Is there a guerrilla campaign behind the Primark Shitstorm?
A Shitsorm is currently breaking over Primark. Reason: Several SOS messages from exploited workers have been found in garments. Scandal or fake? We took a closer look at the case.
Again, the Irish cheap fashion chain Primark is in the criticism. A dress for under 10 euros? This raises many questions anyway: How can Primark offer such low prices? Do workers who produce clothing for Primark receive a living wage? And what about the favorable label for topics such as ethics, working conditions or the environment?
The new label scandal, in which various customers have found anonymous messages on the laundry instructions in their Primark garments, raises all these doubts. But is there a clever guerilla campaign behind the Primark Shitsorm? More and more of these voices are being heard.
We took a closer look at the facts:
Point of time
Three labels with anonymous messages have appeared in the past few days. The dress with the sewn-in "forced to work exhausting hours" by Primark customer Rebecca Gallagher, another customer reports on the phrase "Degrading Sweatshop Conditions" ("Degrading Conditions of an Exploitation Operation") in her dress. The third piece of paper should be a written in Asian characters complaint of a worker. About this last complaint describing inhumane working conditions, the words "SOS! SOS! SOS!" The origin of this message is said to be a Chinese prison.
Shoppers are reportedly "cry for help". #Primark http://t.co/7KyhHA3zy2 (Photo: @WNS_news) pic.twitter.com/HTVt4tTnEU
- BrónaghTumulty CBS11 (@BronaghTumulty) June 25, 2014
The localities
The two messages written in English, which the customers are said to have found in their clothes, were bought in Swansea, Wales. The last Chinese Embassy appeared in Belfast. Although Primark has a particularly strong presence in the United Kingdom with about 250 branches, its concentration on just one country is striking.
The language
For example, in Bangladesh, where Primark produces among other things, there is an illiteracy rate of about 55 percent, and an estimated 70 percent of all women are illiterate. The assumption that the hidden English messages come from a seamstress seems unlikely.
Purchase of the goods
Primark states that the two dresses where the labels are supposed to have appeared have not been in the range since 2013. The customers, however, stated that they had bought new clothes. Also, the pants from Belfast to be in the possession of the customer since 2011, according to Primark, there was the model but last 2009 in the shops.
Conclusion
Who is exactly behind the surfaced calls for help in washing instructions at Primark, is currently undetectable. Whether it is actually concerned seamstresses behind it or people in the UK who wanted to initiate a discussion about the working conditions of cheap fashion chains - the scandal is there. And what's left are boycott calls, a media echo from around the world and a shitstorm on the social web.
