John Oliver to Joe Fresh: Eat my mystery lunch

HBO comedian’s prank on Toronto chain made serious point about child labour practices

HBO comedian John Oliver arranged to have mystery dumplings delivered to the Joe Fresh head office in Liberty Village on Monday, to highlight the problem of lack of transparency in supply chains.

In a comedy bit that ran on his HBO show Sunday, Oliver promised to send the cheapest possible lunches to the heads of apparel companies that have been singled out for selling unethically made goods, including, in some cases, clothes made using child labour.

The dumplings were intended for Joe Fresh creative director Mario Grauso, who was not in the office on Monday, according to a spokesperson for Loblaw Cos. Ltd., which owns the Joe Fresh brand.

Grauso recently took over from Joe Fresh founder Joe Mimran, who has joined CBC’s Dragons’ Den reality television business show.

Oliver said he also planned to send meals to the corporate leaders of H&M, Walmart, Gap and the Children’s Place.

His challenge to the retailers was for them to eat the meal, bought as cheaply as possible, without knowing where the food was made or how.

The show ran just after the two-year anniversary of the collapse of the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, which killed 1,129 people. Joe Fresh was one of the labels being manufactured in the building.

Oliver pointed out that the abuses in the global clothing industry have been well publicized many times since the 1990s.

“They are losing the right to act surprised,” he said.

“It’s a stunt that brings attention to an issue we’ve been heavily focused on since the Rana tragedy,” said Loblaw Cos. Ltd. spokesman Kevin Groh.

“We hope it doesn’t overshadow the investments we’ve made, the standards we’ve raised, and the team we’ve put on the ground globally to make change.”

Groh said that in the two years since the tragedy, Loblaw has become a lead contributor in the financial response, providing $5 million for local relief and compensation in Bangladesh.

Loblaw was also the first Canadian signatory to the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, which legally binds the company to factory inspections and improvements.

In 2014, Loblaw extended its building, fire and safety assessments to factories in Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and India, establishing a team of compliance personnel on the ground in all six countries, including Bangladesh.

H&M released a statement in response to the challenge from Oliver.

“H&M is committed to working together with our suppliers on improvements and building strong, long-term relationships characterized by trust. We audit each of our supplier factories on their sustainability performance regardless of whether they are directly owned or subcontracted by our suppliers.”

On April 23, a class-action lawsuit related to the Rana Plaza collapse was filed in U.S. federal court, naming J.C. Penney Corp. Inc., The Children’s Place, WalMart Stores Inc. and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh as defendants.