Gap Kids: New Frontiers in Child Abuse

It was enough to make you vomit all over your new denim jacket. The Gap has been caught using child labor in an Indian sweatshop, and not just child labor -- child slaves. As extensively reported on the news, the children, some as young as 10, were worked 16 hour days, fed bowls of mosquito-covered rice, and forced to sleep on a roof and use over-flowing latrines. Those who slowed down were beaten with rubber pipes and the ones who cried had oily cloths stuffed in their mouths.

But let's try to look at this dispassionately -- not as a human rights issue but as a PR disaster, ranking right up there with the 1982 discovery of cyanide in Tylenol capsules. Think of this as a case study in a corporate Crisis Communication course: How is The Gap handling the problem, and could it do better?

This is not the first time The Gap has been caught using child labor, but CEO Martha Hansen went on the air to state that the situation was "completely unacceptable" and that the company would "act swiftly." Two problems here: One, she failed to detail the actions. It would have been nice, for example, if she had announced that some of the top-producing child slaves would be reassigned to manage Gap outlets in American malls, and that the under-performers would be adopted by Angelina Jolie.

The other, more serious, problem is that she got defensive about child labor. This is the mistake Kathie Lee Gifford made in 1996. When accused of using child labor in Honduras to manufacture her Kathie Lee line of clothing, Gifford broke into tears on TV. Maybe Hansen meant to cover herself by saying that The Gap would not "ever, ever condone any child laborer making our garments" rather than saying the company does not condone child labor itself. We already knew, from the rubber pipes and oily cloths, that The Gap does not condone much from its child laborers.

Hansen underestimated the potential support for a full-throated defense of child labor. More and more American children are tried and punished as adults today. And the ubiquitous conservative pundit William Kristol will surely be enthusiastic, considering his recent -- though possibly facetious-- statement that "whenever I hear anything described as a heartless assault on our children, I tend to think it's a good idea."

The core of the argument, though, is that anyone who opposes child labor has not witnessed its opposite, which is child unemployment and idleness.

Hansen claims to be a mother herself, but I wonder how often she has returned home from a hard day in the C-suites to find her unemployed offspring Magic Marker-ing the walls and crushing the Froot Loops into the carpet. This is what jobless children do: They rub Crazy Glue into their siblings' hair; they spill apple juice onto your keyboard. Believe me, I see this kind of wantonly destructive behavior every day. Vandalism is a way of life for unemployed children, and they do not know the meaning of remorse.

In fact, corporate America should go further and make a strong statement against the sickening culture of dependency that has grown up around childhood. Why are jobless children so criminally inclined? Because they know that whatever damage they inflict, the Froot Loops will just keep coming. The Gap should portray its child-staffed factories as part of a far-seeing welfare-to-work program, which will eventually be extended to American children as well.

To appeal to American parents, our own child factories should be run more like Montessori schools, where the children are already encouraged to regard every one of their demented activities as "work." If they're going to pile up blocks and knock them down all day, then why not sew on buttons and bring home a little cash? But even American families will have to brace themselves for the inevitable cost cutting measures. First the cookies and milk may have to go, then, as in India, the toilets and beds. Wal-Mart has already pioneered the price-cutting defense of human rights abuses, and The Gap should follow suit.

The company can of course expect some lingering opposition. Just as there are vegetarians and pacifists, there will always be some men, for example, who would rather wear skirts than blue jeans impregnated with the excrement and tears of 10-year-olds. Well, let them shop at American Apparel or some other "sweat-free" vendor, and if they can't find anything there, let them wear dhotis. In a nation that cannot bring itself to extend child health insurance (SCHIP) to all children in need, child-made clothes make a fine fashion statement. And why not accessorize your denim jacket with a scarf derived from one of those oily cloths stuffed in weeping workers' mouths?

Comments

[chappelforpres]

Gap CEO Martha Hansen The Gap would "never condone any child laborer making our garments"

Meanwhile, at "Gap Global Sourcing & Piecework Procurement", an overheard snippet of last week's heated phone conversati­on...

"I don't give a %#*! if you've got to beat their sorry little asses black & blue. We need to land those overalls for under $1.25.

See no, speak no, hear no....bull­shit.

Is this how you contain inflation, given Bush's $2.4 Trillion Dollar endless war funding request. Brilliant - and how progressive!

[wendy82551]

The bottom line is this: it will continue as long as we demand endless supplies of cheap clothing. Period. As another poster said, we've got to learn that we don't need 20 pairs of jeans or 30 tee shirts. Let's settle for a few items of high priced (as in made in America by -- gasp! -- maybe union labor), good quality items.

They live and die by the bottom line. Threaten it, and they'll change. Continue to buy their crap, and this hideousness will continue. It's all very well -- makes us all feel comfy and righteous -- to blame Gap and Walmart, but: insert Pogo quote here ["we have met the enemy, and he is us."]

[angel66]

This abuse has been going for a decade.

None of the GAP celebs cared then, let's see now.

It's rich and ironic to see Oprah Madonna Bono pimping this awful company in the name of concern.

Let's see what they do now.

[mcquaid]

What was it our hero Bill Clinton signed again? Oh, right. NAFTA...An­d now, we're going to extend that even further.

Meaning we need to keep a close eye on everyone - not just the Republicans.

[Twichell]

To paraphrase William Kristol, whenever I hear anything described as a thorough baking of conservative "facetiousness," I tend to think it's very funny.

[waiguoren]

Not only do mass marketers like the gap and mattel and speedo and others know about these conditions. THEY DEMAND THEM.

When China agrees to clean up their abuses even somewhat, to save their coming out Olympics party from possible boycott, these merchants say, "Fine. Then I guess we'll be going elsewhere for our slave labor in the future".

[Larenzo]

Come on , Barbara...­.we all know that this is about the bottom line. Since companies can't do that in the US, they go elsewhere for cheap labor and products. It's totally out of control...­.and just look at the poisonous chinese products being sold here. This is the poisoned fruit of the dubya regime's agenda of deregulation of business. And guess what....wh­at's come to light so far is only the tip of the iceberg.

[Crazycannuck]

This, the corporation that joined with Bono to bring us the RED campaign? Disgraceful, enslaving Indian children while making a buck "appearing" to care about poverty in Africa. Hypocrites!

[nancytheragingliberal]

I will never shop or buy from the Gap. Ever. How dare they exploit these poor children and use them as slaves. I am sick at heart. We are on a train going back to the Gilded Age. A repub. dream come true.

[jdm58]

America is a society built on the entitlement of excess. We are stuck on buying things for the sake of buying, instead of necessity. Look at houses built before 1950. Clothes closets, if they existed, were built to accomodate a couple of dresses, suits, a few shirts and shoes, no more. Todays builders make closets larger than a lot of bedrooms built in those days, just for us hang clothes we'll never wear, or styles that change quicker than the season they were designed for. Don't buy at Gap? Don't kid yourself. All the manufacturers buy from the same sweatshops overseas. At least Gap promotes product RED, and Aids relief in Africa. Want to promote change, but think you can't "afford it"? Don't stop at just "buy American" (good luck if you can). How about make due with what you have, and pay off those stupid credit cards that lure you into thinking you can afford all this crap in the first place!

[BobHiggins]

Thank you for an excellent treatment that caused my already boiling blood to blow the lid off the kettle.

I have steered clear of Wal Mart for some time.
I'm way too old for Gap but I'll certainly pass the message:

Do not shop at GAP, period.

Bob Higgins
http://worldwide-sawdust.com

[Balzac]

I'm wearing GAP jeans now, which I bought before this chilling case was brought to light.

Now I want my money back. I think GAP should be required to give these children a pension and 401k as reparations. They should also let some of these kids be on their board of directors.

Now, the question is, what am I going to do about these tainted jeans I'm wearing? Burn them in front of GAP with nothing but my underwear on?

[grammology]

Wow, your sure having a bad day. Do I dare comment and say this is all so unfortunate. Children our most precious gift, in so many places in this world..abu­sed, used, and then become throw aways. I am so sorry...I wish as a grandma I knew what I could do. keep writing..m­aybe we'll make progress someday.

Dorothy from grammology
call your grandma

http://grammology.com

[realitytrumpsbull]

What's really amusing about all of this is that,
two generations ago, they had kids working in
the onion fields right alongside their parents.
Child labor, child abuse? Well, what do you call
fattening up your kids and not teaching them
any kind of outdoor skills, and failing to
educate them in general? What's that all about,
some kind of veal calf thing? Or, or, maybe
it'd be better for Junior(ette) to start
working at, say, age 15, and learn something.
That way, Bush doesn't have to let Mexico
move en masse to the United States to compensate
for an entire generation of incompeten­ts...?

[BluMoonRising]

We have spent years fighting the laws and making laws on how to treat people. The only reason these companies go over seas to produce their products is to get around treating people with respect. Cheap...ab­use...and no respect. They can be as ugly as they want and it like starting all over with again as long as they can get away with it. Ugly....Gr­eedy....Se­lfish....a­nd is exactly the worst part America. Corporate Greed.