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mrmitchell
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Even as a foreigner I would rather buy US products than from the third world and plenty of the first world...despite how it seems, we still have a strong, thriving protection for labor rights, and products made here are just as good as if they were made anywhere else in the world.
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Tingkai
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To find the Northwest Passage
Aug 2001
time: 13:34
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Slightly related:
FENGHUA, CHINA—Chen Hsien, an employee of Fenghua Ningbo Plastic Works Ltd., a plastics factory that manufactures lightweight household items for Western markets, expressed his disbelief Monday over the "sheer amount of **** Americans will buy."
"Often, when we're assigned a new order for, say, 'salad shooters,' I will say to myself, 'There's no way that anyone will ever buy these,'" Chen said during his lunch break in an open-air courtyard. "One month later, we will receive an order for the same product, but three times the quantity. How can anyone have a need for such useless ****?"
Chen, 23, who has worked as an injection-mold operator at the factory since it opened in 1996, said he frequently asks himself these questions during his workweek, which exceeds 60 hours and earns him the equivalent of $21.
"I hear that Americans can buy anything they want, and I believe it, judging from the things I've made for them," Chen said. "And I also hear that, when they no longer want an item, they simply throw it away. So wasteful and contemptible."
Among the items that Chen has helped create are plastic-bag dispensers, microwave omelet cookers, glow-in-the-dark page magnifiers, Christmas-themed file baskets, animal-shaped contact-lens cases, and adhesive-backed wall hooks.
"Sometimes, an item the factory produces resembles nothing I've ever seen," Chen said. "One time, we made something that looked like a ladle, but it had holes in its cup and a handle that bent down 90 degrees. The foreman told us that it was a soda-can holder for an automobile. If you are lucky enough to own a car, sit back and enjoy the journey. Save the soda beverage for later."
Chen added: "A cup holder is not a necessary thing to own."
Chen expressed similar confusion over the tens of thousands of pineapple corers, plastic eyeshades, toothpick dispensers, and dog pull-toys that he has helped manufacture.
"Why the demand for so many kitchen gadgets?" Chen said. "I can understand having a good wok, a rice cooker, a tea kettle, a hot plate, some utensils, good china, a teapot with a strainer, and maybe a thermos. But all these extra things—where do the Americans put them? How many times will you use a taco-shell holder? 'Oh, I really need this silverware-drawer sorter or I will have fits.' Shut up, stupid American."
Chen added that many of the items break after only a few uses.
"None are built to last very long," Chen said. "That is probably so the Americans can return to buy more. Not even the badly translated assembly instructions deter them. If I bought a kitchen item that came with such poor Mandarin instructions, I would return the item immediately."
http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4124&n=1
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Sir Ralph
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Long live teh Schwampel!
Dec 2001
time: 06:34
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quote:
Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Wrong. They work quite well. Pepsico was forced to make a deal with a bunch of tomato pickers (whose product is used at Taco Bell) in Florida over a multiyear international boycott. South Africa was forced to end apartheid. And so on. What most people forget in boycotting, however, is to inform the boycotted company that you are boycotting them, so they will know the reason why their sales are slipping, rather than thinking its just some trend. |
Might work with a company if you tell them that they're boycotted, but with a country? Why would I boycott a US product just for being from America, and what should I say the company in question? I boycott you, because your president is a ***** and is ****ing up the world? What would I do if the manager answers "I don't like him either and didn't even elect him"?
We had a case here in Germany a few years ago, when Shell decided to sink their oil platform Brent Spar. Environmentalists raised the alarm and made a big stink, and a big part of the European population boycotted Shell gas stations for weeks, the leaseholders of which got punished for no own guilt. And the end of all was, Shell caved in, but bringing the platform to land and to scrap it the conventional way ate way more resources and did the environment much worse than sinking it would ever have done.
What concerns South Africa, a customer boycott alone wouldn't have had any impact I fear. It was a complete economical and political boycott, that brought it down, not the denial to buy some fruit.
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chegitz guevara
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Ft. Lauderdale, FL Communist Party of Apolyton
Jun 2000
time: 00:34
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I doubt scrapping the platform was worse for the environment than sinking an oil derrick.
As for South Africa, consumer boycoots pushed corporations to divest from South Africa. Sure, not having Coca-coloa anymore isn't gonna hurt them, but not having bottling operations anymore is gonna cost jobs and state revenue. People and communities are trying the same tactic with Burma and Israel. In such cases, the movement is loud enough that these countries know why their products aren't selling.
If there was a loud enough outcry in Europe to boycott American products, as well as the products of companies that do business in America, American corporations would take notice. Business is not patriotic, and if something is hurting its bottomline, they will take steps to remedy it. Of course, given the amount of business we do with each other, it would hurt Europe just as much as the U.S.
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Bereta_Eder
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When you see what they're doing in iraq and before is better not to buy. then again one can't be bothered to check everything so maybe some coca cola or a zippo or a little shirt wouild be american
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Bereta_Eder
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but i do have a weakness for american royal pizza i admit (but maybe it's greek for all i know)
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Whoha
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The TOC is supposed to be classified guys...
Dec 2001
time: 23:34
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quote:
Originally posted by chegitz guevara
I doubt scrapping the platform was worse for the environment than sinking an oil derrick.
As for South Africa, consumer boycoots pushed corporations to divest from South Africa. Sure, not having Coca-coloa anymore isn't gonna hurt them, but not having bottling operations anymore is gonna cost jobs and state revenue. People and communities are trying the same tactic with Burma and Israel. In such cases, the movement is loud enough that these countries know why their products aren't selling.
If there was a loud enough outcry in Europe to boycott American products, as well as the products of companies that do business in America, American corporations would take notice. Business is not patriotic, and if something is hurting its bottomline, they will take steps to remedy it. Of course, given the amount of business we do with each other, it would hurt Europe just as much as the U.S. |
Or they could demand increased protection from European imports.
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15-06-2005 09:15
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