The symbol widely recognized for its meaning of “recycling” originated alongside the first Earth Day in 1970. Its three clockwise-pointing arrows forming a triangle are primarily presented as green to symbolize the environment and “green issues”. With the symbol’s creation, it brought increased recycling accessibility, and, as result, successfully challenged the commonplace perspective of an individual’s civic duty to protect the environment. In the long run, not only the entire human population, but the entirety of Earth’s ecosystem will benefit from the effects of the creation of the symbol. The artifact was created in response to increasing levels of global warming with the progression of society over time. The need for this artifact has only increased over time with the increase of climate change and global warming. According to NOAA’s 2021 Annual Climate Report, since 1981, Earth’s temperature has been increasing at twice the rate of its temperature increase between 1880 and 1980. The recycling symbol’s goal was to have the same meaning for every group of people on the planet– the representation of the importance of reusing materials in “the circle of life” in order to benefit everyone’s future. The artifact represents one of the ultimate acts of civic responsibility and engagement and can even be linked to seven of the United Nations Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. Recycling is such an easy and important factor in saving our planet that everyone should implement within their daily routines.

The first advertisement that came to mind when referring to deploying commonplace within ads is the classic Snickers commercial: “You’re not you when you’re hungry”. They took a universal experience of feeling irritable when you are hungry and connected it to feeling better after you eat a Snickers. They identify a common feeling within their audience and use communicative techniques in order to convince the audience to use Snickers to solve a relatable problem. Maybe the ad-creators even considered the time the audience might see the advertisement. They could have assumed they’d be sitting on the couch watching TV, wanting a snack, and therefore, be more inclined to have a positive reaction to the commercial. In this case, I believe that the commonplace of being irritable when hungry is true, but a Snickers is likely not the healthiest and most effective solution. Regardless, the slogan has remained an effective, and clearly catchy, technique.

In a completely different approach, an evil eye could also be used as an example of commonplace within an artifact. An “evil eye” is a phrase widely-recognized as describing a look or stare that is projecting negative energy towards another person. For an example, a jealous friend that secretly wishes you harm. The evil eye artifact has been found throughout history as a symbol used to ward off negative intentions. It dates all the back to ancient Mesopotamia and has been seen within Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions. Because of the commonplace feeling of sensing people projecting negative energy towards you, the evil eye has remained a relevant symbol throughout time and is still used as a means of protection today. Although there has been no evidence that the artifact truly works as any form of protection, as someone who wears the evil eye on a regular basis, I can testify to the effectiveness of providing comfort through shared belief and history.