Here's a new one on me: press releases sent out to blogs, with the choices probably scraped off the TLB Ecosystem. This one is about the labor practices of official suppliers to the Olympic Games. Since it's the first I've ever gotten, and the cause isn't repugnant, I figured I'd reprint it, just as I got it. But I doubt that I'll make a practice of this.
Dear Professor Froomkin,
I need your help exposing a shocking hypocrisy about the upcoming summer Olympic Games.
Ironically, “Celebrate Humanity” is the lofty promotional theme of this August’s Olympic Games, yet the labor practices of Fila and the other official suppliers of the Games (sportswear giants like Umbro, Puma, Asics, Lotto, Kappa and Mizuno) violate accepted international labor standards!
The workers, mostly women, who are responsible for the gear and clothing the athletes will wear in August have few rights and work in terrible conditions – forced overtime, fines for mistakes, and threats of being fired for joining unions.
Not exactly a “celebration of humanity.”
That’s why Oxfam America created PlayByTheRules.org, a new U.S.-focused campaign that’s part of a global effort to use the power of consumer pressure to convince Fila and the other Olympics suppliers to put an end to the appalling working conditions in their supply factories.
At PlayByTheRules.org people can send a letter to Fila CEO Steve Wynne asking him to end the hypocrisy and give his workers the rights and respect they deserve by guaranteeing that every worker in Fila’s supply chain is paid a living wage, has free access to trade unions, and enjoys safe working conditions.
We really need help spreading the word about the PlayByTheRules.org campaign. That’s why we’re asking popular blogs like yours to join the fight. Anything you can do – a posting, an article, or even just a link to the campaign homepage (http://www.playbytherules.org) would be a big help and much appreciated.
I’ve pasted a short sample message below but would be happy to provide more info if you’re interested. Feel free to call me at 202.xxx.xxxx or email me at ldavis@mrss.com with any questions, concerns, ideas, etc. I will follow up with a phone call in a day or two.
Thanks so much,
Lisa Davis
Online Outreach Coordinator
*PlayByTheRules.org is a part of a larger global campaigning effort by Global Unions, Clean Clothes Campaign and Oxfam to shed light on labor abuses. If you’d like to learn more about the global efforts, please visit www.FairOlympics.org.
————————Sample article or email message—————————-
Exploitative Labor Makes Mockery of Upcoming Olympics
Fila and other sportswear giants refuse to play by the rules
There’s a shocking hypocrisy in the upcoming Olympic Games.
The official promotional theme of this August’s Games is “Celebrate Humanity,” yet, ironically, the labor practices of Fila and the other official suppliers of the Games (sportswear giants like Umbro, Puma, Asics, Lotto, Kappa and Mizuno) violate accepted international labor standards!
Please visit http://www.PlayByTheRules.org to ask Fila’s CEO Steve Wynne to end this hypocrisy and truly “celebrate humanity” by guaranteeing that every worker in Fila’s supply chain is paid a living wage, has free access to trade unions, and enjoys safe working conditions.
The workers, mostly women, responsible for producing the gear the athletes will wear this August work in terrible conditions with few rights – they endure forced overtime, fines for mistakes, and threats of being fired for joining unions. Hardly a “celebration of humanity”…
That’s why Oxfam America launched PlayByTheRules.org, a new U.S.-focused campaign that’s part of a larger global effort to use the power of consumer pressure to convince Fila and the other Olympics suppliers to the appalling working conditions in their supply factories.
Help put an end to exploitative labor in the Olympic Games by clicking below to send an email to the CEO of Fila now: http://www.PlayByTheRules.org
Then help spread the word by asking your friends to join you in speaking out.
————————————————————————————————————————————————
*PlayByTheRules.org is a part of a larger global campaigning effort by Global Unions, Clean Clothes Campaign and Oxfam to shed light on labor abuses. If you’d like to learn more about the international effort, please visit www.FairOlympics.org.
Out of curiousity, why is there a large chunk of Javascript in the middle of the e-mail? (I noticed it when NewsGator choked on it.)
I wondered about that myself. But I didn’t have the energy to edit it. It just seems to duplicate the text as far as I can tell. If it’s causing problems for people I could replace it with plain text, at the cost of the links?
Since Real Journalists can be convinced to copy-edit press releases and distribute them as “news”, it’s no surprise that PBTR.org’s PR department is trying to convince bloggers to do the same thing.