The average Nike shoe will cost a consumer around $100 to buy. This exact shoe that the consumer just bought only cost Nike an average of $28.50 to make because they have their shoes made in Indonesia, China, and Vietnam. Nike is just an example of one corporation that outsources and takes their production into third world, developing countries. Many big companies are very focused on their bottom number and use the people of these developing countries in order to maximize profit. The photo attached was taken by a Reuters photographer, Andrew Biraj, who documents the life of factory workers in Bangladesh. Biraj’s photograph contains symbolic elements which represent the inequalities of the world, and an ironic focus on the boy’s lack of clothing as well as the luxurious good being produced in such an un-luxurious location.

The smoke in the air symbolizes the poor conditions that the people of Bangladesh are living and working in. In the United States, as an employed worker, you are entitled to certain rights. These include being provided with a hazard-free workplace, training on potential workplace hazards, and voicing your concern over unsafe working conditions without fear of retaliation. Granted, in any country, both developed and developing, one would find that there are places that are unsanitary, hazardous, and downright inhumane, but the difference is that in developed countries, few, if any, people are working in these conditions. In Bangladesh, not only are people working in such hazardous and inhumane conditions but they are also living their daily, day-to-day lives in them. Smoke is continuously puffing out of factory smokestacks and polluting the environment, as shown in this photo that represents the inequalities in the world and just how different a little boy that is living on the opposite side of the planet can be. The child in the photo is jumping between scrap piles like a child in any western country would do but on a park's playground. The clear and major difference between the two is not only what is considered the playground but also that the former is naked. The other child will be wearing the clothes that this little boy’s parents produced in the hazardous and unsanitary factories for little pay.

The lack of clothing on the little boy in the photograph is ironic because he is jumping and playing around in clothing scraps. People wear clothing for warmth and protection from the world around them. He is so close to the protection that he clearly and desperately needs but because of the small wages in factories, his family cannot afford to put him in the clothes that they spend all day making. He is playing in the scraps of the clothing that he and his family cannot afford to put him in everyday. Big named companies, in order to cut labors costs, will often go to developing countries, like Bangladesh, to produce their inventory because there are no minimum wage laws in place there in the United States. The people of these third world countries work long hours and get paid very little, which is why the little boy is not in any decent, protective clothing. Across the planet there is another little boy, just like the one photographed wearing these clothes and completely unaware of what went into making the shirt on his back. People all over world, especially in the developed western world, are ignorant and unaware of the production of their clothing. Something they pay so much for and see as luxurious is made in such poor factory conditions.

Biraj's photo shows the un-luxurious factory that makes luxurious products. The irony of that is that people will pay a lot of money for a product but the place that this very product is made, is no where near as nice as the product is. The photograph displays the disgusting environment that the factories are located and they have children wondering throughout the junkyard where all the scraps are kept. The factories are crowded, hazardous, and the worst part of it all, the workers do not get paid nearly enough especially for how much the product they make gets sold for. This is how companies make the most money. They sell their products at high prices but pay their workers next to nothing. People put clothes on everyday and do not give one single thought about the effort and hard work someone put into making it. A clothing product that can be considered "luxurious" is made in conditions by people who cannot even afford to own something that meets their basic needs for survival and protection.

Biraj's photograph of the little boy jumping around the scraps from a factory displays the conditions in which the factory workers and their families work and live. The smoky air represents the inequalities of the world and how countries, like Bangladesh, do not have the labor laws in place like the United States to protect the workers. The irony in the boys lack of clothing while jumping over clothing scraps shows the viewer just how little pay there is for the factory workers that they cannot afford to dress their children in protective clothing yet they are making clothing all day long. Lastly, the photograph displays even more irony in the luxurious products that are made in such un-luxurious locations. In my opinion, this is the most striking aspect of the photograph because the viewer can understand just where the clothing they are wearing on their own back is coming from
