{"id":17859,"date":"2024-12-20T11:26:28","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T11:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?p=17859"},"modified":"2026-03-06T12:03:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T12:03:36","slug":"a-gadget-to-die-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/?p=17859","title":{"rendered":"A Gadget To Die For"},"content":{"rendered":"
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followthethings.com<\/strong>
Electronics<\/a>
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2010<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
APPLE<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
IPAD<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
MADE IN CHINA<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
SOLD WORLDWIDE<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
NEWSPAPER EXPOS\u00c9<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
POP THE BUBBLE<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
SHOW CAPITALIST EVILS<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
TARGET THE RIGHT BRAND<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
CHOOSE THE RIGHT THING<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
JOIN THE DOTS<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
FOLLOW THE THING<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
FIND A CHARACTER<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
SHOW THE VIOLENCE<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
HUMANISE THINGS<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
JUXTAPOSE EXTREMES<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
HUMANISE WORKERS<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
INCLUDE EMOTION<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
LET THE TEARS FLOW<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
HOLD ‘EM ACCOUNTABLE<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
BLAME, SHAME & GUILT<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
JOIN WITH OTHERS<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
PUT YOUR BODIES IN THE WAY<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
PLACE THINGS CAREFULLY<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
CHANGE CORPORATE BEHAVIOUR<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

“A Gadget To Die For<\/strong>“
Front page headline and feature story in by Martin Hickman in the Independent Newspaper<\/em>, plus a timeline of corporate and activist activity into which this story fits.
Front page featured above. The full text of the article is available below, and on the newspaper website here<\/a>.

On May 27th 2010, the UK’s Independent <\/em>newspaper published one of its most memorable front pages. This was the day that Apple’s new iPad device was being launched in the UK. The hype for this product had been extreme. At its launch, Apple CEO Steve Jobs had said it could help consumers to do things ‘in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before’. Classic commodity fetishism! Apple Stores had so many orders that they had to meet. The factory where they were being made in China – owned by the Foxconn corporation – had to keep up with demand. Those customers couldn’t be kept waiting. But the hours and working conditions that the people making these iPads in Foxconn’s factory had to endure were too much for some. Reports started to emerge of extreme levels of stress driving some workers to make their way to the roof of the factory to jump to their deaths. One of these workers was Ma Xiangqian, whose family carried a photo portrait of their son to a protest outside the factory that was broadcast on international news. Juxtaposing a photo of this new device and photo of a worker who committed suicide with the perfect double-meaning title ‘A gadget to die for’ contributed to the sullying of Apple’s marketing plans. More importantly, it was just one example of the sustained attention to the working conditions in the company’s Foxconn factories in China that was building at this time (e.g. see the factory worker suicide prevention level on the Phone Story <\/em>game here<\/a>). On followthethings.com, we tend to choose individual examples of trade justice activism and find out where they came from, and what impacts they have had on, for example, the pay and conditions of supply chain workers. But in this case, it’s not just this one story that made a difference. This page outlines a different story. The Independent<\/em> story is copied in full, and is followed – like a standard followthethings.com page – by everything we could find about how it was discussed and what impact it had (not much). Then, below this, we try to place this news story in context, starting with the launch of the iPad by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, then following iPad news stories as they were published over the following months, then finding when and how the ‘iPad suicide’ story came to public attention (in the Independent<\/em> and elsewhere), and then tracking this scandal and Apple’s reactions to it. This larger context had an important impact, forcing corporate change and – arguably – improving pay and conditions in Foxconn factories. More than anything, this page tries to show how trade justice activism works when its bubbles up in multiple places and formats, not necessarily in a wholly coordinated way. For this example, it shows the importance of on-the-ground student activists – in this case the Hong Kong based Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) – <\/em>investigating, protesting, creating and promoting media content that others – like Independent<\/em> journalists Martin Hickman – can pick up and run with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article reference: Martin Hickman (2010) A gadget to die for? Concern over human cost overshadows iPad launch. The Independent<\/em> 27 May (www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/concern-over-human-cost-overshadows-ipad-launch-1983888.html<\/a> last accessed 4 August 2010)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Page reference: Ian Cook et al (2024) A gadget to die for? <\/em>followthethings.com\/a-gadget-to-die-for.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estimated reading time: 42 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Original<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The American electronics giant Apple was investigating damaging allegations last night that Chinese workers making its new iPad device were subjected to such \u201cinhumane\u201d treatment that some of them took their own lives by jumping off factory roofs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Documents seen by The Independent<\/em> reveal there are widespread failures by Apple\u2019s suppliers to respect standards on labour rights and safety specified by the company, which had sales of \u00a330bn last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An update to the US firm\u2019s supplier codes in February revealed that a majority of its 102 facilities flouted its \u201crigorous\u201d rules on working hours, which include a weekly limit of 60 hours a week \u2013 equivalent to 12 hours a day. Some 39 per cent broke rules on workplace injury prevention and 30 per cent broke guidelines on the management of toxic chemicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audits uncovered violations involving child labour, falsified records and disposal of hazardous waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has been embarrassed by publicity surrounding 11 suicide attempts at the vast Foxconn facility near the southern boom city of Shenzhen, where the iPad is made, which threatens to overshadow the global launch of the touch-screen computer tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday a \u201csaddened and upset\u201d Apple promised to investigate whether the plant, which employs 300,000 people who earn around 30p an hour, should continue to make its products, which sell for hundreds of pounds each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the 1.2-square mile Foxconn facility, which also makes products for Dell, Hewlett Packard and Acer, nine workers have died and two have been gravely injured in roof jumps in the first five months of 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the incidents involved workers aged under 25, who apparently have been disturbed by the long shifts and strict discipline. Talking and music are banned during shifts, which last at least 10 hours. Workers must perform a certain number of repetitive operations per shift, under the eye of allegedly harsh military-style supervisors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFoxconn\u2019s management is totally inhuman,\u201d one worker told the Reuters news agency. Another said: \u201cThey don\u2019t treat workers as humans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A young Foxconn line supervisor, Tang Wenying, told journalists allowed into the complex yesterday: \u201cThis is a good place to work because they treat us better than many [other] Chinese factories.\u201d In an attempt to prevent more suicides, the Taiwanese-owned firm has hired 2,000 singers, dancers and gym trainers. It is also putting up netting to thwart future suicides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concerns were expressed about the factory three years ago by China Labour Watch, a US organisation which claims dire conditions involved \u201cserious labour violations including excessive working hours, unpaid wages for up to 30 minutes of work each day, compulsory overtime and extremely poor dormitory conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last July, it revealed the suicide of a young worker, Sun Danyong. According to its report, only workers producing for Apple were given a stool to sit while working, while all others had to stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workers also complained of violence, including beatings with iron bars and whips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The allegations have not surprised campaigners, who say that while Western shoppers often hear of problems at Asian clothes factories, conditions for workers in cleaner, bigger consumer electronics plants are just as grim. \u201cWhen you look at large-scale export-driven trade, it doesn\u2019t really matter whether the workers are making clothes or electronics,\u201d said Simon MacRae, senior campaigns officer at War on Want. \u201cThere\u2019s a similar pattern: long working hours, very poor pay and suppression of labour rights. The sector provides jobs but without decent wages you are not going to lift people out of poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month a report by the National Labour Committee, an American NGO, found that workers at a Chinese factory supplying Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and other brands toiled for up to 15 hours a day in heat of up to 30C. Other allegations about the KYE factory included sexual harassment and humiliation by supervisors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teenage workers were pictured slumped over their desks during a break in a 15-hour shift. One said: \u201cWe are like prisoners. We do not have a life. Only work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KYE management responded that conditions were excellent and fully complied with Chinese labour laws. Microsoft said it was \u201cvery concerned\u201d and launched an investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although China has occasionally expressed concern over the regime in export factories, the spate of suicides has spurred a national debate about whether workers fulfilling foreign orders are being pushed too hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaigners believe Bangladeshi clothes factories are the very worst sweatshops, but factories in China can combine the financial advantages of a cheap labour supply with a totalitarian state\u2019s intolerance of industrial rights. Most of those in free trade export zones such as Shenzhen, the \u201cthe workshop of the world\u201d, are owned by foreign companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple, which will open its 27 stores around the UK as early as 8am tomorrow to sell the iPad, said it was taking the spate of suicides \u201cvery seriously\u201d. A spokeswoman said: \u201cA team from Apple is independently evaluating the steps they are taking to address these tragic events and we will continue our ongoing inspections of the facilities where our products are made.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hewlett Packard said it was investigating \u201cthe Foxconn practices that may be associated with these tragic events\u201d. Dell said it expected its suppliers \u201cto employ the same high standards we do in our own facilities\u201d. Acer declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hard labour for gadgets<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n