People Explain Which Products Everyone Would Boycott If They Knew How They Were Really Made

Paying for the Name

"Most low to mid tier vodkas. I work at an industrial distillery where we make millions of gallons of very high purity ethanol from corn."

"We have customers in the beverage market that literally just dilute our product to 80 proof or so, run it through a filter, and bottle it to sell."

"Those customers sell their products from anywhere from $8-$50+ for a liter. And you know what the main difference is? The more expensive vodka's bottle is 'fancier.'"

"It's almost all brand perception with these corn based vodkas."

-- AndJuan247

Signed by Someone

"Certain signed art work."

"Used to work at an art printing company that we did signature editions of certain pieces. Guess who did the signing me and some coworkers, we were all design and art majors so they just had us learn all the artists signatures, we even had machines that could mimic the signatures too, I wish I had a picture of the devices they were pretty cool."

"It was in the fine print that we were doing it and was approved by the artists but I guarantee most people would never buy the prints if they knew the signatures were forged. So always read the fine print when buying items, especially 'special' editions of stuff."

-- Dr_Edge_ATX

A Very Broad Definition of "Fresh"

"Fresh juices are not so fresh apparently. A friend whose family owns mango orchard told me these companies buy the leftover stock that doesn't sell directly and leave the rest to strong artificial flavouring for uniform taste." -- Curious_pari

"Explains why is always has that partially fermented tang to it" -- Ignorhymus

Sheepskin

"In high school, the girls in my class were horrified to find out what their Uggs were made of. They had no idea." -- unfaathomable

"Oh god I knew this girl who was like 'oh no you don't kill the sheep to make uggs!' And I was like 'no you are thinking of wool this is literally sheep SKIN you have to kill it'" -- barmitzvahmoney

Secrets Behind the Orange Tape

"Not really a product but if people knew how much and often people cut corners in construction, I think housing prices would go wayyyy down. I don't think I was ever on a job where a problem came up, and people were like, 'Okay, let's start over and do this right.'"

"Or, especially in bigger construction companies, how much time the employees waste to run the clock."

-- heelhooksforchrist

Unfortunately, A Timeless Example

"I'd imagine if people walked through the sweat shops that produce most of their clothing, they would consider spending a bit more for products made in a more humane way." -- TheSexyMicrowave

"We need more laws. Laws imposing responsibility on sellers (more so large scale sellers) to ensure their suppliers comply with certain humanitarian laws. Basic levels of income, exploitation free etc."

"I rarely advocate government intervention but it is too easy to just lie about your products and get away with it. We need laws, auditors and fines." -- Cryovat321

A Complicated Response to a Grave Problem

"After I found out the story behind the palm plantations for production of palm oil I made it my personal mission to completely throw it our of my life (and that sh** is in almost everything you eat)." -- Junduk

"and in so many cosmetic products and in shampoo and in cleaning detergent. one really wonders why the f*** they put that in there to begin with" -- mastapetz

"The WWF actually does not recommend boycotting Palm Oil at all, as substitutes are way less efficient, and require far more land to yield the same volume as Palm Oil would."

"I think the best thing to aim to do is push sustainable palm oil through governing bodied such as the RSPO." -- Acid_Monster

Tough to Boycott, Though

"The human brain is incredibly good at forgetting and ignoring information that might inconvenience it." -- 0100001101110111

"I'm gonna pretend like I didn't see this..." -- Epibicurious

"That's horrible. Never buying a brain again" -- Cheap-Power

Value Added Products

"I've work in 2 different meat departments in 2 separate grocery stores. The meat in the case that has had work done, (marinated or like put into kabobs) are usually the old meat we didn't sell that is about to go bad."

"That marinade is hiding how shi**y the meat looks."

-- Mroder1

When the Product is So Caustic You Don't Have to Worry

"Monster energy drinks. I have been to their bottling warehouse (I was in college with some guys who became chemists for them while I was working on my doctorate). Some defect in one of the machines caused a bunch of cans to leak. The wood pallets underneath disintegrated like wet paper."

"Further, the maintenance crew was on a cleaning rotation. They told me that the Monster tanks do not get cleaned unless there is so much buildup that it changes the taste. This is because it is so caustic that bacteria and mold don't survive."

-- 1skepticalguy

Incarcerated Labor

"Garlic. The garlic industry is a hell of a lot darker than most people would think. I don't remember everything, but apparently a lot of Chinese companies that sell to restaurants overseas use prison labor."

"These inmates have to peel the garlic completely by hand, no tools whatsoever. There were a few inmates missing fingernails. If I recall correctly, one man said that he had a friend who had to resort to using his teeth because he didn't have any nails left."

"They work unimaginably grueling shifts, in which they have to meet a quota for the day or face consequences. They get paid very little, if anything at all. They all seemed so miserable."

-- foxglove37

Road Ready

"RVs. They aren't insulated fully. Nothing is sealed correctly. All the electronics that are "fancy and new" are outdated and inefficient. The manufacturers use the cheapest materials possible AND all RVs are built in 8 hours."

"A vacation home. On wheels. In 8 hours!?"

-- Leftydude777

Factory Model Haircuts

"Not a product, but a service.... I'm a hair stylist that's worked at Great Clips. They want us to do haircuts in under 16 minutes. If you're closer to 12, you become one of the 'elite.' "

"If you get a bad haircut from GC, yes, sometimes the stylist just isn't skilled. Most times, it's because we're rushed and bitched at for taking longer than 16 minutes."

-- ball_bustin_betty

"Eh, Nobody'll Notice"

"Coffee and cockroaches are linked in several ways....." -- demonardvark

"For those who don't know:"

" 'This happens with coffee because the large piles of coffee beans get infested with cockroaches and, according to Emlen, it is impossible to remove them completely. So they are simply ground up with the coffee beans.' " -- PaleNewt0

Rock and a Hard Place for Consumers

"Vegetables aren't necessarily 'made' so this might not count but If people saw the exploitation of people that went into getting their fruits and vegetables it'd be a different story. Many minorities work their asses off for little to no pay, through rain or shine."

"If they saw the hands and feet of the workers that provide them with the food, they'd be pretty shocked. 'How hard could it be all you do is pick fruit and vegetables all day' yeah right."

"Also the annoying 'oh my god you should be vegan it's completely cruelty free' people should shut up because the food your provided with by grocery stores isn't cruelty free either."

-- Gilamoreeeeee

All for Our Vanity

"Mirrors. It involves sending miners into deep arctic caves to retrieve the element Mirrorium. It's a crystal in it's natural state and apparently you could make a 10' x 10' mirror out of just a 'pen tip' sized amount."

"I'm obviously making this up because I don't know how mirrors are made and they scare me."

-- yourstrulytony

Natural Flavors

"A lot of perfumes are made out of musk glands that come from deer. They are killed in order to get it and it's not pleasant."

"Also some vanilla flavoring uses a liquid that comes out from the base of a beavers tail. It's not a pleasant experience for them either"

-- DudeGuyVR