Primark 'cry for help' labels have painted Bangladeshi women as helpless

Primark label with a message in Swansea

Several weeks ago a story appeared in the South Wales Evening Postabout a shopper who found a label stitched into her Primark dress: “Forced to work exhausting hours”. While it may have been a hoax, the horror felt by the shopper spread, more labels were found, and the story became a national concern that has tied the Primark PR department up in knots.

So what is to be made of these labels that Primark assert were sewn onto its clothes in the UK? Why have they been interpreted as the long lost voice of Bangladeshi garment workers? And what is wrong with seeing them as a cry for help to which we must urgently respond? Read more.

Primark ‘cry for help’ labels have painted Bangladeshi women as helpless