The responsible designer and the coffee dilemma.
I have been thinking about the issue of an ethical and responsible designer.
I used to have a very tough stand on this.
I don’t want to work for cigarette companies.
I don’t want to work for alcohol companies.
I don’t want to work for 4D and Toto.
I don’t want to work for Direct Selling MLM companies.
Things that I don’t believe in supporting.
Lately I have been re-examining this.
For example. A charity project needs a poster. Under the sponsors list, hey, that is a Carlsberg.
Another example. Financial report for a cigarette company, which doesn’t serve any marketing purposes.
One more. Some rumah kebajikan walkathon event identity and collaterals, proudly sponsored by 4D.
Do or don’t do?
Think further.
Is Caffeine a drug? John Hopkins Medicine classifies that Caffeine withdrawal as a disorder. So does it make working on Starbucks or San Francisco packaging, mugs, leaflets and brochures an irresponsible, inethical act? Promoting caffeine is actually deadlier than promoting direct selling or buying 4D.
How about working on cosmetics and perfumes and all those products that encourage one to be beautiful? This leads to increased peer pressure, which leads further to low self-esteem, and hence leads even further to depression, and maybe aneroxic bullimic disorders. The "I am more beautiful than you" is psychologically deadlier than alcohol.
Maybe we could help brand Secret Recipe or Prima Deli such that their sales will improve. But wait, this will help promote unhealthy eating habits, leading to obesity and high cardio risks.
What about Tupperware? Harmless plastic containers. But wait, plastics are harmful to the environment.
How about property projects? But property developments are the most harmful rapists to the natural landscape and environment.
Maybe I can do namecards and direct marketing for loan sharks, since honestly, the difference between loan sharks and legal financial institutions is probably in its legality. Try not paying any loan - the financial institutions will not hesitate to engage you in lawyer summons and long battles in court or send intimidating bouncers to your house to repossess your car.
Alright, that loan shark example is on the extreme side.
I am no longer sure what it means to be an ethical designer. After all, it is a designer’s job to ensure clients’ communications objectives are met. It is merely a job - the designer’s role is to stay as an outsider and remain professional, impartial and objective. By our design skills, we may help move more beers, cigarettes, 4Ds, cakes, facial care packs, cheese cakes, coffee, tupperwares and all, but at the other end the consumer is supposed to be making responsible purchasing decisions. Do we designers shoulder all the responsibilities or should the buying consumers be the ones to be blamed for not behaving wisely?
So. I guess I am not making the world a better place by not touching cigarettes and alcohol accounts. If the yardstick is "making the world a better place" I am hence eligible to work on any accounts I wish, free of any moral obligations. Maybe I just need to exercise some discretion somewhere - to make sure it doesn’t hurt anyone directly - for instance printing insensitive cartoons, or making degrading visual statements about gays. As a job I am responsible for producing what I produce but not responsible for how consumers react to what they see. If an alcohol brand says the best thing in life is shared, and my job is to communicate that statement, then so be it. If the customer is dumb enough to really think that beer is to be shared with his family and his young sons and daughters, heck, that is really not my problem.
Somehow, I can picture the moral guardians fuming at my conclusions. Hello. This is my viewpoint and I am entitled to it.
And Hornall Anderson could be accused of inethical for producing so many wonderful Starbucks collaterals and packaging over the years.
(Speaking of coffee, i am suffering from coffee withdrawal syndrome. Due to my illness, I have been without coffee since Saturday and I am determined to have my first cup this coming Saturday. Anyone wants to join me at Starbucks? 9.30am)
