Off Topic from another thread- Global Trade and the 'false posturing' of Supermarkets.

MasterOfCoin

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Oxfam alleges abuse in UK supermarket supply chains

Workers on farms and plantations that supply big UK supermarkets are being subjected to poverty and human rights abuses, according to Oxfam.
A "relentless" drive for retailer profits is fuelling poverty, abuse, and discrimination, the charity said.
Poor conditions were rife on farms that supply supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, it added.
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Now ain't that a surprise !! [NOT]

Supermarkets are about profit, simple as that.

Which they would be well advised to stick to, rather than venturing into preaching ethics or politics.

Ruthless business models come unstuck pretty fast for those that foolishly start moral posturing.

We all know it's cheaper to produce or process goods in the developing countries where labour costs are negligible and capital outlays minimal.

Of course it's immoral, exploitative and detestable, but it's also very profitable.

For those who can afford to put their money where their morals are, fine, shop fairtrade and feel good.

Those who can't, shop own brand and recognize the real world.

Sure, it's produced on the back of slave child labour in slum workshops faraway from our relatively cosy lives, but so what ? That's the harsh reality.

Morals are expensive, which is all very well if you can pay.


What is far more objectionable is Supermarkets pretending to have them. They don't. ..... and so should keep shtum.

:unsure:

 
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Now ain't that a surprise !! [NOT]

Supermarkets are about profit, simple as that.

Which they would be well advised to stick to, rather than venturing into preaching ethics or politics.

Ruthless business models come unstuck pretty fast for those that foolishly start moral posturing.

We all know it's cheaper to produce or process goods in the developing countries where labour costs are negligible and capital outlays minimal.

Of course it's immoral, exploitative and detestable, but it's also very profitable.

For those who can afford to put their money where their morals are, fine, shop fairtrade and feel good.

Those who can't, shop own brand and recognize the real world.

Sure, it's produced on the back of slave child labour in slum workshops faraway from our relatively cosy lives, but so what ? That's the harsh reality.

Morals are expensive, which is all very well if you can pay.


What is far more objectionable is Supermarkets pretending to have them. They don't. ..... and so should keep shtum.

:unsure:

We're supporting the smaller shops during 'these unprecedented times' - the ones not following Gov guidelines. Not exclusively, but far more than we normally would.

The point you're making is one I guess most of us deal with by not thinking about it.. It would be a long discussion.

This virtue signalling by the corps seems to be a growing trend. There was Gillette a while back. What seems to be new is this doubling down, provocative, more aggressive edge. Maybe it's part of the planned 'new normal'
 
Fake virtue signally may be trendy, but it's no less objectionable for that.

Of course people don't want to think about it, as that means addressing uncomfortable truths.

Reality check.

We all want our affordable comforts. Central heating, electricity, smartphones, cars to get around in and cheap fast food.
All of these and more are produced to satisfy our insatiable demands at vast cost to the environment and by exploiting resources both natural and human on a massive scale.

Even the simplest most basic things have huge impacts to make them affordable for the millions of us that take them for granted.

But you can be darn sure that the animals that produced the milk you can buy for loose change, ( with the pretty picture of a cow in a meadow on it ) well those beasts have almost certainly never even seen a blade of grass, let alone munched on a field of the stuff. That's how it's produced at such low prices.

Yet we want to cling to our sentimental countryside delusion of 'happy cows roaming meadows' !

Even if the masses were prepared to fork out the dosh for 'free range, organic' production of the stuff, the environmental and productivity impacts of turning vast areas of precious prime agricultural land back over to traditional dairy farming don't bear thinking about and very obviously merit the question of where exactly instead you are going to grow the staple food crops that enable us to have cheap bread and cereals.
......... Imports from 3rd world farming perhaps ??

That's a random example, but everything is like that, which is the point.

We get the moral and ethical standards we are prepared to pay for and that's the bottom line.

And no amount of blatantly hypocritical virtue signalling is going to change that reality.

The real questions are whether people want to go back to spending over half their disposable income on food, give up their cars to walk everywhere, shop locally, throw away that smartphone and not have running hot water on tap. Oh, and pay through the nose for imported luxuries like chocolate, coffee and bananas etc etc so that the people who actually produce them can live lifestyles as good and comfortable as their own.

Hmmmmm. Maybe not.

:unsure:
 
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