Paper or Plastic

I saw this ad in a graphic design magazine a few weeks ago. It seems silly to make a campaign for paper, as if it’s a product people don’t know exists. And then there’s the message…

I decided to recreate the ad with text that I thought was more specifically what they were trying to say.

As someone who does not like the fact that the paper industry is the third biggest polluter in North America, I’d rather see an ad that educated designers about what they’re doing to make the paper industry not so harmful. Or maybe educate designers on how they can make better decisions when purchasing paper that is better for the environment.

A woman with an online store was explaining to me that there’s a growing interest by American consumers to buy products made in the USA. She then explained to me that in order for an item to have a “Made in the USA” label, only 35% of it needs to be from the USA. The obvious concern with this is that a made in the USA label is a little misleading if 65% is coming from another country.

More importantly, her concern was that people are assuming if a product is made in the USA, it’s actually better. Many people think that if an item is made in India or China, that it must have been made under poor conditions. However, this isn’t always the case. The woman explained to me that they sell a necklace where the beads are made by women in a village in India. The process they use to make the beads is very efficient and eco-friendly. Selling these beads allows the women to support their family and a village’s lively hood depends on this product.

This conversation led me to wonder what can be done about this? As consumers, how are we supposed to know whether a product was made in a sweat shop or under fair conditions? This led to our “responsibly” idea.  Manufacturers would have the option of putting “Responsibly” in front of the country their product was made in. If they can pass regulations to prove the item was made under responsible conditions, why not?