Eric Sanchez Medel
Awareness
There are certain brands that produce goods that are widely enjoyed by an abundance of consumers. These same consumers idealize these brands thinking they could do nothing wrong, and that includes how they make their products. There is nothing wrong with admiring a brand, but often many consumers forget that their beloved brands have been accused of using questionable tactics when it comes to producing the goods they sell. Brands all around the world are making a name for themselves by taking different actions to boost their sales and separate themselves from their competitors. Unfortunately, not all the actions taken by brands have been positive ones. Often, certain brands that millions enjoy have a dark history or have used unethical practices. These unethical practices include the use of child labor and deplorable working conditions. The brands that will be shown in this thesis are Nike, Tyson Foods, and Nestle. These brands have been accused of using immoral actions when producing their goods. Many of the people who have bought goods from these brands are often unaware of the unethical practices they have taken. It is important that consumers become aware of this problem. When it comes to brands, many consumers will reject the truth even when shown the facts.1 The way to solve this is to put imagery in a place that people gather or pass all the time so that the message cannot be ignored easily. This thesis intends to showcase the unethical practices that these beloved brands have been accused of by comparing their campaigns and advertisements with the reality of the workplace to show these accusations. Advertising is being used because it is an effective method brands use to get their word out in public. It should be the responsibility of the consumer to make sure that the products they buy were produced ethically. Change starts with bringing awareness to a problem and that is what this thesis intends to do.
NIKE
Since the thesis involves parodying famous brands it was important to keep imagery and taglines that the brand uses in their advertisement. Here taking NIKE’s inspiring positive tagline “Just Do It” and making it negative by saying “Just Don’t.” This negative tagline is also a call to potential consumers telling them not to buy expensive shoes from NIKE.
When making the composition it was important to keep the whole juxtaposition aspect of the project. This composition tells two different stories about the same brand. On one side of the story is a young boy enjoying time playing outside with NIKE items without a care in the world. On the other hand, is another young boy however, his time is spent making items for NIKE so that others may enjoy while he has to do back-breaking labor. The letters inside “ CHILD LABOR IS NOTHING TO PLAY WITH” have little dotted outlines that represent the stitches in clothing going back to the NIKE sweatshops.
Nestle
With Nestle, it was important to expose them for the vultures they are. Normally the Nestle logo has two baby birds getting fed by a parent bird however since the point of this thesis is to show the public what brands have done it is important to show that in a visual form. That is why the Nestle bird has been changed into a vulture signifying Nestle and the dead baby birds are supposed to represent the African victims of their corporate greed.
In this juxtaposition the purpose was to show the affect of Nestle is hoarding water in Africa. Since Nestle is hoarding many water sources in Africa many natives have to resort to drinking water from contaminated rivers which contain dangerous viruses such as Cholera, Typhoid, and Hepatitis A. In this composition these viruses are shown inside the water bottle. The white hand giving water signifies the cooperate CEOs at Nestle while the dark hand signifies the African victims.
Tyson Foods
This past year has been a unique experience for millions of people around the world. Covid-19 has impacted people in many different ways especially the workers during this chaotic time. While many businesses shut production during the pandemic due to safety issues Tyson Foods remained open. Tyson Foods has many allegations against them from worker’s pay to working conditions. The most recent allegation is demanding employees attend work even if the employee showed symptoms of Covid-19. When parodying the TYSON logo, it was warped to make a frown signifying the emotions of the employees.
In this composition, Donald J. Trump is shown having no mask at a gathering and touching food products two actions that should have been avoided during the pandemic from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This is also showing that while many workers had to put their lives on the line to work and manage businesses, many rich people were carefree of what was happening in the United States. On the other side it shows employees with masks and gloves on, many people took these precautions during the pandemic.
WHY BILLBOARDS
The reason billboards are the main mocked-up items is because they are huge and in people’s faces, When exposing to people the truth the goal of this thesis was not to give people an option as many would on social media and smaller forms of bringing awareness.