The Mindful Consumer Project is an interactive art installation that mimics consumer interactions by the use of a self checkout kiosk. The purpose of the installation is to help consumers feel a little more mindful about their purchases. Consumerism is the American lifestyle, however there is little to no consumer protection. Most items that are for sale are strategically advertised to fool the everyday consumer, conning them into purchasing a product that may not entirely be what it said it was. For instance, a multivitamin could be advertised as “100% natural, 500% your daily iron” but would really be 99.5% natural and have 300% your daily Iron. Similarly, agricultural giants take advantage of their brand portfolios and the power of brand identity to control the market. The main focus of this project is to show users who owns what and how agriculture giants influenced the 2016 election.
The Mindful Consumer Project is inspired by Michael Pollan’s Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (also a mini documentary series on Netflix) and Jessie Reyes’ piece “Brought to you By...”. Pollan’s book explores the four elements - fire, earth, water and air - and the history of how they contribute to our kitchen and everyday lives. Jessie Reyes’ piece “Brought to you By...” provides information about the television industry and who owns which television channels.
In contrast, The Mindful Consumer Project mainly targets brand identities and monopolies. This project investigates the largest food corporations and their products, partner companies, and political contributions. Through research and production of this interactive installation, my intention is to investigate and raise awareness of the power, control, and subliminal manipulation of these corporations.
I displayed information about the corporations that own the product that the user has selected. For instance, if the user scans in a package of Nabisco Oreos, the display would ring up the item as “MDLZ Oreos” (because Mondelez international owns Nabisco) as well as an image of the item and their political contributions. The intention behind exposing this is to empower users to think more carefully about their next purchase and to take the initiative to give more power back to the consumer.