Only a chapter into the reading for Monday, I knew exactly the subject on which I wanted to write my blog post. In “The Eternal Buzz”, Buzzworm is witness to mass upheaval associated with the oranges. At one point, people believe they are laced with alcohol, at others it is believed that they contain a “highly concentration liquid form” of cocaine, “worth maybe one kilo” (p.139). To be quite honest, this whole ordeal didn’t shock me in any way, for there have been mass outbreaks of different diseases within raw produce and meat, from salmonella to e-coli. Rather, it was Buzzworm’s comment on the scene that truly struck me–“Looked like you could take out an entire industry in just twenty-two minutes flat. Nothing to it.”. Not only that, but Buzzworm also states that this whole problem “put the crack industry in in ’bout the same amount of time” (p. 141).
Immediately, I thought of this past summer when, washing up after dinner with my boyfriend, I noticed a sweet little chick on the front of a Dawn Soap Bottle. But, after realizing that this was in promotion of the “valiant” efforts of Proctor and Gamble to clean up after BP’s oil spill, I was a bit dismayed.
In a CBS news article from 2010, it is noted that P&G “spent a considerable amount of time persuading the FWS with the International Bird Research Rescue Center…[to] adopt Dawn into its rulebook”. 2,000 bottles of this blue household cleaner were sent to the Gulf, with over “209 media mentions of Dawn in relation to the Oil Spill”.
Though I understand that this could be seen as wonderful effort on the part of Proctor and Gamble, I was sickened upon learning this dismaying fact: one must log on to Dawn’s website and “‘active’ your donation”–a fact many people did not originally know. Sure, P&G’s sale of Dawn now donates a flat percentage to the Gulf, but this came after many complaints that Proctor and Gamble were, disgustingly, exploiting not only the harmed wildlife of the Gulf, but those whose livelihoods depend on the fragile ecosystem.
However, this oil spill was what…six years ago? Why is that poor oiled chick still on the bottle’s label? Must we really keep exploiting this tragic event? Sure, we should always keep it in mind to learn from our mistakes…but really? Just to bring in more revenue? It disgusts me. However, I’m glad Yamashita could see this pattern and write about it in her novel. It’s really something that must be addressed.
Here’s the link to the CBS NEWS article:
Great attention to detail (literally, in your attention to that bottle of soap). Funny how these images come back to us! Really enjoyable post here–but make sure you use the link function rather than cutting and pasting the URL: it’s better to hyper-link descriptive language than to include that long string of letters and numbers!