“It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”
That wise Chinese aphorism has echoed through time, requoted and paraphrased by John F. Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt and many others.
Centuries after it was first imagined, it has also become the story of the campaign to promote new transparency in the food supply. That growing movement is One Degree’s cause, and as New Hope Natural Media Deputy Editor Jessica Rubino demonstrates, it’s an idea that has begun to have far-reaching effects, changing even the marketing of personal care products.
“Traceability takes transparency to the next level,” Jessica writes. “This means not only telling us candidly what your products are, but also showing us. If you source fair-trade coffee for your body scrub or USDA Organic lavender in your lotion, don’t think the seal is enough to make you stand out. Describe the growers, the community it supports and why this is a meaningful piece of your brand.
“Some of this can happen in the aisle (Alaffia excels in its POP storytelling). Some of it can happen on your web site or through social media (Aura Cacia’s online videos track the sourcing process with vivid detail). Some of it will go unnoticed by busy consumers. But some of it will help to redefine consumer-packaged goods like One Degree Organics has done.
“I hope to see more organic personal care companies following the lead of this USDA Organic food company that allows consumers to track every single ingredient back to the source. And I think they will. Now that honest labeling is becoming the baseline, an expectation not an exception, for natural and organic personal care, I can’t wait to see all the ways this category innovates.”
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