Study Task 1: COP 2 – Setting a Research Question

COP 2 rationale

1. Focus on a specific graphic design discipline
2. The question must be open ended.
3. The question must allow for suitable theoretical research as well as visual exploration.
4. Position your research within contemporary graphic design practice - make it work for you.
5. Do some quick preliminary research to gauge how much literature is currently available...do the same to explore what is currently happening within the industry.
6. Consider what primary research methods could be used to support your research.

What do I want to explore?

Popular culture in its broadest sense – what positive and negative effects is it actually having on society and could it be used as a tool for environmental and social change. With climate change becoming more and more of a significant issue, and with the rise of right in prominent countries like the USA disregarding environmental protection at the cost of economic gain, could the mass media and commercial culture be used as an outlet to promote change, as is already starting to happen. Moreover, in social terms, there is an enormous rise in mental health issues amongst the younger generation, and it would be relevant to investigate what popular cultures role, if any, has been in contributing to this. For instance, it has recently been revealed that the contraceptive pill has been linked to depression, or how mass media outlets promoting an ‘idealistic body image’ have spurred on anxiety and eating disorders.

Touched in towards the end of my COP 1 investigation, celebrity involvement has already contributed to raising awareness for environmental issues, as well as musicians who sing about it, and TV documentaries and films that expose it to a mass audience. In terms of social issues, the correlation already explored in COP 1 of the rise in the mass media with the rise in pop culture has made this area of study a relevant and pressing topic.

Investigation:

Can popular culture be used as a tool for environmental and social change?

With a focus on globalisation manipulating cultures, the mass media’s effect on body image ideals, technological advances in our society, and the ways positive agendas for climate change can be promoted through use of mainstream outlets.

With climate change becoming more and more of a pressing issue, and with the rise of the right in prominent countries like the USA disregarding environmental protection at the cost of economic gain; could the mass media and commercial culture that is so prevalent in society due to the technological age, be used as an outlet to promote change. Celebrity involvement has already contributed to raising awareness for environmental and social issues, through popular media outlets such as music, television and film. The level at which we are switched on is higher now more than ever, thus can the resultant mass audience be used as a device for positive collective developments.

Study Task 6: Writing a Brief

Practical Idea & Helpful Links

COP practical idea:

A populist second hand clothing store chain 
take into the mainstream - not marketed as charity shop/ thrift shop/ vintage or retro but as environmental
- clothes swap events - £1 entry - profits go to recycling garments help environmental change
- second hand clothes shop chains - 100% renewed/ recycling / reused
- use of social media to expand brand
- celebrity involvement - multi-beneficial relationship as celeb gets good reputation and brand gets promoted


“The clothing industry is the second largest polluter in the world...second only to oil,” the recipient of an environmental award told a stunned Manhattan audience earlier this year. “It’s a really nasty business...it’s a mess.”

https://www.alternet.org/environment/its-second-dirtiest-thing-world-and-youre-wearing-it
http://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/09/old-clothes-fashion-waste-crisis-494824.html
https://www.ecooutfitters.co.uk/blog/fast-fashion-the-destruction-of-developing-countries/

Donated garments are sold in charity shops, but any clothes that aren’t sold will be resold to the used-clothing industry. These clothes are sorted into piles based on potential markets (type, condition of the clothes, and fabrics). The sorting process is actually quite labour-intensive because it is often done by hand. After sorting, the clothes will be distributed all over the world, but in fact, most of them end up in countries such as Poland, Ghana, Kenya, and Benin. So, what begins as a charitable donation can end up as a trading commodity.

Although this process is good for the charity, it could be argued that this process destroys the textile industries of importing countries. In fact, as a result of this issue, over 30 African countries have actuallyprohibited import embargos of used clothes.

Destinations of end-of-life clothing (Wrap)

From the sorting process, there will also be unwearable garments left over. These are sold to “shoddy industries”.

These industries disassemble garments into shreds, fibre or rags. It is a mechanical process that breaks down clothes with carding machines into fibre components; producing less material than before. These materials are then used as a stuffing in coffins, mattresses, and upholstery. An innovative company, IRIS Industries, is currently using these shredded materials and converting them into furniture or countertops.

Clothing statistics in the UK

• The average UK household spends more than £1,800 (£1,700 purchasing clothes + £130 on laundry) per year
• Every household emits around 1.5 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide = indicator of global warming potential) from their new and existing clothing – a carbon footprint that is equal to 6,000 miles travelled in an average modern car
• 90 per cent of the water footprint of UK clothing is made overseas
• The CO2e emitted by us washing and drying our clothes in the UK equals 10 per cent of the amount of CO2e emitted from cars across the country.

The following table shows a summary of the waste, water, and carbon footprints associated with clothing in the UK each year:

As we all know, aluminium cans can be recycled and formed into new cans, but what about clothing? In fact, just three per cent of our old garments are sold for recycling and reclamation into textiles. It is a very complicated and difficult process, as synthetic fibres are melted (a chemical process) and respun to the same length as virgin fibres, with no loss in quality. This process creates nylon and polyester. Making rayon uses less energy than producing new synthetic fibres (80% less GHG).
The recycling and reclamation of wool or cotton clothing is even more complex, and it is sadly necessary to combine them with virgin fibres to achieve a marketable quality.

Clothing Life Cycle: Creation, Disposal & Reuse.

Condensed Research: Extracting Points

Notes made off the back:

Brands use of mass media to expand their advertisement

(see table of definitions for source)

-       branded entertainment

-       BMW 2001 ‘the hire’ milestone

-       Top filmmakers and movie stars, evolving a genre

-       Its success started a trend and whole new era of advertisement

-       Covers all areas of consumerism – food, drink, cars, clothes

-       Christmas adverts

-       Presents technological shift in 2001

-       Multiple outlets means its reaching a mass target audience

-       Pop culture can generate whole platforms and environments for corporations to thrive

-       What’s next? Is there an opening for a shift to raising awareness of issues or promoting the ‘real women’ etc – dove campaign and bottle design

-       Branded events

-       Spatial-temporal phenomenon (Getz 2008)

-       Victoria secret fashion show – top models, musical performances by top artists (Rhianna/ Taylor Swift)  promoting the products – watched by 10s millions of people – broadcasted as an annual television show

-       Its affect on body image/ mental health

-       Highlighting consumerism and the power of celebrity endorsement

Constructive contributions – environmental education

Media treatment of the environment

Mass media used for environmental change – awareness – those in power dictate its exposure and thus popular culture is an alternative outlet that can be used to spread awareness – celebrities / social media  - a route around institutionalised media outlets

Case study: Japan

-       some of the highest newspaper circulation rates

-       ‘the average space devoted to environmental issues in newspaper grew from 0.4% in 1960, to 2.8% in 1972

-       news coverage on television quadrupled between 1960 and 1970

-       global issues getting more attention – Asahi newspaper went from having one article on the global environment in 1985 to 1218 in 1992

-       this dropped to 402 in 1996

-       ‘media in Japan tends to avoid criticising the public administration, the governing parties and potential private sector sponsors’

-       more official newspaper outlets are controlled by those answering to those who favour economic gain over environmental change and preservation

-       ‘traditional Japanese art, philosophy, literature and religious belief suggest a sensitive kinship with the natural world

-       philosopher Watsufi Tetsuro, ‘uniqueness’ of Japanese people & culture – ‘fudo’ (climate) are set of environmental influences that lie at heart of ‘nihnonjinron’ (the philosophy of being Japanese)

-       The Wests influence over the East through colonisation

-       Japan kept their values through avoiding colonisation and thus able to control the influx of ideas, philosophy, science and technology

-       Shintoism & Buddhism remained the most powerful forces shaping the Japanese view of the world and their teachings are such that present the gods as inhabiting nature

-       This shows how globalisation and industrialisation has fuelled the environmental damage of our time, and how these are environments where popular culture strives – can pop culture be to blame? Or now can we re-adjust the structures like in Japan but instead of through religion, through the existing structures of a globalised franchise of food, clothing, products – shift to environmental alternatives that can be advertised globally and sold globally

Paragraphs that summarise the research:

Branded entertainment was re-energised in 2001 when marketers discovered the Internet as a tool for promotion with the new generation of consumers. BMW’s 2001 ‘The Hire’ campaign was a series of Internet films that became a milestone in the progression of how advertisers would appeal to a populist market. Brands started to use top filmmakers and movie stars, surfacing a new genre of marketing communication. Its success started a trend and whole new era of advertisement of online branded films, a result of the 2001 technological shift. Covering all areas of consumerism – food, drink, cars, clothes – this genre of branded entertainment still thrives today with the evolution of Christmas adverts, started by John Lewis and now spread to many populist corporations like Burberry, who released in 2016 ‘The Tale of Thomas Burberry’, a three-minute hypothetical trailer written by Academy Award-nominated Matt Charman and directed by Academy Award-winning Asif Kapadia. Hence this utilisation of multiple outlets of mass media reaches a mass target audience. Pop culture can thus generate whole platforms and environments for corporations to thrive, so is there an opening for a shift to raising awareness of issues or promoting the ‘real women’. Such as done by Dove’s 2017 ‘Real Beauty” campaign where they released a limited edition collection of bottles representing varying body types.

As explored previously within the scope globalisation impacting body image ideals from the west to the east, environmental beliefs have also been at risk from populist western standards spread through a mass culture. The media in Japan play a decisive yet inconsistent role in the coverage of environmental issues (Fien,‎ Yencken, ‎Sykes, 2006).

In Japan…

 ‘the average space devoted to environmental issues in newspaper grew from 0.4% in 1960, to 2.8% in 1972

news coverage on television quadrupled between 1960 and 1970

global issues getting more attention – Asahi newspaper went from having one article on the global environment in 1985 to 1218 in 1992

this dropped to 402 in 1996

‘media in Japan tends to avoid criticising the public administration, the governing parties and potential private sector sponsors’

More official newspaper outlets are controlled by those answering to persons favouring economic gain over environmental change and preservation, however traditional Japanese art, philosophy, literature and religious belief suggest a sensitive kinship with the natural world.

Philosopher Watsufi Tetsuro explains the ‘uniqueness’ of Japanese culture to be a set of environmental influences called ‘fudo’ (climate) that lie at heart of ‘nihnonjinron’ (the philosophy of being Japanese).

The Wests held great influence over the East through colonisation, however Japan kept their values through avoiding colonisation and were thus able to control the influx of ideas, philosophy, science and technology. Shintoism & Buddhism therefore remained the instrumental players shaping Japanese beliefs, and their teachings are such that present the gods as inhabiting nature, thus keeping environmental conservation at the forefront of their principles. 

This shows how globalisation and industrialisation has fuelled the environmental damage of our time, and how these are environments where popular culture strives – can pop culture be to blame? Or now can we re-adjust the structures like in Japan but instead of through religion, through the existing structures of a globalised franchise of food, clothing, products – shift to environmental alternatives that can be advertised globally and sold globally