Toy manufacturer Mattel’s recent marketing campaign in Sports Illustrated proves nothing quite kicks off an argument on the internet like the subject of children and advertising. Thanks to an advert taken out by Mattel, you can now get your scantily clad swimsuit edition advertised by Barbie. When you get over the initial shock of a hypersexualised […]
Smoking is cool again. At least, electronically. The electronic cigarette (e-cig, vapouriser, fake fag, digital cancer) is, if you believe the adverts and scare stories in the press, the new black. No longer happy with the adverse health effects of smoking analogue traditional cigarettes, a large swathe of smokers are hanging up their lighters and […]
Christmas is a time for giving, receiving –and chucking packaging and unwanted stuff in the recycling box. The UK produces nearly 300m tonnes of waste each year. It’s estimated that every Christmas tree bought in the UK this year put end to end, would be the equivalent of a return trip to New York City. […]
When it comes to driving forward sustainability and ethics in fashion, the consumer has all the power, says Hugo Boss’s former art director, Bruno Pieters. He has put his money where his mouth is by launching Honest By, “the world’s first 100% transparent company”, in January 2012. Honest By shows people where materials come from, how much they […]
The Indian city of Bangalore produces some 20,000 tonnes of e-waste per year, according to a report by Assocham, the Association of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India. This figure is rising at a rate of 20% per year and the report’s authors forecast the amount of computer waste across the country could increase by nearly 500% by […]
The concept of a fashion week might not be environmentally friendly, but sustainability is on the lips of some fashionistas.
Transparency and traceability were top of the agenda at the SOURCE summit, but what will it take for the fashion industry to tackle the destruction it leaves in its wake? Ethical fashion‘s movers and shakers met at the Ethical Fashion Forum’s SOURCE Summit last Friday. Calling itself “the most important event for fashion and sustainability“, […]
The day after any major demonstration always brings out the hungover “mostly peaceful, shame about the violent minority” mantra from the meeja-darling bloc. Whenever there’s an alternative popular movement that grips the national imagination, left-ish commentators and journalists fight whitened tooth and manicured nail for public alliance to this season’s worthy cause of resistance. Yet, […]
Christmas is not a celebration: it’s a time of year when the estranged are forced to spend extended periods of time with each other in confined spaces under the illusion of festivity. “So what are you doing for Christmas?” is as droll a chat-up line as “Gosh, it’s cold, isn’t it?” An invitation to engage […]
The problem with filling out so many application forms for funding, placements, new livers… are the questions you have to answer. How does one eke out money for old rope – or worse, how do you feign insightful replies in approximately 200 words? Here are a couple questions I’ve had to answer recently…along with the […]
