Ever so often I come across women who brag about their endless collection of branded items."I only wear Levi's jeans and no no no, only a designer branded handbag will do for me."said Mrs. M whilst at the dinner table.I simply nodded my head with a grin on my face and wondered how can anyone be so gullible to purchase a handbag for a few thousand riyals or a jeans for a few hundred riyals considering that most of the worlds branded items are manufactured in China, Greece and India and then returned to Paris or America where a stamp or logo is simply placed on all the items and then marketed to the silly public with a hefty price tag.Whilst Mrs. M was bragging about her Levis jeans that she had purchased for probably US$40 which is equivalent to Rs2100...I on the other hand adorned the exact same jeans that was purchased directly from the manufacturing plant in India for Rs250 (US$3). The only difference was that my jeans did not have the logo on it....
Whilst visiting India a few years ago I had the opportunity of visiting the manufacturing plant for Levis jeans. I was quite shocked and perturbed to see teenagers and many, many poor people working at the plant and earning less than US$1 a day.So it is pretty obvious that these branded companies are making huge profits at the expense of these poor labourers. Of course these branded companies then utilize excellent marketing and advertising tools to make the product an item of prestige and before you know it every Tom, Dick and Harry in town is trying to snap up the item. After all if Tom Cruise wears it, I must have it too.Right????
