On the shadowy side of the bargain mania
24.04.2007
General Anzeiger
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“Geiz ist geil† (“stingy is sexy†) say some, “ich bin doch nicht blöd† (“I'm no fool†) say others. But the same thing is meant: bargain hunting protects your wallet – and it’s a lot of fun too. But one person's fun can mean suffering for another: all too often, tempting prices for jackets, t–shirts and steaks are the result of a brutal exploitation of workers and animals in the Third World – or even right around the corner. A circumstance we're all too happy to suppress during the frenzy of shopping, and one that stands at the center of today's thematic evening “Hauptsache billig† (“Low Prices Are Everything†), which deals with the production and marketing of cheap commodities. In three informative and nuanced documentaries, this dilemma is illuminated on the basis of three widely comprehensible examples. These are the textile industry, discount department stores, and meatpacking. The focus of the first segment, “Made in Asia: The Global Textile Market,† is the production of extremely cheap textiles in low-wage countries. Prevailing in many Asian textile factories is naked exploitation, while the natural environment is contaminated without limits or restraint. Yet here and there, improvements are being introduced by the large concerns. The film explores the question of where multinational enterprises have learned something, and where there still exists substantial room for improvement. The second documentary (...)
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