I think part of it is that many of us hippy-wannabes that hang out in the fair trade coffee shops sipping our latte's while surfing the web on our iPad bought into this whole "think different" cult of apple. That is Apple's traditional niche market, but they are obviously more mainstream now. But that traditional market like to think that we are concerned about human rights and the environment, but we've turned a blind eye to Apple where those things are concerned. But now that Mike Daisey has put a spotlight on this behaviour, we can't bury our heads in the sand anymore. And there is good reason why Mike is on Democracy Now! and Real Time. It is those slightly-left-of-centre people that are most appalled by the stories coming out of Foxconn, not because the bleeding hearts are the most likely to be offended, but because they are the ones that feel guilty for buying Apple and being fooled into thinking they were better than anyone else when it came to things such as the environment or human rights.
The other thing is that now that Apple IS one of the big-boys they are a bigger target as Rathji suggests. The media has grabbed onto the hype that Daisey started and it has really snowballed. And I'm glad someone is holding them to account.
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It really does bring up a bigger issue which probably shouldn't be in this forum. But Campbell's soup ASKED Health Canada to make regulations regarding sodium content in soups. Campbell's WANTED to make healthier soups (even their sodium-reduced soups cannot be considered heart healthy; they still contain about 30% of your daily sodium limit). However, if Campbell's did that, they would lose market share to the other soup companies that didn't reduce their salt because PEOPLE LIKE THEIR SALTY FOODS, particularly salty soups. So the only way Campbell's would do it is if everyone was forced to do it at the same time. In this case, Apple is forcing Foxconn in the right direction WITHOUT government regulation, but nothing is holding Samsung or Sony or anybody else to improve conditions at their factories. Apple is being asked to take on additional expenses for the sake of public appearance that the other companies are not being forced to comply with. Which I don't think is fair. There should be some minimum standards for workers that EVERYONE has to comply with.
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