Sweatshop Primark Survey - Ctrl.Alt.Shift

I, and my Ctrl.Alt.Shift colleagues, Kevin E G Perry and Ben Anderson, wondered if we could derail some central London xmas shoppers away from the corrupt claws of Primark (found by Panorama earlier this year to be exploiting their child and female workers in Bangladesh).



We set up a survey, and armed with facts surrounding the retail giant's sweatshop history - we hit the bustling streets to conduct our report, ingeniously titled 'Santa Hates Primark'. Here's the results:

Vox Pops: Santa Hates Primark
Ctrl.Alt.Shift went to London’s shopping mecca, Oxford Street, to chat to people about whether the appalling conditions of those who make high street clothes will influence where they will be buying their presents this Christmas time. A new report says that workers in developing countries who make clothes for Primark get paid as little as 7p an hour - this works out at about £19 a month, while workers say they would need about £45 a month just to feed their families and pay for clean water, shelter and other basics. Given that the cost of rice alone has gone up by 70% in the last two years, there's not even enough money to put food on the table.

We asked our youth where they were planning on buying the majority of their gifts this year, and followed this up by asking whether they were aware about the conditions of the people who produce Primark’s wares. We wanted to know how this made people feel, and whether it would affect their decision making when it came to choosing where to shop in the future...:

Tereza, 21:
“This Christmas I will be getting most of my stuff from shops like Zara and Topshop and I also get a lot of my clothes from charity shops. Yeah I study fashion so we are taught about how certain brands misbehave and Primark have been focused on in the past. I sympathise with the situation loads, but at the same time there is a need for work in these countries and the people need money, so that sort of gives it another perspective - I still do think they should get paid more though.”

Demonsabert, 24:
“This year I’ll be doing my Christmas shopping here on Oxford Street, probably at Topshop and Gap. I haven’t heard about people who make clothes for Primark getting 7p an hour, but I’ve heard about other places like Gap. I think it’s bad, and I try not to buy clothes that are made in China or in bad conditions, but when you’re a student you don’t have much to spend, so no, it wouldn’t stop me shopping there.”

Read the full set of comments here