Strangechord

This billboard, currently spotted all over Portland, really pisses me off:

Why? Because it completely distracts from the real issue of sweatshop labor and gives a false impression of the type of people most commonly employed exploited in sweatshops worldwide. The speaker of the message is this snippy, old-fashioned looking lady who is nothing like the real face of sweatshop operators: executives and managers of corporations like Nike, Hanes, the Gap, Disney, Mattel, and more. It puts a comic face on those who make their living through the exploitation of other human beings.

The billboard completely distracts from the fact that an enormous percentage of the clothing, electronics, toys, etc.. sold in American stores is manufactured in foreign countries through sweatshop labor by poor people of color - not by high school dropouts in the U.S.

I just e-mailed the Ad Council my thoughts here. The bottom line is that this billboard from the Ad Council lends to the the misunderstanding and lack of awareness many Americans have about the issue; it keeps people’s attention diverted from the truth about sweatshop labor. The billboard’s message is highly insensitive; a slap in the face to those in other countries who toil away at sweatshops.