You are What You Eat
At a glance, the image below may look like carefully crafted bites of sushi. However, upon observation, the favorite food of many is constructed of plastic bags and trash. Plastics have undoubtedly helped us, humans, to manufacture, package, and ship goods more easily. But, plastics pose a significant threat to our planet as well. Easily mistaken for food, marine plastic – which comes primarily from land-based sources – is commonly ingested by fish and ocean creatures. Being a widespread crisis, numerous attempts and warnings have been issued to help prevent and stop sea pollution. However, this image takes on a slightly different approach. What goes into the ocean, goes into you, as this ad by Portland Agency Pollinate brilliantly illustrates.
Normally, preventative ads for sea pollution depict poor, aquatic creatures entangled in plastic or other garbage, in order to evoke a sense of emotion in the audience. Instead, the sushi image displays a logos appeal, suggesting that what humans enjoy for food is coming from polluted oceans, which are caused from our own accord. Sushi has become an increasingly popular meal, with the great abundance of seafood stuffings to choose from. Recognizing selfish human nature, the image aims to voice it’s preventative message not by displaying the poor effects animals suffer as a result of human pollution, but rather the harm humans themselves may encounter because of these pollutions. With that, a person seeing this image may think twice before littering, not because of the environmental effects, but the effects said person may experience from eating contaminated fish.
Digging deeper, the image content symbolizes the threat posed to sea creatures. The tightly wrapped sushi rolls emphasize and demonstrate how plastic chokes and constrains sea animals. Just as perhaps a singular straw or plastic bag floating in the water seems harmless, these rolls perfectly sculpted with plastic bags appear innocuous, if not edible. This shows the image’s purpose of showing how trash may be perceived as harmless, or the naive thought of many people that littering “just one piece” of trash couldn’t possibly harm the planet. However, inconsiderate polluting behaviors cause trash to accumulate overtime, gravely affecting marine life.
In addition, just as the naked human eye perceived this image of sushi as edible, given the accurate assembly of the food, sea animals perceive floating pieces of trash or garbage as consumable food. Humans are less vulnerable to eating spoiled food or harmful substances without their awareness because of labeling, warnings, and basic human intellect. However, sea creatures are not awarded such liberties. Thus, the image argues that if something wrapped in plastic, despite it’s edible appearance, should not be consumed by humans, then sea creatures should not suffer the consequences either.
The image’s main argument is “You are what you eat”–and that is garbage. Those who pollute or litter are beings with no consideration for other forms of life. The image portrays a logical argument in which the audience is given a comparison between human contribution of waste and the subsequent marine life ramifications.
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