is at war with poor impulse control and a semi-ob-com completist attitude. I'm getting better, tho. Of course, outside of RTS and Generations I don't much buy transformers anymore, but I have to figure this goes on a lot and TFs are all we're hearing about.

  13. Steelbolt says:

    I think that the trouble lies in how we try to convince companies to take action on things. I know that most diplomacy tactics have worked in the past, but I feel that we should try a new approach: prey upon the company's pride, goad them into re-opening factories and plants here in the US (though subject to greener improvements to not tick off the EPA). In other words, we should be bullying or fooling THEM into restoring job prospects for the country. Call them cheap and miserly for not giving us job oppurtunities, use rally-esque gatherings to insult the head honchos of the companies, and therefore trick them into doing what we hope they will do in order for them to save face. And the reason I mention targeting the head honchos is because when an Occupy the Port protest occurred in my neck of the woods (Seattle), it actually kept those who were already employed from doing their jobs. That was a big mistake for them.

    In other words, don't occupy Wall Street, CON it.

    In terms of paying more for such, I'd include in those same insults the notion that we as consumers would be willing to pay more for those things as long as the working conditions and wages are permanently at peak levels of high quality. I know I'd definitely pay for that. I also think it's time (greener) toy factories started popping up in THIS country (the US) again--people, especially the people of these United States of America, should be learning to pay for more quality-laden goods and services instead of impatiently going the cheap and easy route. To twist an old quote around: "Frankly my dear, YOU SHOULD give a damn."

  14. symbiote1982 says:

    This article made me feel physically sick, I gave up buying transformers after the armada unicron was released, but I still buy marvel universe figures from time to time, however I won't be anymore.
    I just pray to god I don't someday find out the factory that makes minimates engages in this kind of behaviour as then I'd have to stop buying the main line I buy on an ethical standpoint.

  15. Alex says:

    I find it hard to generate any outrage about this and i doubt it will affect my purchasing choices one iota

    • yo go re says:

      You find it hard? Then try harder. It's one thing if you decide not to change your buying habits, because that's a choice that you make for yourself. But it's entirely another to be given evidence that people are being treated like this and NOT have a visceral, gut reaction to the news...

      • that guy says:

        what are YOU doing to alleviate poverty? get off your damn computer and do something concrete instead of preaching over the internet on your moral high horse.

        • yo go re says:

          Like Stewie Griffin once said "Oh, 'clap clap clap clap clap'." Aren't YOU the clever one, putting us all in our place!

          Because A) there's nothing one could possibly do using a computer that would have a concrete effect and 2) since we are talking about this on the internet, we couldn't possibly do anything else in our free time, right? Right! How SMART you must be to have pieced together this deep, complex riddle! You get a little pat on the head.

          It's cute that you think... I don't know, what? That you're going to be able to shame us? That the people angered by this are only talking a big game to show off? Whatever you're trying to say. But come on, this is the internet: people have been trying to use the "what are you doing about it" redirect in place of a real argument for decades now. Did you really think this was the time it was suddenly going to work? This was the time it would successfully change the discussion from the existence of real problems to defense of some imaginary accusation? No dice...

          • that guy says:

            ugh god, what else are you gonna feed me? anonymous is legion? that 99% bulllshit? I don't take humanitarian concerns from the upper middle class seriously because they're all theory and zero results.

          • F-kun says:

            yeah, but what ARE you going to do to alleviate poverty?

            Face it, you can't make a difference.

          • Mitch says:

            i'm not quite sure that guy is too articulate about what he wants to say, but after reading the comments i'm quite curious to what your stake in all this is or for anyone in the thread is in regards to this article. do you all still insist on buying products like this knowing that the production conditions could be this horrendous? or just saying that "this is terrible, hasbro should be ashamed" is enough to alleviate you of your inadvertent connection in this chain of human rights violations?

            do the people here also feel a sense of responsibility or is it just buyer's guilt?

          • Mitch says:

            i mean just adding to my last comment, why are you still reviewing hasbro toys? or for that fact buying the products knowing this?

    • PrfktTear says:

      I think theres a big difference between "nerdrage" and genuine concern about fellow human beings.

    • F-kun says:

      I don't even care if they're made of the bones of chinese children. shit happens and it's not like "paying extra" will do anything about it.

      • yo go re says:

        Paying extra will do more than "I don't care" does...

        • F-kun says:

          Yes... obviously "care".

          you're probably typing all that while preparing for more reviews of hasbro products. hypocrite.

          • yo go re says:

            Perhaps you're confused about what hypocrisy is? Yes, we've got more Hasbro reviews upcoming. Why? Because we don't buy things and write them up the same day they're posted. My next Transformer is the very Bumblebee in question, and the review talks about what, class? That's right, sweatshops!

            (Except that maybe like the guy who wrote the article either made things up or faked it, so the review will be pointing fingers at Hasbro incorrectly. But it stays in, because we own our mistakes, and it's still something worth educating readers about...)

  16. FeloniousMonk says:

    I like the guys who are threatening to boycott. Whatever. It hasn't been some great secret that working conditions in Chinese factories are shit, but that never stopped Westerners from buying cheap goods before. Now, alls-a-sudden, you give a shit? Yeah, whatever. You'll continue to obsessively army build your precious Zombie Vipers, sleep out in front of stores to be first in line to purchase new tech baubles/video games, and buy large quantities of assorted WalMart crappola you don't need.

    • monkey boy says:

      and exactly how is your callous cynicism better? having not only a "holier-than-thou" attitude, but also a sarcastic and almost gleefully nasty sentiment when it comes to human rights just makes you look like a jerk.

      conditions in chinese factories are not the best in most senses, and most of that fault lies with the chinese government and their ability to use cheap labor to export tons of goods all over the world. however, there are factories that adhere to basic, common sense protocols where human beings are at least treated like humans, and there are deplorable factories that flat out abuse workers and if a company is aware of it, they should take action.

      of course they won't, but i don't think there's anything wrong with being aware of what goes into the things you buy, and if it makes you think twice about buying it, then so much the better.

      just being a snarky a-hole about it doesn't really help anything, and just makes you look like a jerk.

      • F-kun says:

        yeah... but as long as I get my zombie vipers.

      • F-kun says:

        >just being a snarky a-hole about it doesn't really help anything, and just makes you look like a jerk.

        we're just following your example. we're still working hard to get to your level of vapid.

        • yo go re says:

          I don't know at what point you think Monkey Boy was snarky, but if you really want to follow his example, Step 1 is to nut up and stop pretending to be too cool for the problem. The only thing that's vapid here is the "golly shucks, there ain't not nothin' I can do about it" attitude. If you don't approve of what a company does, you don't support its actions, simple as that. And since this is the 21st century, you take five seconds out of your day to get their contact information and tell them WHY you're not supporting their actions. "One person can't make a difference" is a dumb claim in elections and it's just as naive in situations like this...

          • F-kun says:

            Well beats giving extra money to Hasbro under the pretense of "making working conditions better"

            I'd pick being a dick over being a pretentious hypocrite like you.

          • yo go re says:

            You really don't have anything to say, do you? No one is saying "let's pay Hasbro more and trust that they'll fix things," we're saying "if Hasbro pays to fix things, we won't complain when that price increase gets passed along." How's that pretentious? Or hypocritical?

        • monkey boy says:

          do you know what vapid means? because you're not using it right.

          also, whether you choose to stop supporting hasbro or not, what do you have against raising awareness of working conditions at factories? why do you think it's a bad thing to raise the issue and try to make people aware of where there toys/smart phones/clothes/shoes come from? how is that vapid? i'm not telling people to stop buying toys, i'm just telling people they owe it to themselves to be aware of what goes into what they buy.

    • PrfktTear says:

      its not too often i agree with monkey boy, but this is one of those times. so yeah, "what he said."

  17. PrfktTear says:

    Boycotting them now does not solve a thing. However we can send Hasbro a letter of intent and inform them that this is unacceptable if the conditions of these factories do not start to improve within six months that we WILL boycott their products.

    I think its time that we take a page from the heroes we grew up with and start fighting for what’s right.

  18. Bill says:

    I can't believe that this didn't make #1 on the "Worst of the Year" list. That is one of the most sickening things I've ever seen. In this day and age, and in a modern society, for people to have to live and work under such conditions is intolerable. They are practically no more than slaves. It's despicable that for the sake of saving a little money that people are treated like nothing more than garbage. It just goes to show you that "humanity" in general hasn't really evolved much since the dark ages. We just hide it better now.

    • OAFE says:

      It will be more interesting to see a followup visit to the factory next year: it's bad that this was going on,* but it would be a lot worse if Hasbro kept their business there now that they know.

      *Conceptually, we're all at least dimly aware that this sort of thing ALWAYS goes on, and this report was just an example of attention being brought to it. It's like Michael Vick and his dog-fighting ring: you know these things happen, but it's still shocking when it makes the news like that.

  19. Dutchman says:

    I've looked into this matter a bit further, and as it turns out, the author of this article is not reliable. He has made baseless accusations before that turned out to be false, and he never even visited the actual factories that he was accusing! I know that it's tempting to hate the big, bad corporation, because it IS easy to believe that they'd let something like this happen, but after learning that, I don't buy it. Especially with how focused Hasbro is on maintaining their image.

    Here's what someone else posted on this matter:

    "Earlier this year, The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights allegedly published a report written by Charles Kernaghan, the same man who's largely behind the Jet Fair National Ltd. report and who wrote the particularly vile preface. Which claimed that The Kardashians clothing items were being manufactured under sweatshop conditions and also accused them of child labour. I tried searching through the IGLHR website for the actual report, but couldn't find it and I think it's fair to assume that it's been taken down.

    Here's one of many articles regarding this particular incident. What I want to get to, however is the video on this page, in which Kernaghan openly admits that neither himself or anyone else associated with the IGLHR had actually been at the factory in question and that they were still investigating."

    The links in question:

    http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/22/kardashian-family-sweatshop-claims-not-true/

    http://www.tmz.com/2011/12/21/kim-kardashian-factory-china-slave-labor-tmz-live/#.TvNt3FY8d-Q

  20. DukeNukem 2417 says:

    There's no excuse for mistreating factory workers. I don't give a crap how badly people want Transformers; the workers who put them together are HUMAN BEINGS, and they deserve to be treated as such. That being said, I hope to God that this same factory isn't responsible for making the rest of the Hasbro toys, because if I find out that the ML Extremis Armor Iron Man I'm getting next year was made by a 14-year-old who was underpaid, malnourished and mistreated, I'll never be able to buy another Iron Man figure ever again without feeling like a cold-hearted bastard.

  21. Diablo says:

    If you naive morons are disgusted by this, then go boycott HABSRO then!

    I personally don't care about those workers. And no, I'm not kidding: all you dumb-ass emotional nimrods are more than welcome to stop buying Hasbro products and switch to other toy brands.... if you can!

    You're all weak and pathetic! Some of you speak of boycott, some are disappointed, some are repulsed. But will that really stop you from buying their products? you're stuck like heroin on an addict. Quit hasbro cold-turkey!

    • monkey boy says:

      again, i don't see what makes a person think that being callous and uncaring, open and unrepentant in your disregard for a person's wellbeing somehow makes you "better" than people who are upset by this. you laugh at people saying they don't have the balls to boycott hasbro, but your own stance is you "don't care about those workers"? i would respect someone undergoing some sort of moral struggle or having some vague sense of guilt than someone who just blatantly laughs at human suffering and brags about not caring. that doesn't make you "better" or less of a hypocrite, it just makes you a thoughtless and despicable human being who's proud of their lack of a conscience and moral compass.

      as i said, i'm not even calling for a hasbro boycott. i just think people should be aware of what goes into what they buy. if they're okay with it, or decide not to support it, or feel bad but buy it anyway...at least they know, and knowing is half the battle.

      i really fail to see why anyone feels it's a better attitude to say outright that you have no remorse whatsoever and don't care about human rights and anyone who does is an idiot. in what world do you think that makes you the better person?

    • AJ says:

      Why hello there, Awful Human Being. "I personally don't care about those workers." Really? That's the stance you're going to take? I hope to god you're a troll and not someone who sincerely acts like this in his or her day-to-day life.

  22. Peter Xeno says:

    i am boycotting this website instead. it sickends me too see plenty hypocrites here. plenty talk but no action always sitting with big fat asses and complain complain. get a life

    • OAFE says:

      Which "you" will be boycotting, Peter or Diablo? Since you're both posting from the same place?

      • Diablo says:

        Duh! We're brothers (Peter is my kid brother) and we both live at the same house and use the same computer. Doesn't need a genius to figure that out. Or you thought that we were full of shit and you tried to exploit and humiliate us?

        • OAFE says:

          Exploit? That doesn't even make any sense. Yes, I thought you were a sockpuppet, since two people from the same place posted right after one another with the same strangely snotty attitude.

    • monkey boy says:

      i think i speak for everyone at OAFE when i say "don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya" on your way out.

  23. Cerebracon says:

    as long as i see hasbro take some ownage on this and attempt to either prove the claims wrong, improve conditions as much as they can, or pull out of that facility if improvements can't be made. as long as they show some morality and actually make a humane attempt to quell this issue i won't feel like a total douche for buying their products... if they can't disclaim it and just try to push it under the rug then it's gonna be a little harder on the morality to buy their products... i'm not gonna say i'd boycott them, they make too many lines to totally avoid them as a collector, but i will cut down on impulse buys from them just cause i have the extra cash, which really doesn't sound like much but it's a few hundred dollars a year, that may not sound like much but if every one i know who collects a hasbro line cut out the variants, the multi armors and the re-paints in 6 colors that's pushing over an 80 thousand dollar loss on hasbro's part, which would be enough of a loss to make them realize that fixing the issue will gain them more "extra" revenue if their consumers feel that their factories are at least humane on par with the rest of china... the whole thing may not be real due to the author of the article being full of bull but i still want to see a follow up report by hasbro and the human rights board before i'm buying this story as is right now.

  24. yo go re says:

    There was a great article posted on Cracked today: The 7 Stupidest Things That Make People Proud. #5 is of particular interest to this discussion:

    Not Being Shocked at Things

    You see this everywhere. Someone posts a video of a child being run over by a bus, people respond with shock and horror at this awful thing and eventually some guy feels the need to tell everyone that it didn't faze him at all and he didn't even stop drinking his Mountain Dew. He totally sees worse things than that over on 4chan every day, but he totally understands why sheltered people like you might have weaker stomachs.

    These are people who equate shock with weakness, visualizing a bunch of people who have to fan their faces and reach for their smelling salts. This kind of thing happens all the time, they think. If you delicate people have a fainting spell every time you see something mildly disturbing, why, you must be fainting all the time. How can you even function?

    Well, when we're talking about a child being beaten or killed, or dead bodies being defiled, that kind of thing should not happen all the time. Maybe it does, but the only way anything is going to get done about it is if people react with surprise and revulsion that someone would allow or accept this, or, in a word, are "shocked." Shock means you don't just calmly expect a child to be beaten on video with the same attitude you expect the bus every morning.

    If you accept that this sort of thing just happens and your first thought is pride at not having reacted to it, you're not tough and worldly. You're a self-centered ass. You're thinking, "How does this make me feel?" while other people were thinking about what the person in the video was feeling.

    Incidentally, people who are shocked can also be obnoxiously self-centered when most of their conversation is about how outraged and self-righteous they feel, getting on a soapbox and arguing heroically against imaginary people in their head who are defending the bad thing. What you're going for here, as a decent human being, is some kind of reaction that's about the person in trouble and not mostly about you.

    I know people can't control how they feel, and some people really might feel nothing due to a variety of reasons, but it's not about the initial reaction, it's about whether they're going to walk into a discussion about another person's horrific incident and act like the most important thing they can contribute is to inform people how they themselves personally didn't react to it. I think it's safe to say someone who really needs to let you know that is an ass.

    In other words, everybody whose response to this was "so what" can take a long walk off a short pier...

  25. Nobody says:

    "And it certainly didn't help that UOP was one of the toys named in the paper that accused Hasbro of human rights violations. Even after the verity of that report was called into question (short version for those who don't want to read through the comments: the author has a documented history of straight-up fabricating claims, and the paperwork used as "evidence" doesn't match the products it's supposed to), I still stayed away. But when an incredible sale at Kmart dropped the price to $22 - less than what TRU is charging for a Voyager Class figure now - I finally bit."

    I guess all those horrible atrocities and disgusting working conditions dont really matter much when confronted by an incredible sale

    • yo go re says:

      No, all those horrible atrocities and disgusting working conditions don't really matter much when confronted by being made up. Remember this part of the paragraph you took the time to cut and paste?

      "the author has a documented history of straight-up fabricating claims, and the paperwork used as 'evidence' doesn't match the products it's supposed to"

      Wait, here, let's bold it, so it's harder for your half-formed, "my sister/mom drank paint thinner while she was pregnant with me" brain to miss:

      "the author has a documented history of straight-up fabricating claims, and the paperwork used as 'evidence' doesn't match the products it's supposed to"

      I mean, Christ, we put a short version in there for people too lazy to read the long version, but now you're too lazy to read the short version, too? Thumbs up, you pusillanimous shitwit!

      There's no question that the working conditions at the best Chinese factory are worse than we'd ever accept domestically, but that doesn't necessarily equate to human rights abuses. It's just that making accusations of "this place is horribly unpleasant by cushy Western standards" isn't as sensational as "OMG, this place tortures its workers and treats them like slaves!1!!" The author prefers the second tactic, and counts on people forgetting, ignoring, or never finding out that he's exaggerated it all for attention. And yeah, we fell for it. We all took this report at face value without questioning it. But as more facts became available, I made the decision to break my TF boycott until such time that we hear these reports from a reliable source...

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