OUGD505: Ethical Project: reseach

Research:

This project focuses on looking at an ethical subject and saying something about it. For me I knew that obesity, especially in the uk, is a massive problem. I started of by researching the subject. Looking at how big the problem is, and what causes the issue.   

This lead me on to looking at what is already being done. This gave me knowledge about past and current campaigns to help obesity. Among these are famous campaigns such as Jamie olivers ‘feed me better’ as well as current campaigns like ‘change 4 life’. Although some success has been seen with these campaigns its hard to see any drastic changes. 

This made me start thinking about how I could make a difference. To begin to know how to go about this, I ran questionnaire survey. Over 30 peers took part giving me a better direction in how to tackle the problem. This directed me to focusing on packaging.

I particularly felt that focusing on kids snacks and sweets would be a good area to target. I felt focusing on the issue with young people could make a change for future generations. I looked at examples cheap unhealthy food. This allowed me to see how the use of bright, cheesy packaging appeals to kids. On the other side of the coin I looked at how healthy food is marketed and packaged. This guided me into also thinking about food packaging regulations and whether they are clear and impactful.

I also used the library and researched primary materials for packaging as well as considerations for the life cycle of a product.