The specific issues that stand out to me in terms of the ethics of the products I buy or the companies that manufacture them are the labor issues and the ethical aspects regarding animals. There are many companies, even in developed countries, that exploit their employees and implement unfair practices for their benefit. Getting a benefit out of everything is always a part of the business, yet underpaying employees or not considering the comfort of conditions of their work crosses the line. The issue related to the animals is based on various controversies regarding personal hygiene and pharmaceutical products that were inhumanely tested on animals, and it was evident that some of them were severely injured. These are the primary areas of concern regarding the ethics of the products that I buy.
As companies grow big, it is impossible to avoid controversies, even if they are trying to keep their business as ethical as possible. Apple has been trying to implement different acts regarding the rights of workers in the plants of their suppliers. Nevertheless, many controversies still took place in recent years, and these were related to terrible work conditions at the plants of the suppliers of the company. Over the previous nine years, China Labor Watch has released 15 studies detailing violations and failures in Apple’s Chinese suppliers (Shi, 2020). Past occurrences include suicides by Foxconn employees as well as bad working conditions in Pegatron’s facilities.
I do not feel guilty about these issues happening to workers for several reasons. Apple seems to be struggling to get its suppliers to create appropriate conditions for the workers of their suppliers. It is necessary to mention that these plants do not belong to Apple, and formally these are not their workers. In these regards, they do not have any significant power to affect these conditions, but they are trying to. Yet, the issues are present, and, hopefully, Apple will be able to find a method to solve them. It is not the responsibility of the customers that such conditions are present, yet these specific suppliers should be punished for the unethical conditions of their plants.
Reference
Shi, R. (2020). Apple Announces ‘Human Rights Policy’ Following Criticism.