Wake up and smell the plastic
Earth Day issue, 25th Oopsiversary, The All-American Idol Rejects 🌎
Welcome to this special Friday // Earth Day edition of the letter! Nicstalgia HQ has been buzzing – working on the book, celebrating Britney Spears’s 25th Oopsiversary, and teaching fitness classes, including one solely featuring artists who were losing American Idol contestants.12 I am desperately awaiting the true arrival of Spring, upon which I will be as happy and content as Alexes Marie, the baby wearing sunglasses and a monochromatic outfit in the picture below.3
I have been interested in sustainability since it was a relatively uncool thing to care about in the early 2010s and a performative thing to care about in the late 2010s. This interest began when I was a fashion student fascinated by consumer behavior, trend cycles, evolving consumption patterns with the advent of mass e-commerce, and [the lack of] supply chain transparency. Did this academic proclivity mean that I fully grasped the construct of capitalism or politics behind global industrialization? Absolutely not. Did that mean I did not continue to dress in synthetic, highly flammable Forever 21 outfits? Absolutely not. But this innate curiosity first led me to step into the shoes – specifically brown snakeskin Charlotte Russe pumps that are now undoubtedly in a landfill – of a cultural anthropologist. It was fun to help organize the first sustainable fashion show at my college and later be a Co-Lead of the Sustainability Committee at my former employer, a small retail corporation.4
Working in corporate fashion, I became obsessed with the technology that aided omnichannel retail functionality. I was even more obsessed with the creating the strategic communications that shaped employee & customer perception, the client experience across in-store & virtual touchpoints, and ultimately consumer behavior amidst these macro changes. After my fashion career, when TikTok democratized trend forecasting and fast fashion hauls reigned supreme, I fixated on the hyper-acceleration of trends as a catalyst for not only unprecedented overproduction and waste, but the flattening of personal style and even identity. (And thus Paintball Theory was born!)5
I also got very into examining the economic and political motivations behind greenwashing, aka. the commodification of environmentalism. When researching iconic 90s lip balm maker Bonne Bell (makers of Lip Smackers, Bottled Emotion, etc.), I found an entire section on their site specifically dedicated to environmentalism as early as 1996. The messaging I grew up with was in an extremely strong neoliberal tone – this was the era of Girl Power, after all – pushing personal responsibility over corporate responsibility. (Not that the 90s was the first or last time this tactic was employed.) This is all very interesting considering Bonne Bell’s primary product is a result of the petrochemical supply chain. Makes you think!
Here are non-greenwashing ways you can celebrate! Not saying these are unpleasant suggestions by any means, but they may or may not completely disrupt your current sense of reality.6 Ignorance is not bliss, baby!
Learn about what the little numbers on the bottom of plastic, aka. Plastic Resin Identification Codes mean – basically if it’s not 1, 2, or sometimes 5, it’s not getting recycled.
Actually read How2Recycle labels, because they are intentionally misleading. Just because every package is adorned with the three arrows does not mean it can be recycled. There’s even an interactive label builder where you can dig into the components of a label, including instruction, recyclability, material, and item.
Read environmental activist, digital art pioneer, and friend of the letter kHyal’s blog, particularly The Sound of Plastic, Metamorphosis: Recycled, Repurposed, Reimagined, and Wake Up and Smell the Plastic. kHyal will also be featured at the NYPL’s Earth Day event in NYC this weekend. I was completely blown away seeing The Sound of Plastic in person!!
Read No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naomi Klein (or watch the video), an absolute must-read for any culture, branding, marketing, or supply chain transparency enthusiast. It’s about the global political, economic and social impact of when brands’ images became more important than its products.
Watch Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy documentary on Netflix. Basically fast fashion, capitalism, waste, and negative environmental impact is not as bad as you think it is, it’s actually much worse.
Read about the history of greenwashing and the public narrative of recycling perpetuated by Big Oil oooop.
When searching for a piece of clothing on Google, fast fashion brands always come up first. It’s annoying, especially when you want to avoid those brands. Click the three dots at the top next to “Sponsored” to open your Google Ad Center, and block fast fashion brands like SHEIN, Temu, Princess Polly, PLT, Wish, CIDER, Romwe, Missguided, Edikted, etc. so they don’t come up in your searches
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ICYMI, My old LA office was next door to Britney’s record label group. I had a bit that instead of getting laid off, I should have been transferred and appointed as the Director of Britney Spears Marketing. I am extremely pleased to announce that after almost two years of specifically complaining about the formatting of Britney’s promotional emails, they’re rebranded– at least for the Oops! campaign – and no longer an aesthetically appalling assault on Britney’s brand and legacy. Although I will also note there is no favicon on the Oops! site. Like guys, come on, why am I not running this operation?
The All-American Idol Rejects© is a name I coined in November 2021. If Justin Guarini, Clay Aiken, Chris Daughtry, Adam Lambert, David Archuleta, Jennifer Hudson (How!!!), et al. convene and go on tour together, I want a generous cut. If not, consider this footnote evidence when my lawyer sues them for IP infringement.
Where are they now? Alexis recently had a baby of her own, and Kimberlin Brown is LOVING Grandma life!
I thought I SLAYED in my look from the sustainable fashion show btw…I searched extensively for this picture, and to my chagrin, it does not want to be found.
I talked with my friend Anna from USURPATOR Mag about this in December 2023. Spoiler alert, my forthcoming book will also include an essay on Paintball Theory.
Even if it reveals an uncomfortable truth, I like knowing things. It’s like if anyone goes to the mall with me, their mind is blown by the tea I spill about how the retail industry works. I forget that most people don’t really think about it at all, let alone question it. Realizing stuff is kinda wild…
Great tip about the Google sponsored shopping suggestions blocks! I never thought to do that lol.