GLOBALIZATION ACTIVITIES

SOCCER BALL

Look at the soccer ball Describe it. What do you think about it?

WHAT’S MISSING?

We often forget about the deeper social reality associated with the ball – a reality that advertising & consumption oriented rhythms of U.S. daily life discourage students from considering.

Read Brecht’s poem & answer the questions

BRECHT’S INFLUENCE

Keeping in mind Brecht’s poem, I want you to re-see the ball… consider: writing from the POV of the ball ask it questions look at it deeply; what did you miss the first

time?

When you consider the human lives behind the ball as the objective, writing comes alive. We need to make the “invisible visible” to look behind the “masks” of everyday consumer goods.

WORK POEM

You are going to write a work poem that captures some aspect of the human lives connected to the products we use every day. You can draw on any situation, product, individual, or relationship from history. Think about the importance of making visible the invisible, of looking behind the masks presented by everyday consumer goods.

JUST DO WHAT? – FACTS ABOUT NIKE # of workers making

Nike products worldwide on a given day: 500,000

# of people employed at the PT Nikomas Gemilang factory in Indonesia which makes Nike runners: 23,000

Avg. daily wage for Indonesian workers making Nike products: $1.10

Avg. daily wage for Chinese workers making Nike products $2

Avg. daily wage for Vietnamese workers making Nike products: $1.60

Amount Nike CEO Phil Knight’s stock in company is reportedly worth: $4.5 billion

Nike’s 1999 revenues: $9 billion

Name of Oregon university student who designed the swoosh: Carolyn Davidson

Amount she charged for the design $35

# of Downsview, Ontaria workers who lost their jobs in 1994 when Nike shifted production of athletic clothing to cheaper undisclosed locations: more than 100

NIKE CONTINUED… Estimated cost of

doubling the 10 cent-an-hr. wages of Nike’s 80,000 Indonesian factory workers: $22 million a year

Percentage of Nike’s annual advertising budget this would represent: 2.8%

Annual amount Nike paid Michael Jordan for promoting Nike products: $20 million

What Nike paid to sponsor the Brazilian soccer team: $200 million

Retail cost of one pair of Nike’s Air Tuned Sirocco runners $120.

Approximate cost of making one pair of Nike running shoes: $5

Nike has paid Tiger Woods millions of dollars in endorsement fees

NIKE’S CODE OF CONDUCT

NIKE Inc. was founded with the determination that we would build our business with all of our partners’ trust, teamwork, honesty & mutual respect.

At the core of Nike corporate ethics is the belief that we are a company comprised of many different kinds of people, appreciating individual diversity, & dedicated to equal opportunities for each individual.

CODE CONTINUED… Nike designs, manufactures, & markets

products for sports & fitness consumers. Nike seeks partners that share our commitment to the promotion of best practices & continuous improvement in: Occupational safety & health concerns,

compensation, work hours, & benefit standards Minimizing our impact on the environment Management practices that recognize the dignity of

the individual, the rights of collective bargaining, & the right to a workplace free of harassment, abuse, or corporal punishment

The principle that decisions on hiring, salary, benefits, advancement, termination, or retirement are based solely on the ability of an individual to do the job; no discrimination for any reason

MASKSMichael Jordan soars through the air,On shoes of unpaid labor.A boy kicks a soccer ball,The bloody hands are forgotten.An excited girl combs the hair of her Barbie,An over-worked girl makes it.A child receives a teddy bear,Made in China has no meaning.The words “hand made” are printed,Whose hands were used to make them?A 6 year old in America starts his first day of schoolA 6 year old in Pakistan starts his first day of workThey want us to see the ball,Not to see the millions of ball stitchers.The world is full of many masks.The hard part is seeing beneath them.

NIKE – JUST DO IT!

N – Number one in moneymaking - Number one in sweatshop, overworked, & under paid labor

I – Increasing prices of products - Increasing the number of factories

K – Killing new styles promoted on TV - Killing Pakistani kids’ lives producing these products.

E – Eager to be paid millions of dollars - Eager to be paid to survive winters & summers

THE STITCHING SHED

Day by day Sit in the stitching shed Stitch by stitch Hope I could do faster, Do faster to earn money, Do faster so my brother Won’t cry because of

hunger, Do faster so my family

can survive. Stitch by stitch. One by one. I want to cry out, But can’t do that.

Family still there. I want to give up. But can’t do that. My family needs food!! Can’t do it faster. My hands hurt. I hear the voices through

the winds. They tell me to let go of

the pain. Oh, God! I am too young

to give up. The hope eases my pain. Hope tomorrow will be

better.

DEAR BARBIE

Dear Barbie,How are you? What will you do today?Will you work all day for pennies an hour?Or will you play in your dream houseMade from the sore hands of little girls?Barbie, will you make up your perfect,Pretty face that has become moreImportant than the sad facesThat made you who you are?Are you too good, Barbie?So good that the very hands that putYou together will never haveYou for their own?Do you even care?Dear, dear Barbie.

CREATE YOUR OWN…

Write a work poem Relates to globalization, sweat shops, labor

issues, etc.