Where?
There have been many countries linked with Disney's Sweatshops. The following is a list of countries where Disney has had sweatshops: Haiti, China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, and United States of America.
Who?
Disney hires contractors to get the toys/clothes made. The contractors then get the sweatshops set up. Some of the contractors are Nathan J. Company, Too Cute, L.V. Myles, Classic Apparel, Keyhinge Toys, Eden Group, Mamiye Brothers/American Character Classics, and Victoria Garment Manufacturing Company.
Why?
Spencer Craig, worked for Disney in 1971-1995. He was the one who wrote the curriculum for the merchandising course at Disney University. He states,
From a business standpoint it made sense to start using cheaper labor overseas and to rely on licensees who would use it. One of the decrees that came down beginning in 1984 was that we were going to return twenty percent to share-holders. And we had to do that. That might be okay from a total corporate outlook, but when you look at merchandizing in particular, that's pretty touch. It used to be that if you brought back a net six percent increase, you got promoted. That's the real world of merchandizing. For them to come in and say, 'You're going to return twenty percent also', it led us to use less scrupulous licensees and manufacturers. The profit motive drove it. (Schweizer & Schweizer 1998).
Here we see that the people are told to bring back a huge percentage (20%). This "led [them] to use less scrupulous licensees". Business is very damaging, if the motives are not pure. They are trying to give more money to shareholders, what if they didn't give that extra money to shareholders? Could they use more scrupulous licensees, that didn't use sweated labor?
To make the judgment for yourself, click the following link to see what Disney states as their International Labor Standards. Keep in mind this is Disney's public page, so would they really tell the reader they use sweatshops? Then take in account the information posted above.
