I DONT WANT TO KNOW

Describe your idea and concept of your work in relation to the festival outlines:

My concept is based around the whole idea of "Ignorance is Bliss." There are so many issues surrounding food and its production methods, that for so many years people have been completely unaware of what they are actually eating. This issue, ignorant bliss, is very serious and in some cases the damage is to our own health, but people don't want to know about it. They would rather be left in the dark so that they can continue to eat without a guilty conscious or be worried about the chemicals that could one day be detrimental to their health.

What kind of communication approach do you use?

My concept will be applied to a T-shirt, on the front it will say "I DON'T WANT TO KNOW" and on the back will be a fact about food or the production of food. It is suppose to represent that even though some people chose to ignore the information or in other words "turn their backs" to it the facts stay the same and follow us everywhere we go. Just because we choose to ignore the facts, that doesn't change them.

What are in your opinion concrete benefits to the society because of your communication?

I think my communication is simple and straight to the point. The facts I chose were short, simple and easy to understand quickly. The front of the T-shirt saying "I DON'T WANT TO KNOW", immediately makes the viewer think; "But I do want to know. What does it say?" I think the simplicity and obvious nature of my concept makes it easier to have an effect on society. The facts I placed on the T-shirts are:

1) Castoreum, is the name given to beaver anal gland juice. It is found in vanilla or raspberry flavoured things under "natural flavouring."

2) 32,000 pigs are slaughtered per day. That equals 11,680,000 a year.

3)FDA laws allow for an average of 30 insect fragments per 100 grams of peanut butter

4)Birds are raised and slaughtered in half the time they were 50 years ago, but now they are twice as big.

What did you personally learn from creating your submitted work?

A lot of the information I gained for my project has had an effect on me as an individual. After researching, many of the facts I found shocked me, and to be honest really put me off eating a lot of things. I have always been somewhat uncomfortable with the thought of eating meat, and on some level everybody knows that the animals are not kept in the best conditions. But as heartbreaking as the footage is of the animals in the slaughter house, I didn't find it anywhere near as shocking as the things that are added into our foods under such misleading labels, for example "natural flavoring" being the label for what is really beaver anal gland juice.

Why is your work, GOOD communication WORK?

My concept is a strong communication piece because of its application. Having a T-Shirt as the base for my facts allows it to be easily transported, easily produced on a mass level, and easy to be in multiple locations at the same time - reaching a large target audience. Also the point of this is to make people aware, and to answer their questions. By having the T-shirts on people, onlookers can approach them and ask them questions about the facts placed on the T-shirt.

Where and how do you intent do implement your work?

The good thing about T-shirts are that they can be displayed anywhere, there are no restrictions on where this concept could be displayed.

Did your intervention had an effect on other Media. If yes, describe the effect? (Has other media reported on it- how? Were you able to change other media with your work- how?)

My concept has not had an affect on the media. However, in the process of this project, I put the T-shirts on people and got them to walk around in public spaces. You could see people would engage with the T-shirt and some people would come closer to read it. One of the locations we walked into was a coffee shop. The T-shirt on display at the time was the one featuring the fact; Castoreum, is the name given to beaver anal gland juice. It is found in vanilla or raspberry flavoured things under "natural flavouring". One lady read this, looked at her coffee, and then looked at us and asked if it was true. I said, "Yes it's true! It's pretty gross hey!". She said, "I have vanilla in my latte at the moment. I don't know if I want to keep drinking!" It was pretty awkward, but funny at the same time. The thing is, I don't know whether that lady finished her coffee or not, and I don't know whether it made her think of what else she doesn't know, but I do know that she will remember that moment, and she would tell that story to her friends and family. If it didn't change her opinion, hopefully it changed one of theirs.