https://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title
I must say that I love this story idea! In normal, as clothing brands, it may be easier for them to promote the quality, the style, and the price of their clothes. Some brands would also like to collaborate with other popular clothing brands or try to find some celebrities as commercial endorsements. However, for Planet Money, their mission is not just to sell the T-shirts, but also want to spread their inspiration: the stories behind a T-shirt is an entire world. They use many different videos, some are more like documentaries, and some data to let people know more about the people behind this T-shirt. They want to emphasize that every piece of T-shirt people buy is a kind of support and funding for the entire ecological and work chain, including workers who gather cotton, make clothes, and deliver clothes. Sometimes, for course, people will pay for a story if the story really touches their hearts.
In many developing countries, such as Bangladesh, factories are willing to reduce production costs because they have no other choice. They may worry that if they raise prices, they will lose orders. It let me think about the case of Apple. The same, Apple separates many of its production to factories in developing countries, such as Foxconn and Pegatron. However, Apple is more pursuing high efficiency and low prices. There are many cases where workers need to work overtime with very low wages, which puts Apple on the verge of immorality. Perhaps low prices are an attraction for choosing factories in developing countries, but if it is not poverty, if it is not that there are not enough jobs, who would be willing to do a high-volume, low-paying job?
Planet Money has planned to utilize high technology to help laborers collect cotton (so much cotton, so fee people), which is in line with modern development. But will the development of technology almost replace the labor force one day? Wouldn’t it be more difficult for workers with cheap labor to find jobs? These are unknowns. But, at least, if Planet Money uses these stories to promote their T-shirts, they should make sure that their workers get the wages they deserve.
Shiyun Li (Sharon) 