The world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer, Foxconn, have admitted to using 14-year-old interns in a particular factory in Taiwan. The company is responsible for producing various Apple products as well as PS3s, Xbox 360s and even Wii Us.
As reported by The Guardian, the Chinese company had several interns employed who were under the legal working age of 16. Foxconn does not deny this claim, stating: “Our investigation has shown that the interns in question, who ranged in age from 14 to 16, had worked in that campus for approximately three weeks.”
While this is an undeniably bad episode in terms of human affairs, a game journalist cannot help but look at the incident and question the trust that company’s like Sony and Apple put in to certain Chinese businesses. Apple’s recent problems with Chinese factory suicides have been well documented, but in reality little has been done to truly scrutinise how modern or western companies go about manufacturing.
This incident must not be blown out of proportion, however, as initial reports suggest this is an isolated event caused by the factory staff independently, rather than Foxconn as a whole. So while questions must be asked as to how those who build games consoles and iPods end up hiring kids, it is perhaps better to allow the investigations to be made before making a Ghandi-inspired Wii U boycott.
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