For its song All I Need off the In Rainbows album, Radiohead teamed up with MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) to create a cause-oriented music video.
In the video, two kids — one American, one Asian — go about an ordinary day. As all young Asian children do, the latter spends his time in a factory, making shoes. And like all Americans, the former wiles away the afternoon, coloring and looking bored.
In one particularly poignant scene, the shoes the Asian boy is making sit side-by-side with the ones the American just removed. They are the same shoes.
To recap: “Feel guilty! Your life is easy. Over THERE? OverSEAS? Some kid is making your shoes.” It’s like that line your parents fed you to get you to finish dinner: children are STARVING in AFRICA!
If the video struck a chord, visit MTV’s EXIT website. (I’ll synopsize here. Champions against exploitation are invited to team up with a local charity, volunteer at an SOS hotline, or “raise awareness” with MTV EXIT swag. It’s essentially a glorified Neighborhood Watch.)
