A Killer Bargain

The Human Cost of Cheap Consumer Goods

The Killer Bargain referred to by this hard-hitting documentary's title is the availability of cheap consumer goods, imported by Western companies, whose prices don't reflect the actual human and environmental costs associated with their production in the developing world. Consumers remain largely unaware of the conditions under which the goods they buy are produced; this film makes those connections shockingly clear. While some retailers and manufacturers refuse to talk to the filmmakers, workers, doctors and scientists testify eloquently to the tremendous human costs of globalization.

A KILLER BARGAIN, like BLACK GOLD, makes it clear that it is up to consumers to hold companies accountable for the conditions under which their products are produced - even if that means a slightly higher cost. An Indian economist points out that globalization may create work in the developing world, but often at the price of shortening workers' lives. An Indian doctor adds that we in the West should realize that the clothes we wear are often made at the expense of someone else's life. The film ends with a quote from Gandhi: "There is enough for everyone's need but not enough for one man's greed."