<
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/rob-magazine/article-chiquita-banana-farming-wage-equity/>
"Mikey the Monkey’s face is frozen in serene rictus as he sways gently over the
produce department. His job, as an animatronic character at the Farm Boy
grocery chain, is to capture the attention of the condo dwellers and crunchy
middle-class parents who enter the west Toronto store this Mikey calls home; to
inject a bit of calculated whimsy into their shopping experience and,
ultimately, to push product. “Look here,” Mikey beckons. “Here’s something you
should buy.” Below him are dozens of bunches of Chiquita bananas, 79 cents a
pound.
Across the aisle, amid the scrappier fare of the organic kiosk, a different
gambit is at play. There, too, sits a pile of bananas, indistinguishable from
the Chiquitas next door save for two things: the price, $1.29 a pound, and an
inch-wide band that surrounds each bunch. The colours on the band catch your
attention first, each a rainbow of Instagram-friendly mint, lavender and
cornflower blue. There’s a small Fairtrade logo and some bold, sans-serif type:
“The only banana to reverse aging,” reads one. “The only banana to
binge-watch,” reads another. Next to each, a stylized illustration of a talking
banana connects the random claim to the importance of paying farmers, ending
with the imperative, “This is the only banana you should buy.” Beside that is a
QR code that, when scanned, redirects to an Instagram account whose recent
posts include a still of Charlton Heston as Moses holding tablets altered to
read “Thou shall not exploit banana farmers” and “Seriously, it’s really
uncool, man.”
It’s a lot of information for a busy shopper to take in as she powers through
her grocery list. Most people see the price and walk on by. But some stop. Some
read the copy on the band. And some decide to pay a bit more."
Via
The Fixer October 5, 2022:
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/banana-prices-fair-wages/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
