| Oct. 14, 2011 | Posted by: Ryan |
Read the Label!
We would like to hear your opinion on an idea for our newest eco-art installation.
Did you ever consider all of the products you use as part of your daily routine? Soaps, cleaners, air fresheners, shampoos, moisturizers—all are seemingly innocuous items that have become accepted cultural norms. Rarely do we stop to consider whether the ingredients in these products are 100% safe.
As designers, we at MSLK are committed to using our talents to make the public aware of environmental issues facing the world today. Our eco-art installations: Urban Tumbleweeds, Watershed, and Take-Less focused on the dangers of our mass consumption of single-use plastics. These plastic products seem harmless as you use them one at a time, but over time the refuse accumulates. Similarly, we wonder about all those unnatural ingredients in our beauty and personal care products. How does the accumulation of what we put on our skin, our largest organ, affect our health as a whole?
We wish to create an awareness campaign about the harmful ingredients found in everyday products, which would be illustrated as projected animations in outdoor urban spaces. The products would appear as larger than life, generic, non-branded illustrations on building walls and sidewalks. The visuals will communicate three things:
1. What the product is
2. The hazardous ingredient contained within
3. Why it’s bad for you
Additionally, there will be a QR code that links to a microsite to offer more valuable tools and information.
The major goal of this campaign is to educate consumers about making smarter choices about the products they purchase.
What do you think? As a consumer, would you be empowered to go and learn more about the products and ingredients we are targeting? If you’re a chemist or formulation expert, what products and ingredients are the most problematic? What would you target?
This is certainly a hot issue right now. Check out this recent NY Times article on the dangers of triclosan in antibacterial soap.
Please comment and let us know your opinion!
awesome concept! i really like this and would be into helping if i can…i think people need to become much more aware of what is in their products and what the potential environmental and/or personal harm is from repeated purchasing and use. QR codes are a nice idea, and there are some great examples of QR codes working well in museum settings possibly like this:
http://www.themobilists.com/2011/08/30/qr-codes-in-museums/
also, wikipedia has a QR code generation service that’s pretty cool:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QRpedia
i have always liked the idea of direct linking to video or otherwise interactive content being show to someone scanning a QR code. it’s actually a pretty involved effort to open the QR scanning app, hold your phone in the right way etc., that rewarding a user with immersive content is the way to go…otherwise is it worth all that for something less interesting?
Thank you Yvette! These are some great examples. Yes, we would love to collaborate with you on the web portion of this project—the micro-site/online tool etc. Right now, we need to find a content provider to lend credibility. We’ve found a site that is all about safe product alternatives and is really extensive:
http://www.goodguide.com/
Partnering with a company like this would be amazing. Let us know if you have other ideas!