The same can’t said in China. Labor laws exist, granted, but regulation is sadly fickle at best. When electronic manufacturing giant Foxconn came out yesterday in admittance of underage hiring and rigorous, some say torturous child intern work practices, it wasn’t just unsurprising - it epitomized a downside of labor outsourcing that casts an awkward juxtaposition on so many consumer products enjoyed by millions worldwide.
One such product is the Nintendo Wii U.
Foxconn’s corporate partners run the technology gamut - Microsoft, Sony and Apple manufacture a variety of products through the Chinese firm as well - but the revelation that its interns were being exploited explicitly to meet the surging demand for Nintendo’s upcoming console placed questions about accountability squarely on The House That Mario Built’s back. No doubt aware of the mounting public pressure, it wasn’t long before Nintendo authored a response today to IGN, which is given below in full:
We require that all production partners, including Foxconn, comply with these Guidelines, which are based on relevant laws, international standards and guidelines. If we were to find that any of our production partners did not meet our guidelines, we would require them to modify their practices according to Nintendo’s policy. For more information about Nintendo’s Corporate Social Responsibility report, please visit http://www.nintendo.co.jp/csr/en/index.html."
Ranters, as our Ben Kendrick noted in Game Rant’s coverage yesterday, it’s disquieting, to say the least, that a company so predicated around kid-friendliness is so caught up in a scandal that’s anything but. What should Nintendo do now, even with Foxconn claiming to be addressing the situation?
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Follow me on Twitter @Brian_Sipple.
Wii U launches on November 18.
Source: IGN
