The Murky History between Hasbro and Irish Convent Workhouses

Elizabeth Coppin was considered “illegitimate” by the Irish state, born out of wedlock in 1949 in Killarney, Ireland to an unmarried teenage mother. Without a husband to support her, Coppin’s mother was forced to give up her child. At age two, Elizabeth was sent into state care and later one of Ireland’s many Church-run convent workhouses, collectively known as the “Magdalene laundries” and so named because most (though not all) were industrial laundries. 

The clients of these workhouses came from every strata of Irish society, but among their business partners were large international corporations — including Hasbro, whose company is alleged to have employed Magdalene laundries within its European operations. 

Journalist JP O’Malley grew up with stories of their aunt packing boxes of Buckaroo for pennies in the 1980s.  Decades later, they began to investigate Hasbro’s connection to these workhouses. In their work for the online magazine Little Atoms and later The Telegraph, they chronicled a history of exploitation and shady business practices connected to the multinational games company. Hasbro, who would later acquire Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering publisher Wizards Of The Coast, denies any direct relationship to the workhouse. However, O’Malley’s investigation uncovered other women who claim they had worked on board games including Buckaroo, KerPlunk! And Mousetrap. 

To date Hasbro has never officially acknowledged claims of forced labor levied against them, including similar allegations within their China-based factories in the 2010s. Investigations into corporate supply lines, like the one conducted by O’Malley, are difficult enough as is before the added secrecy of the Catholic Church is brought into the equation. But as we dig deeper into the story of the Magdalene laundries the number of links can't help but raise questions over Hasbro’s historic and modern practices.