It's not a hazard of giving a crap. It's a hazard of using philanthropy and social conscientiousness as part of your marketing efforts. Lot's of companies give a crap. Not a lot of them market their caring like Apple does. So that I'm clear, that's not to say marketing your social efforts is wrong. It is saying that doing so brings a self inflicted spotlight. That spotlight shines brightly on the good and bad. Companies that aren't as vociferous about their good deeds don't have the same type of scrutiny.
Fair enough, but as far as I recall the correct timeline here wasn’t Apple suddenly marketing philanthropy and inviting accusations of hypocrisy. The turn of the century Think Different campaign angle was “cool maverick,” not “save the world,” and featured mostly artists & entertainers. Then the exposé on Foxconn hit in ‘06 (Google tells me) and those suicides there in ‘10, both while Jobs still led Apple, and people started pointing the finger at... Apple. No hypocrisy yet; just blaming the big customer. Also, as much as people love broadsides against “Timmy,” also remember that Apple’s efforts to influence Foxconn to improve happened after he took over, and, at least early on, helped. It just doesn’t take much in the way of optics (or biased reporting) to induce the hoard. As you suggested, it’s about clickiness, not truth.
Articles that are nearly 4 and 5 years old really don't bolster your point... well, if your point was to illustrate the infrequency of reporting on those issues, then you succeeded.
Just the first two I grabbed. Here’s
this from last year. Or
this from a few months prior. Just Googling the easy ones. Here’s a
neat one no one probably knew about from four weeks ago about Foxconn hiring teenagers for its customer... Amazon. That article was never here, even though countless Foxconn articles are. The point, which I’ve now bolstered with recent news, is that the obvious problem isn’t Apple. It’s globalization by
everyone leading to outsourcing fab to low-cost plants outside the western world there there aren’t unions, OSHA, or high standards of living. My point is that people love potshots & spin, and that includes MR editors too. As member Mac Fly posted, “Shouldn’t this read: ‘Apple-contractor Foxconn admits to hiring too many temporary workers. Apple investigates and makes statement, after China Labor Watch (CLW) brings the problem into the open.’”
Most people don't care about factory working conditions beyond giving lip service to the topics as a point of discussion.
On that we agree. I don’t actually wonder at all.