RESOURCES
Further information | Press | Downloads | Bloggers Resources
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THESE MATTERS
I've played the game - I get the point - What do I do now?
- For further investigation why not check out: defeatpoverty.com, or "Offside" Oxfam report
- You could support one of many fantastic charities (oxfam, amnesty, tearfund, christianaid)
- You could look into microfinance and support small indigenous businesses - visit: unitus.com or kiva.org
- Other information can be found at nlcnet, behindthelabel, nologo.
PRESS
Sim Sweatshop is an interactive artwork by Jonny Norridge. You are invited to enter the world of the sweatshop and become a factory worker. Do you accept the challenge? Can you tirelessly make sports shoes for less than a dollar an hour as you struggle to support your family. The game begins May 2006.
The audience is invited to play a game, to become a virtual Sweatshop worker in a sports shoe factory. Like many sweatshop across the developing world this factory will be an example of how many workers are denied. The purpose of the interactive piece is to highlight the injustice of the global manufacturing industry, particularly the unfair wages and working conditions of those who work in sweatshops around the world (most notably Asia and Latin America). The audience be able to return to the game again and again to try and improve their score (which will be saved). The intention is that as they play the game the audience will be educated in some of the issues relating of the manufacture of sports shoes and the exploitation of labour in the developing world.
The rates of pay and expenses in the game have been based on the cost of living in El Salvador
Although the cost of living in developing countries is significantly different to the developed nations, wages of factory workers in these countries is still out of proportion to the day-to-day living costs of the workers. Charles Kernaghan, the executive director of the National Labour Committee reports: "We asked women workers in El Salvador... Could they survive on $0.60 an hour? 'No, it's impossible,' they told us. 'It's a lie when the companies say that.'" The women workers break down there daily expenses as follows:
- $4.78 income for 8 hours work
- $0.68 - cost of a round trip bus fare
- $0.80 - cost of a small breakfast
- $1.49 - cost of a modest lunch
Kernaghan also writes: "The workers live in one-room hovels, 10 by 12 feet, sharing an outhhouse and common sink with several other families. For this they pay $31.40 per month, $1.03 a day." (This information was taken from 'Sweatshops' by Charles Kernaghan, as featured in 'Take it Personally' by A. Roddick, 2001)
The game is the concept and Creation of Jonny Norridge (newpollution), with additional database work by Gavin Courtney. The artwork has been commissioned by NOW, Nottingham. Disclaimer: any similarity between shoes on this site and actual shoe designs is incidental - and does not imply that a particular shoe design is necessarily made in sweatshops.
DOWNLOADS
Download press pack (includes text, logo and screenshots) | Download screenshots only
BLOGGERS
Things to add to your site:
Image:
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If you wish to use this image button on your site copy in the following code: <a href="http://www.simsweatshop.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.simsweatshop.com/media/imgs/promo_btn120x60.jpg" alt="simsweatshop link" width="120" height="60" border="0"></a> |
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If you wish to use this image button on your site copy in the following code: <a href="http://www.simsweatshop.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.simsweatshop.com/media/imgs/promo_btn120x54.jpg" alt="simsweatshop link" width="120" height="54" border="0"></a> |
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If you wish to use this image button on your site copy in the following code: <a href="http://www.simsweatshop.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.simsweatshop.com/media/imgs/promo_btn120x54b.jpg" alt="simsweatshop link" width="120" height="54" border="0"></a> |
Flash:
The audio in the Flash file below is Wendell Berry speaking on TUC Radio.
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If you wish to use this Flash audio file on your site copy in the following code: <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=5,0,0,0" width="220" height="110" id="audioquote2" align="middle"> |
FEATURED
Sim Sweatshop has been featured in the following places: see here
LAUNCH PARTY
The official Sim Sweatshop launch party took place on 13th Sept 2006 at MUSE Bar, Nottingham, UK.