Banksy Exposes Child Labor, Sweatshops on The Simpsons

Tim Newman, Campaigns Director, International Labor Rights Forum

By now, many of you have probably already seen the special introduction to last week's episode of The Simpsons that was created by the famous graffiti artist, Banksy.  The animated segment depicts a factory where Simpsons animation cells are made under sweatshop conditions. The massive factory contains rows of workers, many of whom are women and a number of whom are injured, as well as a child worker who comes into direct contact with toxic chemicals. These are exactly the kinds of rights violations that the International Labor Rights Forum is fighting every day.  Check out this video for the full introduction:

While certain elements were exaggerated in order to make an artistic statement, such as the unicorn and panda in the factory, the sad reality is that many of the forms of exploitation highlighted in the clip are pervasive in the global economy.

Dangerous working conditions, long hours, child labor, violations of the rights of women workers and many other abuses characterize many work places around the world. For example, as I was watching workers in The Simpsons clip stuffing toys with cotton, I could not help but think of the situation facing child workers in Uzbekistan. Right now, the government of Uzbekistan is selling its cotton to international traders even as it continues to remove children from schools across the country and force them to pick cotton. This week, ILRF has been focusing attention on the children's clothing store, Gymboree, which, in a cruel twist of irony, is one of the few major US clothing brands that has remained silent about forced child labor in the cotton industry.  Banksy's work for The Simpsons does an excellent job of highlighting the extreme exploitation that lies beneath the products we consume.  Uzbek cotton is just one of so many examples I could give of how the problems portrayed in The Simpsons are a daily reality for so many workers. As many of us are buying chocolate candy for Halloween, similar abuses like child labor, forced labor and trafficking continue in cocoa production while companies like Hershey have done little to implement labor standards among their suppliers.

Fortunately, when workers and their supporters join together to fight abuse, we know that we can win important improvements for workers. For example, last year, many of you contacted L. L. Bean and J. Crew about Uzbek cotton and within hours, the company had publicly released a statement opposed the abuse in Uzbekistan. Last week, we targeted Abercrombie and Fitch for the Uzbek cotton campaign and the company soon announced it had a policy of not sourcing cotton from Uzbekistan. We are still seeking more information on how Abercrombie institutes it's policies, but these are just a few examples of how collective action can shift corporate behavior.

If you want to stop the abuses highlighted in this video clip, you can sign up for the International Labor Rights Forum's urgent action e-mail list here. It's a great way to stay updated about global worker rights issues and to find out how to take action to support workers. You can also check out www.Free2Work.org to see how some of your favorite products rate on eliminating forced and child labor.  And would you want your tax dollars supporting sweatshop conditions? If not, consider starting a SweatFree Communities campaign in your community and support the Jobs Through Procurement Act. Together we can end labor exploitation!

Comments

[philip steir]

The toys were not being stuffed with cotton in the clip but rather little cat like animals were being thrown in a wood chipper and the remains were being used to stuff the toys. The animal exploitation hardly ever seems to get noticed as important..even in cartoons let alone real life.