Disney

D isney is currently #11 on the Forbes list for "The World's Most Valuable Brands" and #84 on Global 2000." For some reason, the company that deems its own park to be "The Happiest Place on Earth" can't be bothered to provide a living wage to all of their workers. You would think that studio like Walt Disney, that has been targeting a child audience for nearly 80 years and bringing families together, would give more of a shit about the issue of sweatshops and child labour.

Based on an undercover investigation by Sacom:

child workers as young as 14 years

3 times the maximum legal limit for overtime work

injured worker refused medical treatment and ordered back to work

company hid chemicals during audits

workers "paid by the factory to give misleading answers during audits" and "fined for failing to hit targets."

45 year old woman committed suicide "because she was always scolded"

This all took place in a factory manufacturing Cars toys. The 2006 film grossed $461,983,149 worldwide, while the 2011 sequel grossed $559,852,396. The production budgest for both of these films was less that half of these amounts.

sources: "The Guardian" article (2011) AND Box Office Mojo

On Nov. 24th, 2012, more than 112 workers were killed in a Bangladesh factory (which produced garments for Wal-Mart and Disney) fire.

Toys and sporting goods are imported to the USA from thousands of sweatshops in China, where the majority of employees are woman who work over 12 hours. This is an environment in which pregnant women are forced to quit their jobs without compensation and workers are not allowed to raise their heads without permission.

source: "Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights" article (2012)

Those working for Disneyland sweatshops are paid $0.17/hour and forced to work 12-hours/day, 7-days/week. Reported abuse includes verbal, being beaten and whipped, being locked in overnight, and working 36 hours straight without overtime pay. These reports, as well as sexual harassment reports, have been filed to no avail.

source: "The Crusader" (2014)

"...these sweatshops that Disney funds are very real. The US Government can not take significant action because these operations are not on their soil. Organizations such as the National Labor Committee are focused on the issue and do their part in protesting and bringing the issue to attention. Despite their efforts, the same conditions continue every day in China and other parts of Asia for overseas factory workers."

source:"IHS Child Slave Labor" article (2005)

Disney claims that they are committed to combating child exploitation and labour involved in manufacturing their products. However, in the documentary "Santa's Workshop," the anonymous voice of a young girl claims that she works in a factory that makes dolls and stuffed animals for Disney from 6:30am until 12:00am, and overtime from 2:00am or 4:00am.
Bangladesh workers were paid $0.05 for a shirt that would go on to retail for $17.99, and "since workers publicly protested about the poor working conditions, Disney removed their factory there. However, this did not stop the company from going elsewhere, implementing even worse conditions."

source: "St. John's University" article (2015)

SeaWorld has obtained quite a bad reputation within media, but I hadn't heard much about Animal Kingdom. Despite not necessarily having heard negative news about Animal Kingdom, I couldn't help but feel uneasy about going. (Packing and leaving for Florida immediately after my final exam this last Winter didn't really leave me much time to research.) As soon as I saw the monkeys inside the park, I knew why. Viewers and Disney staff will claim that the monkeys have freedom. Those monkeys can't leave the park. They are far from free. And another question, why is an animal such as a tiger, that is supposed to be at the top of the food-chain, being forced to laze around on a patch of grass that it can easily run a lap around-- simply intended to be visual amusement for humans? It's sickening.

As humans, we have so much power and so many resources at our fingertips. Collectively, and as a community, we can achieve so much. Take a look at this place. It's magical. But the magic quickly dissipates once we learn about all of the suffering that goes into it. A magical kingdom that is ethically run isn't something that should be too good to be true.

Animal Kingdom made IDA's 2014 list of "Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants" following the death of a pregnant elephant named Moyo, and her unborn baby. Typically, pregnant females should not be transfered. However, Disney put Moyo on a truck, and it resulted in her death. The park also made IDA's 2007 list for dropping two of their infertile elephants at an unrecommended facility in exchange for a fertile elephant.

source: "In Defense of Animals" (2014)

Here are a few of the horrible things that SeaWorld is responsible for, in case you haven't already read about it.

Emma Watson is someone who is well-known throughout the media as being vocal about her beliefs. People who believe in different things often collaborate and it can become difficulty to trace issues back to their source.

Emma Watson as Belle concept art by Prateek Mathur.

What I'm getting at, is that Disney has many assets, and it may seem like an incredibly strenuous task to pick out each thing that the company has a hand in or has invested cash into (in order to eradicate it from your life). An immediate action we can take though, is to swear off of purchasing anything that is directly licensed as Disney.
Be the change you want to see in the world.