Melissa's Remix

Remixing was a lot of fun...Some of you may or may not be familiar with the brand, but it can be found in most health food stores in the city.

Some of my challenges were:

1) that the product-line of Seventh Generation is not as well known as the mainstream brands, so I had to rely on text to convey much of the content

2) Seventh Generation is one of the few companies out that seem take social responsibility seriously. I felt a little traitorous revealing their darker side with major help from our reading. At first glance, they appear to be authentic transmitters of a necessary and needed messages. Yet, the spectacle still exists. And what a spectacular spectacle! IF they are not simulating the need for their product, they are busy comodifying the "revolutionary" identity right or even commodifying indigenous culture by means of hard-core appropriation. To top it off, they actually use grassroots, subversive, and SI-esque media tools, such as blogs, videos, and theater activism to name a few, to even though they are a national brand selling at Target locations since 2004 (and probably soon to be walmart). And of course they promote their products as the only alternative for the the necessity of survival, such rhetoric Sadie Plant warns us about. And we all know that Baudrillard says once the message is taken up by the media, the true message is watered down and/or eviscerated.

3) Some products are not as great as they could be in an ecological way, although work their PR people/mini consciousness industry diligently try to deliberatively sway consumers. This is why I used the tagline: Think about the true ecological costs. It's one thing to go into a store and pay more for an eco product and think that you are a guilt-free ecowarrior. What about using vinegar and elbow grease in your toilet instead?? Also, they sell disposable paper products and diapers. How about use a reusable rag or diapers? It seems that despite best attempts to convince people otherwise, Seven Gen values CONSUMPTION over CONSERVATION and SUSTAINABILITY. Many of their plastic bottles are not made from recycled materials. They do not use the most social responsible shipping methods due to locations of distribution centres (they say they are working to improve it though and have recently added more rail lines). Also, they even settled a dodgey lawsuit out of court over whether there diapers were actually chlorine-free or not.

In the end, they got some great messages and products -at least far better than 99% of everyone else, but there is still insidiousness afoot. Although it seemed a like a last and desperate hope for my quest in actually finding a authentic consumer product within this capitalistic system, I can now go home to my natural mint smelling house at the end of the day and feel nothing but meaninglessness.