A Toy Story
Dee Davidian, spends her spare time playing jazz piano, surfing, swimming and thinking of radio stories to produce for Eastside Radio. She’s also highly driven toward proactively embedding sustainability and ethical sourcing into core strategy and business operations, and particularly passionate about the impact a company’s supply chain has in promoting human rights, fair labour practices, environmental progress.
Sometimes everything starts by simply asking - why?
Why is the national animal of Scotland a unicorn?
And why if I try and search for an ethical toy can I not find anything that might also include plastic or with a battery inside? If I look up ethical fashion, I can see mainstream clothing companies scrutinised and compared against each other as I prepare my Christmas shopping list. Why the difference?
Toys and T-shirts are both very similar. Both are sold by businesses under strong competitive pressures due to rapid changes and uncertainty. “Fast fashion” is a well-known term for the endless & unforgiving pace of fashion, but perhaps “turbo toys” could be an equivalent term for the toy industry. What is worse is that a child’s attention can move on faster than the planned launch. Demand for a toy following the release of a film can explode, and then suddenly evaporate as the next hot product sweeps the market. Similar to fast fashion, toys can have very short-lived cycles. Toy production is seasonal and often ends with massive layoffs.
If as consumers we are concerned about the pace of toys and the detrimental side-effects - both on people and the planet, then harnessing our power as consumers is vital. And it has a long history. British consumers in 1790 boycotted sugar produced using slave labour. Today, people are asked to consciously choose to buy or refuse specific brands. Some online ethical shopping guides suggest avoiding toy brands made in countries identified as having ‘high labour and human rights risks’. But how do you really know what’s ethical or not in and amongst the greenwashing?
Over the past four decades, the toy industry has steadily matured from a cottage industry into a global market of over $50 billion. In Australia, the top four companies control nearly half of the market - Moose, Mattel and Hasbro are battling for the second position after Lego who continues to dominate the market. All these companies have production facilities in these high risk countries.
China is a major toy producer, with an estimated 75% of all toys produced worldwide made on the mainland. In the off season, Li Qiang from China Labour Watch reported that factories will intentionally remove overtime, so workers have no choice but to leave to earn a living wage. The majority of the workforce are migrant workers, and work is hard, dangerous, noisy and exhausting. Despite many leading toy companies disclosing their policies, and conducting factory social audits as part of an ethical certification scheme, problems of forced labour continue to persist in the industry.
Groups like China Labor Watch, and the Hong Kong based China Labour Bulletin both argue that the auditing process is flawed, and the root problem is the absence of genuine trade unions in China. Workers report that the factories know about the inspections in advance and will prepare for the audits. In the absence of labour rights networks, worker voices can’t be brought forward as they need to be. Regardless of any judgement on the adequacy of audits, they are only a snapshot and ongoing work and attention is needed to address fundamental issues.
Coming up to Christmas, where do you start?
We don’t need another tragic event like the collapse of Rana plaza to shine a light on an industry. We can start with our shopping list and three basic actions.
1. Ask questions: #whomademytoys?
Ask questions, educate yourself and act consciously. Who made the toy? Where was it made? Visit the US Department of Labor’s website with their comprehensive list of products made with child or forced labour. You can filter for toys.
2. Write an email to a toy company
Make your voice heard; send an email to the companies that make your favourite brands, and ask them what action they have taken to end slavery. Most companies have a general enquiry email address or contact us form on their website. You could write something like this.
Dear [company name],
I’m a customer and a fan of your toy products and games. Recently, I learned that modern slavery can occur within your supply chains. To learn more about this issue, you can visit Be Slavery Free’s website. I want to support a brand that takes action against/on forced labour this issue.
[ Add why you personally care about this issue]
What are you doing to ensure your products are modern slavery-free and is this information publicly available? Specifically, do you:
Have established codes of conduct for suppliers that govern fair working standards?
Know your supply chain and publish a list of factory locations?
Ensure employees are paid a decent wage so that workers don’t rely on overtime?
Provide training for staff and suppliers that raises awareness and builds their capacity to monitor and implement these standards?
Make unannounced visits to audit third-party suppliers to measure compliance?
Set up formal, accessible grievance mechanisms to report violations of standards and a process to respond to these violations?
Thank you in advance for your reply.
Sincerely,
[Sender’s Name]
And don’t forget to email us if you receive a reply! australia@beslaveryfree.com
3. Support Companies with Transparent Supply Chains
Begin following companies that are making changes and acknowledge the risks and challenges. Look up the modern slavery statement of Australia’s top 4 companies at the Online Register for Modern Slavery Statements: Lego, Moose, Mattel, Hasbro and compare their actions.
And don't forget options to repurpose or recycle toys. Aussies spend over $1 billion on new toys for their kids every Christmas, and a shocking 26.8 million toys are thrown in the bin, according to research last Christmas by Australia’s leading eco-retailer Flora & Fauna. Consider buying and selling used toys online, or joining a local toy library. You may have the gift that keeps giving.