Honors Prompt 4 Rachel Akin

Rachel Akin

Honors Prompt 4

After reading the article titled Easy on the Wallet or Easy on the Earth: A Case About Ethics in Sourcing, I do not believe that the student intern Carly LeBlanc should quit her internship and drop the class. Carly obviously has knowledge of how workers are treated unfairly in other countries. When thinking about buying cheap shirts from China she is bothered, especially since she saw for herself harsh working conditions in a Bulgarian clothing factory. She also has some desire to promote eco-friendly shirts. Since she already has this kind of knowledge should use this opportunity to reach out to others, to spread her knowledge, and to get others to see how important it is to notice where their clothes are coming from and what they are made of.

I believe that she should ask for an extension on her assignment. Yes, CEO’s are supposed to do what is best for their company and to quickly get products to consumers in order to make as much money as possible, but a small extension could allow Carly to do much research. This might enable her to find eco-friendly, fair trade shirts that are slightly cheaper. If she can order shirts that provide the best of both worlds than why should she not order them? When customers are notified that the company they are buying from tried to do the best thing for the environment, this makes more consumers interested in buying their product and gains the company respect. If the CEO wants what is best for the company, than he or she would grant Carly an extension.

I definitely think that Carly should order from a fair trade company. Fair trade companies provide their workers with proper working conditions. Since Carly has the knowledge she does she should get the company she is working for to promote purchasing fair trade, which will make the company look good. Consumers like buying from companies that promote good things.

Nowadays, more and more people are trying to go “green.” This is why it would be easy to assume the Chinese company does not treat its workers fairly. Most of the time when you can purchase something from a company at a price outrageously cheaper than another company, this means bad news for the workers, even though it is easier on the consumer to purchase the cheaper product. However, it is never good to assume and one should always research before just making assumptions. Still, Carly should purchase from a fair trade company just to be safe. Carly’s entire goal is to get the company started on the right foot, so what could be better than making the company provide good products that are also good for the environment?