Child Labor Comparison between Apple and Hershey
In the rapid growth economic society, there are more and more companies stand out in front of the public. For sure, it have to be accompanied by the masses’ attention. In this way, scandals of many well-known firms are revealed by the media. Here are two examples, Hershey and Apple. Hershey is one of the most famous chocolate maker in America. Apple is a popular electronic devices brand all over the world. However, there is a same scandal but different conditions in these two; it is child labor. Although both Apple and Hershey’s employed child labor for manufacturing, the ethical issue of Hershey is worse than Apple in terms of working environment, the age of child, and salaires.
The working environment for Hershey’s child labor was much worse than Apple’s. Although both of them employed child labor, the working and living environments were much different. According to the article, Lawsuit: Your Candy Bar Was Made By Child Slaves, which was written by Abby Haglage, all of the child labors were locked in a small space at night, and there was little water to drink. They would be given a tin cup in which to urinate (Haglage, 2015). This was happened in West Africa, the main homeland of cocoa. It shows that the child laborers’ living condition was horrible. They were waiting for foods to eat and water to drink. They were squeezing together in a tiny space. I can’t help thinking of the black slavery period in America. What is the difference between them? Hershey was not using child labor, they enslaved people. For the working conditions, according to the article, these child labors were beaten by their employer all the time when they harvested cocoa, the main resource of making chocolate. One of the child labors even said that beaten already became to part of his life (Haglage, 2015). It shows that their working circumstance was like livestock. These kids were forced to work, and they were like a animal or working tool. I think that is a great irony. Hershey slaved children to harvest cocoa in order to produce chocolate in which children is the main consumers. Apple hired child labors too, but their conditions were much better than Hershey although it is still not a right thing to do. According to the article, Apple Illegally Used Student Labor in China to Fulfill iPhone X Orders, which is written by Sissi Cao, Eight child laborers live in a relative big room with bunk beds (Cao, 2017). It shows that Apple provide them a comparatively comfortable living environment. Actually, the surrounding of many small businesses’ employer dorm was similar to this in China. Therefore, I think it is reasonable. Meanwhile, according to the article, these child labors had uniforms to wear in a clean working environment. Moreover, even though they need to work 11 hours a day, nobody harm them physically (Cao, 2017). It reveals that their working circumstance was much better than Hershey’s too, including physical or psychologically. On the aspect of working and living conditions, they were working like other normal assembling line workers. It was not good, but it reached a basic level. In general, although the working environment for both of those firms were not good, Hershey’s is worse than Apple’s. The average age of the child labor meets the same situation too.
The average age of child labor for Hershey is much younger than Apple’s. According to the article, the average age of child labors were 10 years old, and most of them got injured or harmed in the “daily work” (Haglage, 2015). It illustrated that the average age of child labors is pretty young. In most of the countries, children in this age should go to the primary school for education. However, in West Africa, because Hershey slaved child labor, these kids were suffered by doing the work which they should not do. For Apple, according to the article, the average age of child labors were 16 years old (Cao, 2017). Comparing the average age of child labor of Hershey, Apple’s is much older than Hershey’s. Since the minimum working age in China is 16, to some extent, it is more ethical than Hershey. Comparing to Hershey, a 16-year-old child is stronger than a 10-year-old kid in terms of physically and psychologically. They already had a relative independent standard value. Although Apple hired child labor is not a legal and ethical thing to do, but it will not have huge negative impact on these 16-year-old kids under their working and living circumstance, but Hershey does. Moreover, not only these these kids were forced to works for these companies, but also they could not receive or rarely receive remuneration.
Apple compensated the child labors at least, but Hershey slaved these children without salaries in West Africa. According to the article, child laborers who worked for Hershey had to work from the dawn to the dusk. There is no salary for them to harvest cocoa (Haglage, 2015). It shows that Hershey actually was not hire them instead enslaved them. They only thing that they provided were little water and food to have. It also demonstrated that the working hours exceeded the legal working period. Everything Hershey did are unethical and violated the law. Comparing to the Apple, according to the article, because it is in form of internship, there is only some compensated for the child labors (Cao, 2017). It mentioned that Apple offered these child laborers some compensated even though it is rare. I think both of them did a bad job on this aspect. Hiring child laborer is already illegal, and it harms the kids physically and psychologically. However, they only give them few or even no salary. Comparing Apple and Hershey, Apple did a little better than Hershey’s. Furthermore, these behavior can cause deeper influence too.
These young-age child labors have to worked in a tough working and living environment without salary or little compensation, although Apple’s condition is a little better than Hershey’s. In my opinion, I think both of these companies should pay much more attention on their manufacturing factories in all over the world, especially in some developing or underdeveloped countries. Children is the future for a country or a society. In their age, they should receive more education instead of working. These famous companies force cheap labour to work for them and harm them physically or psychologically. It even will bring a serious standard value injury in their life. Finally, when their consumers knows these scandals, it will have negative impact their sales in long-term too.
References
Cao, S., & Cao, S. (2017, November 25). Apple Illegally Used Student Labor in China to Fulfill iPhone X Orders. Retrieved from https://observer.com/2017/11/apple-illegally-used-student-labor-in-china-to-fulfill-iphone-x-orders/
Haglage, A. (2015, September 30). Lawsuit: Your Candy Bar Was Made By Child Slaves. Retrieved from https://www.thedailybeast.com/lawsuit-your-candy-bar-was-made-by-child-slaves
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