Here’s Air America’s list of the top ten companies to avoid this holiday season. (Personally, I recommend not buying anything, and instead actually spending time with the people you care about and doing nice stuff for them, but then we can’t dispense with capitalism all at once can we? Oh wait, of course we can… it’s already dead! It’s kind of like “Sixth Sense”... “Some ghosts, they walk around, thinking they’re alive, but they’re actually dead, they just haven’t realized it yet…”)
1. Children’s Place: “It gets its products from places with human rights and labor violations and had to pay $1.5 million in a settlement alleging that they violated the Securities Act.
2. Hanes: “...went the extra step to be cited for ?¢‚ǨÀúegregious labor violations.’” Oh, and they have not even an attempt at an anti-discrimination policy for sexual orientation and gender identity.
3. JC Penny: “D- on Green America’s scorecard and D+ from the NAACP.”
4. Limited Brands (this includes Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works): “The now scarily common ?¢‚ǨÀúsourced from countries with widespread, well-documented human and labor rights abuses’ rears its head here…”
5. IBM: “It’s been sued for improperly converting employee pension plans and for exposing them to toxic chemicals.” Oh and also for “aiding and abetting South Africa’s apartheid regime.”
6. Albertsons: The gamut of really bad labor stuff ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù “Unpaid overtime, punishing employees for opposing discrimination policies ... intimidates workers into refusing unions ...” and the list unfortunately goes on.
7. Chiquita: This is a good summary: “Everything is contaminated.”
8. L’Oreal: Still getting it for their lack of policy on animal testing (oh, and using banned chemicals).
9. Target: Bad on the environment, racial discrimination and of course ?¢‚ǨÀú?¢‚ǨÀúsourced from countries with widespread, well-documented human and labor rights abuses.’”
10. Wal-Mart: Obvi!