Social media helps the public hold companies accountable for selling products that are out of fashion.
When I was young, using a plastic shopping bag once and throwing it in the garbage was a regular practice.
I now feel a little ashamed leaving the food store using their plastic shopping bags when my reusable shopping bags are forgotten at home.
This is because public awareness about the seriousness of plastic contamination has greatly increased over the past couple decades.
Last year, a study was released by the journal Science, which estimated that an average of eight million tonnes of plastic are improperly disposed of every year.
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The number of ocean garbage patches are growing and more aquatic species have been identified as negatively affected by plastic fragments floating in the oceans. As a result, scientists have become more frantic in their ringing of alarm bells.
Some jurisdictions have banned the use of plastic bags, while companies have identified a marketing opportunity and packaged their products in environmentally benign ways.
I can’t help but find it a little funny that common sense has to have a marketing angle before it’s put into practice.
However, when it comes to marketing, especially in the food industry, it’s not common sense that maintains a market share. Rather, many consumers buy into branding, and branding relies heavily on packaging.
Last week, Whole Foods Market took one on the chin as its campaign to sell peeled oranges in plastic containers drew social media criticism.
Nathalie Gordon at “@awlilnatty” tweeted: “If only nature would find a way to cover these oranges so we didn’t need to waste so much plastic on them.”
In the tweet a picture of the peeled oranges in the plastic packaging was also included.At last count, the tweet was approaching 100,000 retweets and likes.
If only nature would find a way to cover these oranges so we didn’t need to waste so much plastic on them. pic.twitter.com/00YECaHB4D
— Nathalie Gordon (@awlilnatty) March 3, 2016
Whole Foods Market promptly pulled the peeled and packaged product.
It is said that in capitalism, people vote with their wallets. It doesn’t matter if many people think a product or its packaging are thought to be stupid because it is successful if other people buy it and it makes money.
However, we now live in an era in which companies will quickly drop products that expose them to social media ridicule to protect the brand.
There may have been a market for peeled oranges because there appears to be limit to how lazy people can be when it comes to preparing their own food.
However, because of social media criticism, consumers didn’t get the chance to vote on this product with their wallets.
Today, people also vote on products with their social media accounts, and these votes matter.
