The iPhone & Consumer Guilt

Foxconn workers...

Last week, Apple announced the results of an audit conducted by the Fair Labor Association (FLA) of three of the Chinese factories that make its popular iPhone.

As the Los Angeles Times wrote on Friday, employees of Foxconn -- Apple's main manufacturer -- "worked more than 60 hours a week, often worked more than seven days in a row and did not receive enough compensation to meet their basic needs."

The next time someone says they feel guilty for owning an iPhone, ask if they were the one who decided to maintain a 73% profit margin while underpaying workers on 18-hour-shifts. Did they decide to roll out new models at breakneck speed? To use conflict minerals and toxic chemicals? I didn't think so. The most important ethical choice is not the decision to buy an iPhone, but the decision made on how to make, market and sell it.

Once we come to understand that the decisions companies and governments make are paramount, then we'll know where to apply pressure. By all means let's shun products from companies whose behaviour offends. But let's also realize we can work to change not just the way they act but the way they're allowed to act.

Only when every manufacturer of "Stuff" is required to make their products safely and fairly will we know that no matter what we buy, the important choices have already been made.

Check out The Story of Electronics below