A report on Hasbro factory

[Prowl]

like Cadbury made a decision to use non-slave labour and absorbed the costs themselves for their Dairy Milk chocolates - choosing not to increase the cost of their products and passing the additional cost to consumers.

That is simply not true. Kraft instead chose to decrease package sizes (like most other food manufacturers) to increase profit margins whilst maintaining the same shelf price to mislead the consumer.

[Prowl]

So far it doesn't seem apparent that Hasbro were consciously aware that these questionable practices were happening, and to Hasbro's credit, they did say that they will investigate (whereas please for the Sherriff to help people fell on deaf ears).

Hasbro know through their gross margin lines the type of conditions their subcontracted labour force works under. They just choose like so many others to ignore it & hope it will go away. As for their "investigation" the only thing they will investigate is how to minimise the global impact on their products due to the negative publicity. I am not saying Hasbro are any different or worse than the other global corporations who profit from others misery. It is what it is unfortunately.

Are Hasbro signatories to some form of global fair trade/sustainability agreement? Not sure what it is called but I do quite a bit with PEFC & FSC certified products & the companies that have those certifications pay a huge premium to do so & are regularly audited to ensure they comply on all levels globally. It is the same deal with Rainforest Alliance & Fair Trade coffee/tea manufacturers.

[1orion2many]

Yes we know it's horrible and harsh what these workers endure to make us our beloved toys, and we do wish somehow they are better off - but at the end of the day, i.e. realistically, do we care enough and are willing to dedicate ourselves to changing these conditions?

We could somehow contribute to having toys being made in much better circumstances, but if in that situation the costs arise would we be willing to pay higher prices at our expense?

Some of us would, some of us won't. It's one of the odd ways how societies and the values they hold works.

Slave labouring has been around forever unfortunately and though we would like to think we can put an end to it, it's much, much easier said than done.

I don't know a solution to this problem, but in the meantime I guess the best I could do is to take greater appreciation for all the toys I have. We do live in a very privileged side of the world after all...

I would have thought the price we pay would already cover a better wage, Unfortunately it doesn't go to the people who need just the Fat Cats at the top.

[Prowl]

Exactly. Both classic and modern economics advocate that the only purpose of companies is to profit; and corporate value lies in the maximization of shareholder value, which is the residual profit anyway. Performances of executives and staff and share prices are all linked to revenue increase and cost reduction. Those executives are brought up in an economic morale and profit is their only belief; whoever even tries to uphold social responsibilities (beyond what their local legislation requires) would never end up climbing to their executive chairs in the first place.

That is not strictly true. Working for one of the top 100 corporations globally they have a vested interest in ethical sourcing & sustainability. We are more interested in healthy profits of course but many of my customers who are some of the top companies in this country demand a certain percentage of products are "green" & ethically sourced. This of course looks better on investor statements & annual reports for both client & corporation.

[GoktimusPrime]

People talk about Hasbro being proactive rather than reactive, but in the history of society this just doesn't happen. No country or company ever does anything until after a critical event happens.

Seems to be human nature.

You won't believe how frequently I see teachers allow students (either passively or sometimes even directly) violate school rules... often with the justification of "I got better things to do," or "This isn't part of my job." -- and the first excuse probably is true... but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.

Hasbro might be thinking, "Our job is to make toys, not to make the world a better place for factory workers in developing countries."

Another difficulty -- and this is something that others have touched on before -- is the level of corruption in places like China. It's so widespread and endemic it's not funny. When I was in China I witnessed things like:

+ People openly ignoring traffic rules. I met a Canadian guy who'd be living in Guangzhou for 8-9 years and I told him that being Canadian must be useful when it comes to driving in China because they drive on the right hand side of the road, and said, "There's no advantage, people here drive anywhere they like! Left, right, middle..." -- so true! In fact, several times I almost got run over while walking on the footpath!! (because people were driving cars or riding motorcycles on the footpath where I was walking!)

+ Police openly ignoring traffic rules! Possibly also ignoring OH&S regulations (if they exist like they do here), such as cops riding bikes without helmets - sometimes wearing sneakers instead of hard-top shoes or boots! If they can't even be bothered to enforce safety regulations for police officers, what can we expect for factory workers??

+ Counterfeits GALORE! It was actually much harder to find legit toys than it was to find fakes!!

Now I'm not saying that all police and officials in China are corrupt - in fact, I had the pleasure of meeting two really nice police officers who found my wallet after I'd dropped it in a coach (after I'd gotten up to help a woman and child with their luggage -- climbing over a young man who was seated at the aisle who couldn't be bothered helping the woman who was just across from him ) ... but the amount of corruption there is clearly visible and anyone from China will admit that it's rampant.

I once watched a documentary about a police detective in China who was following up cases of girls abducted from rural villages and sold to couples who want to have a daughter (but cannot have their own due to the one-child policy), or because their only sons are having trouble finding brides. This detective was constantly thwarted at every turn by a system that was completely indifferent toward the plight of these missing girls, and indeed, several members of the police who were even working to destroy evidence and cover up the abductions!

China doesn't have the shiniest track record when it comes to human rights... so considering that the Chinese bureaucracy itself doesn't seem keen on improving standards for some of its people, how much can foreign companies do? China probably tolerates it because:
1/ Doing something about it requires effort and money, and the problem is massive,
2/ Keeping workers impoverished means cheap labour which means more foreign investment which means more money for officials and the government. Individuals may suffer, but the nation prospers - arguably the core tenet of Communism.

Now I am not for a moment saying that Hasbro shouldn't be doing anything... they should... but just saying that there are limitations to what they can do. It's all good for Hasbro to demand new practices, but ensuring that these practices are consistently enforced and implemented across the board in the factory is difficult.

It's bloody difficult enough to get things consistently implemented on a LOCAL basis (which is something that personally bugs me - see my signature ) let alone on an international scale.

This of course looks better on investor statements & annual reports for both client & corporation.

Which is probably why Hasbro has said that they will investigate these allegations, and if there's any visible truth to it, take some action. Not necessarily out of the goodness of their hearts, but because it will make them look good to shareholders and investors. That's why Nike when had had their Malaysian factory overhauled when a media exposé revealed that they were using slave labour... Nike immediately cried foul and said that they were unaware of this situation, then moved quickly to change conditions at that factory.

But I suppose no matter the reasons, so long as conditions improve for the workers without hitting the hip pocket of consumers, then it's all good. Some people say that many great acts of 'compassion' have occurred out of ethically/morally dubious motives.

[Seraphim Prime]

Do you think Takara toys are made in the same factories, or just Hasbro?

I'm pretty sure all Transformers are made in the same factories. Hasbro and Takara.

I'm pretty sure that, when I read the article, one of the packing slips was addressed with TakaraTomy as the client.

On the topic of the article, and what we can do about. I've actually been pretty impressed by Hasbro's response to the article.

Sadly, to do anything about this would require a substantial impact on our standard of living, something that many people are not willing to do, and would have to be far reaching. Many of these decisions are made because managers are forced into ever increasing returns, to appease shareholders, the majority of whom are superannuation/insurance companies, who in turn are expected to be showing great reutrns on investment to those who are with them. So to change the system, not only would you be changing your own purchases, but would need to change where your superannuation investments were made and what you were willing to pay.

This is not to say that change can not be made. Look at where we are now in terms of even simple things like recycling and E-Waste disposal. 15 years ago, we were still trying encourage recycyling, nopw everyone does it almost second nature (except in some majors shopping centres where there is still no option...).

Another example, in terms of commitment to a cause, is the commitment of William Wilberforce and the others who aimed to stop Britain's use of slavery, who vowed to not use sugar in their tea because it was produced with slave labour. A small action, but showed how their principles permeated all areas of their life, and was able to send a public message of contempt to the sugar companies.

[Paulbot]

Hasbro's latest response

Immediately following some unsubstantiated allegations posted by an outside group regarding working conditions at the Jet Fair factory, Hasbro, together with ICTI, deployed a team to investigate, as we take such claims very seriously. Following an unannounced, nine-hour inspection of the facility this past week, we are satisfied that Jet Fair meets with Hasbro’s rigorous requirements.

While Hasbro is committed to continual improvement in all facets of corporate social responsibility, including continued ethical product manufacturing at Jet Fair and all factories that produce Hasbro products, the inflammatory allegations made by the NGO in their report were unsubstantiated by our investigation. As a matter of course, Hasbro will continue to monitor conditions at Jet Fair and all of our factories.

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.

[griffin]

But that's just a textual claim, with no photographic proof of what they are saying.
At least the "unsubstantiated allegations" were backed up with photographic proof, while Hasbro couldn't even substantiate its own claims.

Who's the one who's "unsubstantiated" then... hmmm?

[GoktimusPrime]

In all honesty, the photographs I saw just... looks like China. Actually, looks better than a lot of parts of China I've seen. :/ By Western standards they may look appalling, but by Chinese standards they don't look unusual. I'm just talking about the photos, and not the text description - which does sound worse than what I have seen in Chinese factories - and I have been in a Chinese toy factory before (albeit a very small one that just manufactured components for toys and didn't assemble full toys themselves). At this one place we stayed at this hired apartment -- the toilet didn't have a cistern... we had to "manually" flush it with a big bucket of water. And this was the conditions in a hired apartment building for guests!! Alright, it wasn't five star or anything... but still!

But I do agree that it would have helped Hasbro's defence if they'd elicited the investigating company to provide photo and/or video evidence... aren't there legal implications for the company and/or Hasbro if they falsify anything on their report findings though?

[reillyd]

They just choose like so many others to ignore it & hope it will go away.

People have short memories. We're all addicts anyway, jonesing for our next plastic fix. I wish there were some roundabout way to make a difference, like a fund for the workers that you could contribute to.

I'm also a little disappointed, if it is true that that Takara toys are manufactured under the same conditions, with Takara. Maybe I'm just idealistic, but I always believed that Takara stood for quality, listened to the fans, and genuinely just wanted to make really awesome toys that sold really well. Maybe I had some misguided notions about Japanese honour and integrity. I wouldn't have thought Takara would use sweatshops.