For my Capstone Project, I intend to make an animation and video remix discussing the issue of bulk-buying. My focus is to demonstrate how bulk-buying, the purchase of goods in bulk, contributes to food waste and obesity in the United States, and how suburban sprawl makes it worse. My inspiration for the topic of bulk-buying and its consequences comes from first-hand experience with products purchased at Costco, of which my parents are members. I have seen some of the products they buy expire due to their lack of usage, usually when the family is busy with other things to the point where the products are forgotten.
The first media object is going to be an animation. The animation tells a story of a woman named Lorraine who would drive to a hypermarket not unlike Costco, buy large amounts of food items, and store some of the food in the kitchen fridge and others in the pantry. Over time, some of the food would start to rot or grow mold. Lorraine would be given a choice: either throw away all the food that has gone bad (and waste lots of money), or finish it all up before it goes bad (and gain lots of weight). After looking at a list of foods not to buy at such stores, Lorraine ultimately would decide to shop only at her local market, buying half the amount of food and traveling half the distance. As a result, less food would be wasted, and she and her family would slowly slim down.
The second media object is going to be a video remix. It will be composed of a shot of the exterior of a typical Costco store, footage of the interior of a few Costco stores, shots of the exteriors of stores such as Fred Meyer and Walgreens that sell smaller portions of the same product, and footage of the interiors of stores of each respective chain. The goal in making this video is to demonstrate the difference in portion sizes between bulk stores such as Costco and mainstream stores such as Fred Meyer and Walgreens, and have the viewer think about which size they’d rather buy for the sake of their waistlines and refrigerators.
The HTML website will include the videos as well as their respective summaries and a few articles listing different products to not buy from Costco.
If you had the choice, would you rather drive to a bulk warehouse store such as Costco that's ten miles from home, or would you rather drive to a smaller store such as Fred Meyer that sells relatively smaller portions and is five miles from home? #Costco #bulk #bulk_buying
— Joseph Nollette (@nollejos1999) October 28, 2018
How much food does your family REALLY need every time you go shopping? Do you really need to buy extra-large boxes of cereal? What if your kids suddenly lose interest in their half-eaten bowl of cereal? Would you dump it, or have them finish it and get fat? #Costco #bulk_buying
— Joseph Nollette (@nollejos1999) October 28, 2018
Would you rather have two half-gallon jugs of milk with their respective expiration dates, or would you rather have a single gallon of milk with one single expiration date? Choose wisely. #Costco #bulk_buying #bulk
— Joseph Nollette (@nollejos1999) October 28, 2018
Don't buy what you can't eat. When food is left in storage for a long time, it starts to either rot, spoil, or grow mold, which means wasting your hard-earned money. Trying to eat it all will do a large number on your waistline. #Costco #bulk #bulk_buying #foodwaste
— Joseph Nollette (@nollejos1999) October 28, 2018
The next time you shop at a bulk warehouse store like Costco, you may want to read this so you'll know what not to buy: https://t.co/Gu84VmlfYI #Costco #bulk #bulk_buying #foodwaste
— Joseph Nollette (@nollejos1999) October 28, 2018