Blood, Sweat and Luxuries - Join the Debate.
When it comes to life’s little pleasures, the luxury items people treat themselves to on a daily basis, the UK public is spoilt for choice. But six young Brits are about to find out the human cost to the nation’s little pick me ups as they swap the high street for life on the production line in Blood, Sweat and Luxuries, to be broadcast on BBC Three.
Blood, Sweat and Takeaways (broadcast in 2009), which explored the human cost of food production in South East Asia, was the highest ever rating factual programme on BBC Three. Following its successful showing on BBC Three, it was repeated on BBC One. It followed the first series, the BAFTA-nominated Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts.
Most people wouldn’t think twice about popping into their local coffee shop, upgrading to the latest MP3 player or treating a loved one to a piece of jewellery. But if they knew truth about the appalling living and working conditions for the people that supply them, would they feel like such a treat?
The young Brits will be immersed into the worlds of gem mining in Madagascar; leather and coffee production in Ethiopia; e-recycling and gold mining in Ghana; and the electronics industry in the Philippines.
They will see first-hand what really goes into making the nation’s luxuries; living and working alongside the people that supply them, working relentless hours in appalling conditions for a pittance.
You can join the debate and interact with your thoughts on this interactive You Tube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WtUZzVA7Ic
Or leave your thoughts on the dedicated blog hosted by BBC3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcthree/2010/04/blood-sweat-and-luxuries-what.shtml
Blood, Sweat and Luxuries continues Tuesdays at 9pm on BBC3.
May 12th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Watching this programme just makes you think how lucky we are in the UK and how unappreciative we are of things we have in our lives and how we take these things for granted.
May 15th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I have only watched one episode of this program so perhaps this is too harsh a judgement, but I cannot believe that the BBC has made a program like this. If this is a program exposing the working conditions and low pay of people in Africa why does it have to focus on a group of know-nothing 20 somethings desperate for their 15 minutes? The point may obstensibly be to show young people realising how fortunate they are in there own lives in the west, but this is basically a way to present the viewers with westerners that they can easily relate to and who can pre-digest the hardship they encounter for us, shedding a few self-conscious tears and spilling a few meaningless platitudes along the way. The result is just shallow reality TV with Africa-as-victim (in this instance) as nothing more than a backdrop, with the actual lived experiences of individual Africans in the program having to be channeled through the eurocentric, uninformed, patronising nonsense that these young people talk.
I don’t blame the participants themselves, it’s very easy to look foolish on television and I don’t belive they want to be intentionally offensive to anyone, but the producers of the program are far more interested in ratings and gimmicks than allowing people who do these jobs to speak for themselves. There is a real lack of humility and respect in the way that difficult jobs are turned into a game with rich young kids playing at being poor and having to do hard labour.
When ‘locals’ are asked questions these questions are closed questions such as “Is it right that you work to send your children to school so that they can have a better life?”. These are statements dressed up as questions, with the purpose of robbing people of any individual identity and giving them a stock ‘third world victim’ identity. None of the British participants is seen to make any effort to address anyone in any language other than English, even when speaking to those (often women) who clearly are not comfortable speaking English themselves. Even just a greeting delivered in an African language to start with would be something, and demonstrate that it is not the women that are lacking here but the tourists.
It is ridiculous to base a program that aims to be a hard-hitting investigation into difficult living and working conditions on a few well meaning but naive young people being sheparded around Africa wringing their hands and saying ‘isn’t it terrible!’, occasionaly ’solving’ peoples problems with small gifts of money and equipment. The issues that cause poverty, inequality and harsh working conditions are, of course, incredibly complicated. People doing difficult jobs in Africa have enough problems already. How would we feel if we were that poor and we really wanted some money to go to University, but then when rich westerners turned up with a TV crew they just sat around ‘oo’ing and ‘ah’ing rather than helping out? And as you can’t possibly play Father Christmas with everyone and solve everyone’s problems it makes no sense to sit around sympathising in an empty way.
If the BBC really wanted to make a program about hard and badly paid jobs in Africa they could start by interviewing the people who actually do these jobs, perhaps just by asking them leading questions, leaving the camera on them and letting them say what they want to say. This perhaps wouldn’t make very ‘exciting’ television, but it would be better than having the experience of Africans relayed in a way that reduces it down to the occasional (prompted) African soundbite and the studied mixture of horror and pity on the faces of the amateur performers in this ham-fisted dramatisation of gap year tourism.
May 19th, 2010 at 5:02 am
bbc has shown me a very diferent side, i my self was into luxury cars leathers bags gold and everything.. this show has shown me a whole new light, a very emotional light.. i understand these people worl really hard just to keep there family going and to survive and its true not all of them are a special case but yet all of them has the same problem which is upsetting. us british and americans are making million of pounds while the 3rd world country is making less than £5 a month. to air this show with british people inside it was a really good idea . i myself would have gone on to the show to experience something like this. it made me realise and to appreciate what i got. thank you.
May 22nd, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I would have been interested if the program has named names, so I could better choose the product I bought. What the point of showing us what’s wrong with the world and then not giving us any opportunity to put it right. Fab Program otherwise, coffee one had most affect on me.