In May of 2004, it was brought to the public's attention that the popular clothing line, Gap, had admittingly been found violating child labor laws in other countries. "Contracts were terminated with 42 plants in China, another 42 in south-east Asia, 31 on the Indian subcontinent and nine in Europe" (The Guardian). What's even more disturbing than the story itself is the fact that this incident somehow managed to stay mostly under raps. I briefly heard about it, but I don't think this situation got nearly the repurcussions it should have. The company obviously was forced to cutt off all ties with factories that were abusing child labor laws. It seems like not too many people are concerned with these violations because people think that child labor don't really concern us in the U.S. Unfortunately, they do concern us. By allowing our clothing lines to support this, we are in a sense supporting it as well. Gap should not have only ended their business with these plants, but they should have been severely penalized as well. It makes me wonder how many other companies have done the same thing and not been caught. It's too bad that child labor still exists but the reality is... it does! So we need to identify it and put an end to it. No company should get away with it that easily.
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