What started out as a seemingly innocent attempt to live a more conscious and simple life has turned into a Herculean task. For someone who has always taken pride in living ethically and with empathy, I was appalled to discover that everything in my life – from what I ate to what I wore to the programmes I watched on TV – were entrenched in layers of unethical and unhealthy practices.
Worse, I was blindly, and without question, swallowing everything aimed my way for reasons that were far less than compelling.
This changed when I began diving into the worlds of fast fashion, the leather industry, animal farming and the pharmaceutical industry, to name a few. Much to my disbelief, I found that not only do these industries produce goods and services without taking into account their ramifications on the physical and mental health of their employees, but do so in a manner that is completely unethical and manipulative, giving consumers an idealistic, not to mention inaccurate, picture of the realities lurking beneath.
Dark underbelly of fast fashion
Let me illustrate with an example from the fast fashion industry. Zara, one of the pioneers of the fast fashion industry and an undisputed leader, has thousands and thousands of stores in upscale neighbourhoods across the world. These stores, with their beautiful merchandise, competent staff and competitive pricing, seem like a dream come true to customers.
But did you know that behind the shiny facade of beautiful faces in trendy clothes lurks a gruesome reality? The people who actually make these clothes are a complete antithesis to the models in the advertisements of the brands, and often work under appalling conditions.
Over the last decade, several international clothing brands have been accused of multiple offences: labour exploitation, excessive work hours, underpaying its workers, trafficking, child labour, short-term contracts with no benefits, physical and sexual abuse, a lack of supply chain transparency, environmental pollution, animal abuse, racial discrimination, anti-semitism and even copyright claims.
And if that’s not enough, anytime a non-governmental organisation or human rights organisation brings such misdemeanours to light, they are dismissed, ignored or the findings are labeled erroneous. This is not surprising considering the power such companies wield over governments and their officials.
Also read: Will Fast Fashion Really Change Their Ways in a Climate Crisis?
This is just one example reflecting the work ethics of a single company from a single industry. Imagine the skeletons that could be hiding behind the rest? This information barely scratches the surface. It’s like the proverbial rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland, where you open one door only to discover two concealed beyond, until you are surrounded by a maze of doors with no end in sight.
Don’t get me wrong. This is not a campaign against fast fashion. I’m not for one moment suggesting that you boycott such companies or worse, lose hope and get disillusioned at the state of affairs in the world. Nor am I suggesting that you go on a rescue mission to save the children or anything even remotely close, unless of course you wish to do these things.
What I am suggesting is that we begin to independently think, question and examine some of our choices. I am suggesting that we dig a little deeper, beyond the idealistic pictures presented to us so that we are in possession of the entire story not just what we are told, shown and sold. I am suggesting that we take our power back into our own hands by making choices based on information. And getting that information is our responsibility since I do not expect companies advertising products to start listing shortcomings as well.
My father’s response to my views is that this is not a utopian world and it’s impossible to get everything right, every time. Well, I agree. I know that utopias much like unicorns only exist in dreams.
But I also know that it is possible for billionaires with huge profit margins to pay more than 50 cents an hour to their workers. I know that it is possible for companies pushing “health drinks” to inform consumers that the camouflaged sugar in their drinks is not healthy for long-term consumption. I know that it is possible for multi-million dollar drug companies to let people know the dangerous side effects their vaccines have before pushing them on to the population at large. I know that it is possible for social media moguls to tell people that prolonged social media use increases anxiety and invades the privacy of users. I know this and I feel sad because these are choices that speak volumes.
Being a small business owner myself, I know how important the bottom line is, how every penny saved is a penny earned and how the slightest increase in your profit margins can make a difference while pitching for funding. But that doesn’t give us the right to piggy back on other people.
Why do we think that it is okay for us to move ahead at the expense of people suffering from deplorable work environments and dissatisfying work conditions? Why do we think that it’s okay for us to increase sales by withholding important information from consumers? Why do we think that it’s not a big deal to foist off hurriedly researched products onto the population as long as they increase profits? All this may work in the ‘now’ but much like a bridge made with cheap cement, it’s only a matter of time before it collapses like a house of cards.
If we want to be involved participants in our lives and not droids on autopilot, we must make choices based on pertinent information, ones that reflect our personal values made with our free will. And while it’s not possible to have a modern-day utopia here on earth it certainly is possible to make better choices for ourselves. So why be deprived of the same?
Priyanka Jamwal is a Human Resources professional with over 15 years of experience in the corporate field and a certified counselor with a degree in Psychology. She also owns a hospitality services company which she started in 2015 providing hospitality services to corporates in Kolkata. She loves to cook, read and write and is hoping to share her experiences of real life with people through her writing.
Featured image credit: Reuters