Transparency is a trap. What gets you to genuinely act?

The picture on the left (a suggestion by researchers in Australia) – or the picture on the right (99,9% of all food and beverage brands)?

It’s simplicity versus transparency. People in the sustainability space are always obsessing about transparency, transparency, transparency.

I’ve been in meetings where even the brand manager shouted out in the room; “If we were more transparent, people would trust us”. No, they won’t. Just because something is transparent like the picture on the right showing the calorie content of the beverage, doesn’t mean it’s simple.

Or take QR-codes, you’ll see on more products these days. Let’s be honest. When you are off work, you’ve been stuck in traffic and now you’re running through the supermarket and trying to get your head around what to cook for dinner, how often do you scan one of those QR-codes to go on “an intriguing transparent journey to the banana farmer’s plantation”? One time? More than once?

Maybe ask yourself, if that can be done more simple? If brands, industries or governments truly want us to live better, maybe it’s time they try to convey a simple message at the right time.

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