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Tim Cook 'Deeply Offended' by BBC Documentary on Apple Factory Conditions
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People are upset at how cynically the BBC targeted one of the few companies actually trying to behave ethically while giving a free pass to those companies that don't give a ****, for the sole reason that if they target this one particular company it'll get more eyeballs and news headlines around the world.
There are plenty of big companies out there they could have also targeted, that are behaving much worse, and targeting them would do more good because those companies are currently doing nothing. They could have also done a more general look at multiple companies and compared them, showing which ones are making an effort, which ones aren't, and which ones are succeeding at causing change. The BBC chose not to do any of those things, and their reasons for this are transparently cynical. That's offensive to Tim Cook, and that's offensive to some commenters here.
I hope that clears it up for you.
Half truths hurt.
Apple and a host of other manufactures uses Foxconn. Where is the exposé on them?!?
It just like when everyone goes after McDonalds for making people fat. How many other fast food chains, who sell the same crap, where dragged through the mud like McD?!??
At least he's doing something.
What about others big manufacturers? They are doing nothing...
You do realize that many factories that make products for the other companies you mentioned are not only the SAME company that makes them for Apple but often times located less than a few hundred feet, if that, in the SAME industrial complexed owned and operated by the SAME manufacturing company.
The standards, or lack thereof if that is what people are arguing, are industry wide.
Again, the reason Apple was chosen for this is that they portray themselves to have a "golden boy" like image that is squeaky clean and trying to be a "champion" for all things when in reality, they aren't that different from the others. They just go out of their way to try to put the lipstick on the pig where others don't so that is why others are, at times, seemingly critical when in reality they are just stating the facts, obvious ones at that.
Conditions are quite different between different parts of Foxconn, etc. You haven't been paying very close attention if you think it's all the same. Or, perhaps you've only been hearing one-sided hit pieces on Apple.
Again, the reason Apple has portrayed themselves as better than other companies is because they have to constantly defend themselves from these sorts of intellectually dishonest, contextless stories in the media. Apple never had a page on their site about supply chain ethics before they got slammed repeatedly and unfairly in the media. Like I said, you must not have been paying very close attention. Those of us who have been following these sorts of stories for years know Apple was silent on their supply chain ethics until the media started attacking them (while ignoring their competitors).
Just admit it, the BBC is going after Apple because they know Apple is popular and evokes strong feelings from a lot of people, and a story about Apple gets far more eyeballs than a story about Samsung or Microsoft. It was a cynical choice, and it has nothing at all to do with Apple being better or worse or the same as any other company.
Nope. This kind of "truth", that is just an half truth (=a plain lie), pleased some well known Apple basher here.
So if Apple's got only a 20% worldwide market share, who's making all the non-Apple phones that you'd think are not made in the exact same way?
And I love how it's a British news organization that's calling out these factories for poor conditions. You know, that country that was an exemplification of child labor abuse during the Industrial Revolution?
And I love how it's a British news organization that's calling out these factories for poor conditions. You know, that country that was an exemplification of child labor abuse during the Industrial Revolution?
Those are NOT Apple's employees, and you know perfectly well.
But you seem to like to bash Apple over this.....
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Again.... THOSE ARE NOT APPLE'S FACTORIES, by any mean.
Apple doesn't own Foxconn. They aren't even shareholders. They are contractors.
Why isn't pressure put on these factories and the Chinese government? The problem exists with these people, not Apple.
Go throw away every product you have that isn't made in America. Otherwise you are a part of the so-called exploitation you seem to hate.
"As the economy improved"? Seriously? Do you know anything about the history of industrialization or the Labour movement? Factory owners in England couldn't get people to work in them when they first started. Factory owners complained to the government to "do something". So the government started to enclose the commons, basically forcing anyone who wasn't an independent guild craftsman to take up work in the factories. At first it was mostly women and children, then after the Luddite rebellion, men of working age. Conditions didn't improve by themselves, as you imply, or by the good graces of factory owners, they improved by the workers themselves rising up and fighting the robber barons, who had absolutely no intention of improving conditions. It wasn't until there were massive strikes, food riots, sabotage, clashes with police and murders of union leaders that working conditions started to improve.
Please do read some history.
Huh? It's precisely in capitalism, and state socialism, where the most and worst abuses occur.
It's funny reading people claim to have seen the programme, yet can't even get the name of the company correct.
They concentrated on PEGATRON. At least get the basic fact right before spouting of a load of BS.
Britain no longer has any industry so the BBC needed to off-shore their muckraking.
Precisely. Apple is the big dog.
It's the company with the best reputation, with the biggest selling phones commanding premium pricing, therefore it has the most to lose from the story and the most clout to change things.
You can't have all the benefits of being in such a dominant position without having the target on your back, and you can't lead by saying that you're no worse than everyone else.
Apple or other manufacturers aren't China's regulators. Don't blame them for China government lacks of rules in favor of human rights.
Where do you get you information from? "Less than 1 % for Foxconn?
Yes, I think Foxconn could make a better work environment for their workers, but they will not as they do not want to spend that money and to them workers are probably exchangeable.
You also do not seem to have business knowledge.
Corporations are not greedy. They are in business to make as much money as possible, not generous to their suppliers.
Prices are negotiated based on production steps , daily output , just to mention a few.
Since many companies do not know what the next hot thing will be, they "stash" money away to be able to weather economical downturns, invest in future technologies, buy other companies an , and, and.
Factory assembly work is grueling and no fun, depending on what one has to do.
I run a factory and can tell you that there are times that product has to be made
within a certain time frame, no matter whether there are production problems, parts arrive late etc.
When somebody orders millions of pieces in a hurry, there will be extended hours, Saturday and Sunday work.
Foxconn makes money!
This is true, also I thought I recognized some of the Chinese workers possibly from Asian films I have seen.
Could some of those people actually have been actors paid to say those things and pretend to be tired?
It's not Apple, treating people like that. It's Foxconn. Is it so difficult to understand???
He understands perfectly. He understands that it's very easily to delegate blame, especially when the people impacted are from a different country and their appalling standards of living can be dismissed as cultural or standard.
He understands that Apple aren't treating people like that, but Apple has the most clout to change that.
I'll have to watch the documentary before I make judgements, but just reading the comments I have a couple question for posters.
1. How do you known it's deceitful? What vetted sources are the folks, who claim these statements are BS, getting their information from?
2. Why is their even mention if "but everyone else does it". Apple is a super star. Apple is what this documentary is about. Watch any documentary and, unless the topic is competition among competitors, there won't even be mentionel of it. I watched a doc on chipotle the other day. Not really any mention of competitors aside from what specific sector of the market chipotle is considered to be in. The point of a documentary is to inform about a specific company. The fact that there may be worse comoanies out there is irrelevant.
I think it is the job of a good reporter to make things known to the general public. Most people have no idea where their iphone, or iPad, or whatever else comes from right down to the raw minerals it is comprised of. if what was reported was flat our false or a down right lie, I feel for Tim Cook. But the fact that he has done a lot and that Apple continues to do a lot to make sure working conditions are improved for these people is still irrelevant (in the scope of speaking about working conditions) so long as poor conditions exist. Period. So you're feelings are hurt. I can guarantee you there are more than feelings hurt somewhere along the lines of production on the daily.
1. How do you known it's deceitful? What vetted sources are the folks, who claim these statements are BS, getting their information from?
2. Why is their even mention if "but everyone else does it". Apple is a super star. Apple is what this documentary is about. Watch any documentary and, unless the topic is competition among competitors, there won't even be mentionel of it. I watched a doc on chipotle the other day. Not really any mention of competitors aside from what specific sector of the market chipotle is considered to be in. The point of a documentary is to inform about a specific company. The fact that there may be worse comoanies out there is irrelevant.
I think it is the job of a good reporter to make things known to the general public. Most people have no idea where their iphone, or iPad, or whatever else comes from right down to the raw minerals it is comprised of. if what was reported was flat our false or a down right lie, I feel for Tim Cook. But the fact that he has done a lot and that Apple continues to do a lot to make sure working conditions are improved for these people is still irrelevant (in the scope of speaking about working conditions) so long as poor conditions exist. Period. So you're feelings are hurt. I can guarantee you there are more than feelings hurt somewhere along the lines of production on the daily.
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I look for alternatives as much as I can. I know you wont believe me, but it's not like I care about that. If everyone would seek out alternatives, then maybe there would be a chance for change.