Hasbro Inc: Manufacturing Ethics and The Brony Community

Hasbro Inc, who owns the rights and manages the toy production of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the second largest toy and games corporation in the world. Their assets total 3.90 billion. They own many popular children’s brands including: Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, Playskool, Tiger Electronics, Wizards of the Coast (Magic: the Gathering), Tonka, Transformers, My Little Pony, Star Wars toys, Play-Doh, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, NERF, Sesame Street, G.I. Joe and many more. The Hub cable network on which MLP:FiM is aired is owned by Hasbro Inc (1). As most corporations, Hasbro Inc outsources manufacture of products to third-party companies in China. Why? Because production is much cheaper.

In China, assembly line factory workers are paid around $100 a month, and much of this pay is deducted from the factory provided food and shared dormitories. They are often subject to work 16-hour days on fast moving assembly lines, much of the time paid less than minimum wage (which would be around $100 a month or 55 cents an hour). Hasbro admits that this is occurring. Co-chairman of Hasbro’s “Care, the ethical manufacturing program of the International Council of Toy Industries said "let me be honest: there are some bad factories. We have bribery and corruption occurring but we are doing our best” (2). In 2008 workers from a Chinese factory which produces Hasbro toys rioted after they laid off 7,000 workers with no severance pay and did not pay and remaining wages the workers had earned (3). In 2007 a workers rights’ group discovered that that a Hasbro toy factory in Guangxi hired 1000 junior high aged students, along with unsafe work conditions, mandatory overtime, sexual and verbal harassment. In response Hasbro said they would act to make changes to these factories via its ongoing safety review efforts" which are done by independent auditors. It is not Hasbro themselves who controls these factories, therefore they do not have control over working conditions (4).

Would Hasbro really want to have this control? Of course not. Maintaining an indirect relationship with their manufacturers promotes the ability to maintain the cheapest possible rates, allowing them to buy the toys cheaper, and subsequently make a larger profit as well as charge less for the products, trumping competition.

This potentially provides a dilemma for some Bronies. On one hand, they want to support the company that brings them the Ponies that they enjoy so much, and on the other, buying these ponies supports practices which rival the messages of generosity and kindness that Friendship is Magic teaches us. In my eyes the most important thing that should be done at this point is to spread awareness. Try and be aware of where your products come from, who made them, and in what conditions. With an average of 60% of people unaware of where their Ponies are produced, lowering this number is most definitely the first step towards promoting kindness in business practices and changing the world for the better.

1. http://investor.hasbro.com/financials.cfm

2. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/business/worldbusiness/05sweatshop.html?pagewanted=all

3. http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2008-11-26-china-factory-riot_N.htm

4. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/business/worldbusiness/22factory.html?ref=hasbroinc

NOTE: Although this is mostly facts it is my personal opinion and does not reflect the views of bronies as a whole. That being said, Studio B and Hasbro toys are completely separate. This in no way a reflection on the wonderful people who create the cartoon, the ponies, or the bronies.

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