The recent ABC series "Made In America" is already causing nationwide conflict among
those who think the report is full of hypocrisy and false messages.
A report from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) is saying that the ABC story
is hypocritical for focusing on consumers, instead of corporations like parent
company Disney. FAIR claims that consumers do not choose where products are made,
manufacturers (like Disney) do.
They are deeming this an "action alert" criticizing that the report should have
focused on the major corporations who hold more power in their decision making,
versus the consumer. But many everyday consumers would beg to differ.
Elizabeth Manzo, a teacher from The Laureate School in San Luis Obispo, is a strong
believer that her dollars do indeed count, especially since she is the only one who
ultimately decides where they go.
"The Mom and Pops are my friends, my neighbors and my family. I work hard for the
money I earn, realize my dollars are my voice in many ways, and want to share my
efforts with regular people, not corporations," Manzo explains. "I check to see where
things are made to support real people I can see."
But Manzo admits even the conscious consumer can fall victim to a quick, cheap
thrill. But she’s working toward the ideology that having an overall awareness is
better than nothing. "I had a friend who used to always check the tags when we were
shopping, especially if she wasn’t sure she ‘needed’ it. She’d look and see where
it was made, and if it was made in China, she decided to put it back," explained
Manzo. "I didn’t realize it, but just being around her made me start doing the same
thing, and now it’s become my own habit. It’s amazing how the power of 1 can become
the power of 2 and so on."
Not everyone can afford the American made goods however, even though the ABC report
pointed out that most items in the home were around the same price point as the
foreign made objects. And even though the lamp they ultimately decided on ended up
costing 250 dollars, they made a point to showcase cheaper lamps running the same
cost as the family’s previous lamps had.
Marie Kinnaman, a popular interior redesigner who emphasizes green design, finds that
hard to believe. Kinnaman had a sustainable home decor, art and apparel store in
Fallbrook, CA, and found the all-American made lamps to be handcrafted and expensive,
not mass produced. "It's highly unlikely American made lamps could sell for the same
price as foreign made lamps."
Diane Sawyer, who led the Made In America report, did conclude that many of the
products which were believed to have been made in the USA, actually were not. The
fact that many manufacturers don’t know where their products are made did not
surprise Kinnaman.
"Working together with craftsmen and local producers became easier than trying to
argue with wholesale companies who wouldn’t be honest about the origin of their
wares," she said. "They were either completely defensive when you asked where it was
made and played dumb, or it would take them hours to track down someone who could
tell them where it was actually manufactured."
Apparently, one of the most popular ways to throw off a potential buyer was to answer
the question of origin by saying, "It's designed here." Buying only American made was
not Kinnaman’s focus. It was more so to assure she was seeking out original items
made in various economies around the world, and not just China. According to her, it
was actually easier than you’d think to stock an entire 2,000 sq foot store with
products made from around the world, including the US.
In fact, Forbes magazine is disputing the report, claiming there are still plenty of
American made products, they are just of higher value and not things the common
consumer can find in a retail store. Think pharmaceuticals or airplanes for example.
But so what? Isn't it still important to draw attention to the fact that the average
consumer really doesn't seem to care where their products are manufactured? When you
think about which stores are thriving across the United States, the ones that come to
mind are the big box corporations that jam pack their stores with inexpensive,
cheaply made products.
And while in all fairness there is definitely a market for those items (many people
can not afford domestically made) the point of the ABC report was to let the American
consumer know they have choices, especially when it comes to quality.
One of the biggest debates was quality over quantity. The coffee table found for the
project's home was three times more expensive than the foreign made competition, but
would be sure to last through three generations, and not just three years.
So the average American consumer is faced with the question, "Is American made
important to me?"
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