Shein is this Chinese company that weighs more than 100 billion specialized in online ready-to-wear, and which gives excessively little credit to the rights of workers in Belgium or elsewhere. In addition, the multinational is regularly singled out for its poor ecological behavior and the thousands of daily parcels from dissatisfied customers that are returned to the sender for a non-negligible carbon footprint.
Since March 15, a Stib tram has been sporting the colors of the brand, which may raise questions in terms of ethics. “With regard to displays and in vehicles and stations, the Stib subcontracts to a private company, in this case Decaux”, confirms the transport company, which itself has an ethics charter banning advertisements that do not comply with it, such as those for alcohol, tobacco or cars. “For advertisements that might pose a problem, Decaux contacts us and we have a committee responsible for deciding. Here, we were not consulted.”
In order to avoid the bad buzz, the transport company will remove the problematic advertisement from its unique colorful tram. It should be noted that represents a non-negligible share for the STIB, which amounts to 3.5 million euros annually, “it’s the equivalent of three trams”.
