The Democracy of Eco-Fashion: Cute Organic Fashion, Now at Affordable Prices

Website Link: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/the-garden-collection-h-and-m-50031510

H&M Spring Collection:The Garden

Many fashion industry are now going green by using renewable materials such as recyclable polyester, organic cotton, organic linen and more. However, there are still many questions behind how this can really effect the environment. I will be analyzing an advertisement in the daily green website page I have found advertising H&M's new spring collection called, The Garden.

H&M is a clothing store for men, women and children. They sell clothes for an affordable price, therefore, this is targeted towards the middle class.

Let's start with the title of this advertisement for H&M spring collection:

The Democracy of Eco -Fashion: Cute Organic Fashion, Now at Affordable Prices

As I analyze this the words being used in the title is quite catching, for example especially the word 'affordable'. The whole point of this is to be eco-friendly, the word 'organic' is in the title; however, it was seem less important when 'affordable' showed up at the end. Me, as a consumer who actually shops at H&M, when I first read this head line it made wanted to go shopping there instead of acknowledging the fact that they are trying to be eco-friendly in their spring collection. Under the title where a little advertisement quote for the spring collection, explaining how much every item seen is under $100. So, instead of promoting economic issues and making people become aware of this problem; it hinder the issue with the words being used to advertise for the collection.

The first thing I saw when I came onto the page was the clothes, there were arrows where you could click to the next slide to see the next look of the collection and in a box next to each slide there were some sort of information on the outfit explaining what made this an eco-friendly look. The information it gave was just what kind of fabric were used, but not how it was made and if the color of the fabrics were natural or organic in any way? I wanted more information on the fabrics, on how it was made and what consumers could do to when they don't want it anymore?

The website for the advertisement was very plain and simple with a white background and very light colors to contrast with the images. What stood out the most were the photos of the clothes, how to style it and make it fashionable and who wore the clothes. The picture that I have chosen on the upper right hand corner are manicans with the eco-friendly spring collection for H&M. If you observe the manicans, they are all very tall and very skinny; this is obviously saying that if you were this outfit you will look tall and skinny or it could go the other way around with the message that these clothes are only for tall skinny girls. However, it does not show any race until in the few next photos I see they only use one model to model off the spring collection and she is a white, blond, tall, american woman. So, what does this say to you? Therefore, this causes another reason to hindering the issue of the environment, because it brings up another problem and that is race.

Overall, there is one thing I found positive or at least used in a good way. The fact that H&M did acknowledge the poor economy in the United States and had the idea of having a spring collection that is affordable to the overall Americans. But than it makes you wonder, where was the clothes made at? Who made them? And why are they so cheap? This brings up another issue of global conflicts such as corporations using the third world countries to make these products for cheaper use and labor.

In conclusion, the words, media and reputation of the corporation's product hinders the main goal that is to help become a more eco-friendly product for the environment, because we care. Instead, we question, do they really care? Or is it for their reputation for the corporation? Also, it brings up other issues such as race and class. Therefore, this was a good idea for the fashion industry, but there must be further research to do.

Environmental: Blame Chinese Dams Rise as Mekong River Dries Up

Environmental: Blame Chinese Dams Rise as Mekong River Dries Up is an article from Global Issues which is a non-governmental organization website. By reading the the title of the article you have a sense of what the environmental issue will be about. The tone of the title is quite harsh with having the first word be "blame", putting the Chinese at fault for the environmental issue almost and pointing a finger at them. However, the journalist never compared the Chinese dams to other dams around the world to see if there are any evidence that this may be a well-organized argument of why the Mekong river is drying up in the southern area. Also, the journalist seems to only stay on one side pretty much through out the article instead of being neutral to the topic or objective.

The first sentence in the paragraph stated, "Environmentalist and sections of the regional media are blaming the Chinese dams being built or operating on the upper reaches of the Mekong for contributing for the dramatic drop in water levels that are affecting communities in..." By using the word environmentalist, it seems that even the 'experts' were agreeing with the public views and having media to blame the Chinese dams shows that this could be a bias perspective. Due to the fact that media tends to be bias in reporting any kind of issues or news, whatsoever, and media always exaggerates the news.

The journalist quoted lots of different experets which are mainly governmental agents like the Chinese embassy, the Thai prime minster and MRC members. The issue that I have with this was the fact that the journalist never explained what MRC stands for or is and what the purpose is so readers can have a better understanding. Because MRC can stand for anything, for example; Media Research Center, Medical Reserve Corps and Merchant Risks Council. The article brought in a support saying that the Mekong river drying up is a problem to certain communities like the people who live in Mekong Basin, because "fishing is the main source to livelihood in that community." But the down fall of this is that the people with authority were speaking for them who obviously is not living or experiencing for themselves. I would like to have heard how the Chinese dams are personally and emotionally effecting the lives of the people who lived in that area. However, if that was done the journalist would have to change direction and its concentration of the article. One thing I did find positive were the different perspective of reasons from both opposing views of the environmental issue.

There were scientific history and fact about the Mekong river, but there was no comparison to how the river used to be like until the Chinese dams came into play. That was one down fall on the science view, but it does give you some useful information about the benefit that communities recieve from the Mekong river. Also, there was not anything about how the dams were not only affecting the lives of human beings, but animal as well. Like fish for example, how are the dams affecting the fishes living cycle in the area where the dams are built.

The ending of the article left me kind of in an awkward position, because I felt like the story was not done or the debate to this issue was not finished. The article ended with a quote from an authority who is claimed to be an expert in this topic almost making it seem like the readers should take that expert's side. I would consider that the ending was really the journalist thesis of the article. It was more like a cut off to the environmental issue to me.