Gap has taken a lot of flak in the past for using sweatshops to make clothes. They certainly would not be the only clothier participating in such behavior, but they'd been called out on to the carpet before by Adbusters.
This article based on Gap's own reporting, definitely puts them in a more positive light. It looks like they actually give a crap. The easy way out would have been to show Television commercials with people hugging and kittens hugging and shit like that layered with some non-offensive generically uplifting music and a line like “
(I chuckle knowingly to myself. And then continue.)
I love/hate Adbusters. It serves to remind me how much I hate consumption, yet loathe myself enjoying being a consumer. It sheds a lot of things in the proper light, and often lets you realize the ridiculousness of the current economic/political/social climate, things that your bombarded mind doesn't normally conclude because there's too much Wacko Jacko/Tom Cruise/Runaway Bride clutter that sits in your grey matter and occupies space like the boxes of old yearbooks, half-used paint cans,and prehistoric tools that sit in your basement.
I'm not on my soapbox, or behing a pulpit, mind you. I know fully well that the video games and a lot of other crap a speak of are particularly severe time wasters. And although I could a few more bike rides, walks in the park, and naps under trees, I know my PS2 is still waiting at home, and a good way to dry off after stomping in puddles during severe thunderstorms. But Adbusters itself coould be seen as contradictory in the same way. Witness the birth of the anti-logo. How else would you defeat rampant consumerism besides put another product on the shelf?
I'm being a little sarcastic, I don't have a problem with Adbusters selling shoes, in fast I may even buy a pair. It's hard enough to find socially responsible outfits making clothing, so now I know of one more. I just wish in all the years I'd been reading Adbusters that they would send a shout out to the companies doing it right, so I know where to shop after learning which brands do not deserve to occupy my precious closet space.
It's got to start somewhere.
And all things considered, if nobody blew the whistle on Gap, Levi's or Nike, these companies would not have done the self-policing that they are beginning to do today. It sounds like Gap is going in the right direction, and Levi's has done a pretty good job, but I'm sure Nike's got even longer way to go. When they're not running sweatshops they're stealing ad campaign ideas from Minor Threat.