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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Mark Oliver

Sweat and tears

Welcome to Sim Sweatshop, an online game that seeks to increase awareness of the appalling conditions many workers in the developing world face every day.

An interactive artwork by Jonny Norridge, it was commissioned by NOW, a Nottingham-based art group.

Players have to frantically put together trainers as the clock runs down, using a pathetic wage to buy drink and food to stop their energy bar from disappearing.

There is a daily quota of shoes to hit, with wages being docked if it is missed.

If money runs low, it is a struggle to buy food, and the shoes become blurry as tiredness sets in.

When I played the game - in which joining a union can cost you your job - I lasted the equivalent of three days before running out of money, food and strength.

Perhaps it is a timely and appropriate way of trying to reach young consumers and inform them about sweatshops.

A report last week suggested that the plight of child labourers and sweatshop workers is far from the minds of most young people on Britain's high streets.

It found that more than half of under-25s do not care how their clothes are produced.

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