PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER: THE MEK MANIFESTO
In the midst of a climate emergency, the fossil fuel, animal agriculture and manufacturing industries have spent decades and billions of dollars brainwashing us into their galvanised belief systems, facilitated by the advertising and design industries.
MEK exists to create positive change through design and leadership. We seek to disrupt existing beliefs, practices and traditions by using design as a vessel of beauty, truth and change supported by transparency.
Cognitive dissonance and social conditioning keep us all in a cycle of aspirational consumerism, distracted by the lies we’re told by the world’s largest industries with billion-dollar profits, taxpayer subsidies and the power to enact laws that hide the truth behind their practices.
They treat us as consumers, customers, data mines, numbers and statistics while suppressing our individual autonomy with superficial distractions as they run rampant in destroying the planet with impunity.
• We have the right to know how products are made
• We have the right to know what happens in a slaughterhouse
• We have the right to know where our money is being invested
• We have the right to know if workers and supply chains meet labour standards
• We have the right to know how brands address sustainability
• We have the right to know how our purchases impact the environment
• We have the right to know which companies lobby the government
We have the right to know the truth.
Advertising tells us what to believe, what to think, what to eat, how to look, who to be and who to love. It seduces us with buzzwords to make us feel good about doing our part for the planet as it drives demand for the endless consumption harming it.
GREEN.
CLEAN.
HUMANE.
ETHICAL.
ORGANIC.
FREE RANGE.
FAIRTRADE.
HEALTHY.
ECO.
NATURAL.
RENEWABLE.
SUSTAINABLE.
RECYCLABLAH BLAH BLAH.
We’re all being lied to.
Design can make anything beautiful, engaging and convincing. It can also make lies beautiful, engaging and convincing.
As architects of desire, designers have a responsibility to make the choices that minimise the impacts of the climate crisis more attractive and easy to understand, while being transparent about what we’re putting out into the world. We also have a responsibility to question the practices, direction and ethics of who we work with, as well as our role in using design to support the fallacies of the most damaging corporations of our time.
MEK stands against the industries that not only contribute to the climate crisis but maintain systems of oppression and injustice towards human and non-human animals.
Transparency is their greatest threat.
It is our greatest power.
We call on our fellow designers, agencies, industry and beyond to join us in saying no to working with companies that profit from the exploitation of the planet and its inhabitants.
We warmly invite you to endorse this Manifesto here. We’ll be publishing a list of signatories in the near future.
MEK exists to create positive change through design and leadership. We seek to disrupt existing beliefs, practices and traditions by using design as a vessel of beauty, truth and change supported by transparency.
Cognitive dissonance and social conditioning keep us all in a cycle of aspirational consumerism, distracted by the lies we’re told by the world’s largest industries with billion-dollar profits, taxpayer subsidies and the power to enact laws that hide the truth behind their practices.
They treat us as consumers, customers, data mines, numbers and statistics while suppressing our individual autonomy with superficial distractions as they run rampant in destroying the planet with impunity.
• We have the right to know how products are made
• We have the right to know what happens in a slaughterhouse
• We have the right to know where our money is being invested
• We have the right to know if workers and supply chains meet labour standards
• We have the right to know how brands address sustainability
• We have the right to know how our purchases impact the environment
• We have the right to know which companies lobby the government
We have the right to know the truth.
Advertising tells us what to believe, what to think, what to eat, how to look, who to be and who to love. It seduces us with buzzwords to make us feel good about doing our part for the planet as it drives demand for the endless consumption harming it.
GREEN.
CLEAN.
HUMANE.
ETHICAL.
ORGANIC.
FREE RANGE.
FAIRTRADE.
HEALTHY.
ECO.
NATURAL.
RENEWABLE.
SUSTAINABLE.
RECYCLABLAH BLAH BLAH.
We’re all being lied to.
Design can make anything beautiful, engaging and convincing. It can also make lies beautiful, engaging and convincing.
As architects of desire, designers have a responsibility to make the choices that minimise the impacts of the climate crisis more attractive and easy to understand, while being transparent about what we’re putting out into the world. We also have a responsibility to question the practices, direction and ethics of who we work with, as well as our role in using design to support the fallacies of the most damaging corporations of our time.
MEK stands against the industries that not only contribute to the climate crisis but maintain systems of oppression and injustice towards human and non-human animals.
Transparency is their greatest threat.
It is our greatest power.
We call on our fellow designers, agencies, industry and beyond to join us in saying no to working with companies that profit from the exploitation of the planet and its inhabitants.
We warmly invite you to endorse this Manifesto here. We’ll be publishing a list of signatories in the near future.